Parvin Emampour

Co-funder/Director/Operation Manager at Yaran NorthWest

I am from Iran, I came here 22 years ago with my two sons as asylum seekers. There were lack of organisations to help and support people seeking asylum, professionally and socially. We established Yaran NW 2013 to support Black and minority ethnic people in their mother language. I am trauma focused therapist and clinical supervisor, I work with NHS as well as Yaran. I have three granddaughters who are 15, 10 and 2 years old. I am a proud woman who has broken the stigma and became independent. I know is a long way ahead of us to bring equality in our society - every step matters. We are making a bridge with our protesting and supporting each other. I am trying to make a better life for the next generation, like our past generation have done for us. 

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Aderonke Apata

Founder and CEO of African Rainbow Family

Aderonke is a multi-award-winning human rights activist and feminist who studied the Bar Professional Training Course, and was subsequently Called to the Bar of England and Wales. Aderonke is a Lawyer and an International Accredited Civil/Commercial Mediator. Aderonke is an LGBTIQ asylum campaigner, advocate and Expert Witness for LGBTIQ people seeking asylum to stay in the UK. She herself was granted asylum after a 13-year battle, having started the shutdown of Yarl's Wood Detention Centre campaign in 2012 from inside the detention centre.

Aderonke’s tireless campaigns and social political change making have been recognised by awards such as: Positive Role Model for LGBT National Diversity Award 2014; one of the most influential LGBT people in the UK, on the RainbowList2014 & RainbowList2015; LGBT Heroine of the year 2015 by DIVA Magazine; Attitude Pride Award 2017; Activist of the Year, Sexual Freedom Awards 2018; Ron Todd Foundation Equality Award, 2018 and Aderonke was added to the Amnesty International UK's 'Suffragette Spirit Map of Britain' in 2018. 

African Rainbow Family is a LGBTIQ grassroots charity that campaigns for LGBTIQ asylum rights, advocates for and supports LGBTIQ people of African heritage and the wider BAMEs in UK, including those seeking asylum. She is also campaigning for the Repeal of the toxic Nigerian Anti-LGBTIQ Law.  

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Lisa de Pina

Founder and CEO of LusoconnectionukCIC

Cape Verdean born, Lisa de Pina has been living in Salford since 2004. She is a Journalism Graduate from University of Central Lancashire with a PGCE in ESOL and Literacy from Bolton University.

I always work with people and support other Portuguese speakers to access services and advocate for them whenever I found they were unfair treatment. After years of working as an interpreter and event assistant, COVID and Brexit propelled me to unite my two biggest passions, language and community affairs and Lusoconnectionuk (LUCK) was created to support the growing number of Portuguese speakers in Salford and the North West. Responsible for the strategy and project execution and positioning of the organisation, I believe that when each of us take our social responsibility more serious a fairer society will be created where everyone will be given opportunity to thrive.

LUCK mission is to deliver quality support services to the Portuguese speakers in Greater Manchester in a safety environment in order Increase community participation, promote social inclusion, encouraging better engagement with services providers and the wider community, support vulnerable groups, and build a vibrant and powerful community.

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Marzena Teszka-Kutera

Together Family Centre

I came to England 17 years ago at the beginning, in London, it wasn’t easy. I missed home and family enormously. After a year, I moved to the north of England and I live in this area to this day. This is where I started my family and made this place my home. I am an environmental care engineer. I worked many years in a chemical laboratory in Manchester. I loved this job, but there came a moment in my life when I made my family my priority. I decided that I would work close to home so as not to waste time traveling to work and be able to spend more time with my children. 

The idea of Women's Circles has been present in my life for a long time, even if I had no idea that it is called a women's circle. Living in Poland, I was surrounded by women of all ages: grandma, mom, sister, aunts, our friends. The family home was always full of people. Women met and shared what was in their souls. Sometimes it was coffee and cake, sometimes celebrating small and big successes and sometimes it was sharing a difficult moments, depending on what the women close to us were facing. I am extremely grateful for experiencing the presence and support of another woman. These meetings brought into my life a lot of faith in another woman, the idea of sisterhood and supporting each other.

Today, we women are doing our job at work and at home chasing our goals, very often losing our sense of identity. Especially when we live far from our home country and family, we are deprived of roots, tradition and family support. We feel lonely. I started looking for who I really am, looking for my femininity. I needed other women and the power of sisterhood. I created a series of free, regular meetings for women. Women's Circles are here to create a safe space for women where they can express everything they care about, receive attention, empathy, understanding, support, inspiration to act and accept each other. In the circle we meet other women, but I think the most important thing is to meet ourselves. Women Circles give many benefits like a space where we can find answers to the questions we ask ourselves, it gives women the power of sisterhood, a sense of belonging to a community of women, understanding and support. It's kind of like a tribe reactivation after many years of forgetting where our roots were.

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Tandrima Mazumdar

HERSTORY

I am Tandrima Mazumdar, I come from India, and am now resident of Salford for over five years. I am an aspiring Psychotherapist and a Mindfulness teacher, using these tools in the work that I do, supporting the migrant Black and minority ethnic community in Salford. I am a committee member of HERSTORY Salford, a community group that supports the physical/ mental wellbeing while they reclaim and rebuild their lives.

I am also a women's rights and human rights activist, strongly raising my voice to counter the injustice around these issues. I am also part of various migrant women's networks and organisations in Greater Manchester and the UK working to counter social injustice. I like spending my time reading, cooking, walking, movie/series bingeing, suggestions welcome. I am a proud mother of two beautiful girls, who are both into full time education rebuilding our lives in this country.

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Irene Lockett

Founder and CEO of Sovereign House GH, an international registered charity working in Ghana and England.

I was born and educated in Ghana. Due to my parents line of work, I had the opportunity of experiencing life in Ghana and the western worlds, whilst growing up. This gave me an insight into the world of opportunities or lack-of within both worlds. I lived in London with my husband, until we moved to Greater Manchester in 2012. I have always believed in empowering women and children: our future leaders to reach their full potential, to help create a more equitable and just world. I had been helping to do that in Ghana, focusing on orphans and disadvantaged children, as well as widowed women. We are nearly completing a blue-print children's home to help change the cultural mindsets of orphans and how orphanages should be run.

Having moved to Salford, I keep hearing about some of the challenges in the community, to which I thought of as an opportunity to help. I believe that investing in the future of potential leaders is key to driving progress and innovation in all areas of society. I started talking to people, whilst bringing other people on board to research and carry on a survey about the issues within the community. I know that technology is the future, especially for the children and young people to understand how it works and be able to utilise it to maximise their potential. In any chosen field, technology will be required. A pattern developed from our research about the lack of IT skills and the Computer Learning Programme was born. This project teaches children and young people both digital and soft skills, as well as boosting their confidence to believe in themselves. This will help them in reaching their full potential. So many children have gone through the programme, and some of them have gone on to study IT in college. It is rewarding to see the changes and growth in the children and young people, as well as students from the local universities who come on to work with us, helping them in their studies.