Esther Harris | Bookollective
Esther Harris has twenty years experience as a marketing professional, journalist and book publicist.
Esther has an instinctive understanding of what makes a book and author newsworthy and she regularly achieves writers meaningful editorial coverage across print, online and radio, in places such as The Mirror, The Guardian, The Independent, The FT, The Daily Mail, Huffington Post, BBC Radio 2, The Jeremy Vine Show and more.
Esther is an experienced editor and loves getting her teeth into a manuscript, helping authors shine and tell the story they always wanted to tell in a way that fits best with dual market needs. You have to sell a book twice over - the first time to editors in the industry and then all over again to the reader. As a fiction writer herself, she understands how hard it can sometimes be to get the story in your head on to the page - without losing the magic! In her spare time, Esther writes short stories and mentors new writers. She has a Masters degree in Creative and Critical Writing and now mentors female writers as part of the WoMentoring Scheme, run by best-selling author Kerry Hudson. Esther has been obsessed with books since the age of two, when she used to chill with her Ladybird library.
Serena Chana | 23 Code Street
Since graduating in Education and Psychology I’ve built a career in marketing and communications across different industries, mainly with a focus on working with companies and start-ups that are driving social change.
I started my career at an international NGO and assisted on several fundraising campaigns including a Syrian refugee appeal which was nominated for a JustGiving award. Here, I learnt the art of storytelling and why it’s so important to always work with a passionate team. After being immersed in the world of International Development, I decided to work abroad and actually work on an international project myself. I spent three months working in Bangladesh working alongside local people and created campaigns and programmes that promoted women’s rights’ and preventing child marriage.
Following on from this I entered the London startup scene with Digital Mums, a social media training company enabling mums to work flexibly. I played a pivotal role in the national #CleanupFword campaign which snowballed from a petition to our campaign posters arguing for better flexible being displayed across billboards and shopping centres across the UK. I now currently work for 23 Code Street, a women’s coding school - under my leadership the brand has grown significantly and we successfully launched our pilot webinar course, enabling more women to learn to code.
Outside of work, I’m a mentor on the Digital Pipeline scheme and have supported a WOC for the past 6 months to secure a tech job and I’m the STEM editor for the Lucy Writer’s Platform and commission/ edit stories to inspire more women to work in STEM. Working with a group of women, I have also helped start a monthly Punjabi female forum; it’s a safe and confidential online and offline space for women to talk about their wellbeing.
Leigh Rimmer | LendInvest
Leigh started her Public Relations career at Vauxhall Motors, before making the move into the tech industry; working for start-ups including including personalisation software provider Qubit.
Leigh joined property finance FinTech LendInvest in 2017, currently heading up the business's Public Relations efforts as PR Manager, and sits on the company’s CSR Committee.
Cherry Swift | DLA Piper UK LLP
I think my friends and family would agree that I have always been an "interpreter".
When my younger brother was learning to talk, I would step in and help him. Then, when I started high school and began learning foreign languages, I realised that there was the potential to communicate with people all over the world, and I could help those who couldn't understand that language too.
This led me to study a degree in Modern Languages (German and Spanish) with Business Management at The University of Birmingham, with a year abroad during my third year at The University of the Basque Country and The University of Freiburg. I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of my course. It was so varied - we would learn about history, politics, culture and social issues affecting the countries that spoke my chosen languages. It was like opening a giant doorway into the world.
However, on graduation, I considered how best to use my diverse skills and decided to pursue a career in commercial law. I completed the GDL and LPC courses at The University of Law, and was delighted to be offered a training contract with DLA Piper, a leading global business law firm.
On qualification with DLA Piper in 2017, I joined the firm's Real Estate team in Manchester, and now work with a number of high profile landlords, tenants, funders and developers. What I love is that Real Estate is a fast paced industry with really tangible results. Property is a huge part of a locality's DNA, and a part that has infinite potential to be developed and redeveloped as the society around it changes.
That's why I'm so passionate about my Partnership Engagement role with the CREation property network (https://www.cre-ation.co.uk/) in Manchester, planning and hosting exciting networking and professional development events in the city, discussing hot topics and helping junior professionals to expand their personal networks. I also thoroughly enjoy my work as a mentor with Regeneration Brainery (https://regenerationbrainery.co.uk/), a brilliant initiative aiming to inspire young people to pursue a career in property.
Ultimately though, I'm still an "interpreter", even if I'm not translating from one language to another. Instead, I interpret the law for our clients, breaking down the often complex legal provisions and practices into manageable and understandable concepts and solutions that align with their strategic aims.
A career in commercial law isn't just about providing a strong service to commercial clients. I believe that knowledge really is power, and something we should share with those who need it most. That's what led me to my additional role as a Pro Bono Coordinator, through which I run a mini-secondment programme with Hope for Justice (https://hopeforjustice.org/), a charity working to eliminate modern slavery and help victims of human trafficking all over the world, and a legal support service for The Prince's Trust (https://www.princes-trust.org.uk/), providing legal advice to young entrepreneurs through the Trust's "Enterprise" programme (https://www.princes-trust.org.uk/help-for-young-people/support-starting-business).
Outside of law and property, I'm a huge Wolverhampton Wanderers fan and attend matches whenever I can. At the time of writing, I'm really looking forward to my first trip to Wembley for our FA Cup semi-final match - up the Wolves!
Asma Al Abbarova | Law Business Research
Asma is the Deputy Research Editor at Law Business Research and the Senior Coordinator of youth engagement and social mobility charity, Big Voice London.
At the age of 17, she moved to the UK from the Middle East to pursue her higher education. Asma graduated from the University of Kent with a Law degree and shortly thereafter obtained her LLM in Media Law from Queen Mary University of London, specialising in e-Commerce, Cyberspace and Media Law. Her dissertation focused on copyright and consumer protection in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Asma’s research and creative approach resulted in her invitation to collaborate with and jointly present, as one of the youngest panellists to date, on the topic of ‘Consumer Protection in the EU and US’ at Cyberspace 2017, a two-day conference in the Czech Republic.
During the day, Asma channels her love for research and intellectual property into her position as Deputy Research Editor, a role she was promoted to six months after starting at the firm. She interviews, liaises with and builds strong relationships with leading trademark and patent practitioners across 25 jurisdictions to identify global trends in this highly dynamic industry for the World Trademark Review 1000 and Intellectual Asset Management 1000 guides.
In the evenings and every spare moment she has, Asma is dedicated to improving diversity in the legal profession. She is the Senior Coordinator of Big Voice London, a social mobility charity which seeks to engage young people from non-traditional backgrounds in law and legal policy. Big Voice London runs several projects for A-Level students each year, including a Mooting Competition in association with the UK Supreme Court and the country’s only Model Law Commission.
Natalie Carter | Greenberg Traurig LLP
I studied Anthropology and Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science and am currently a commercial real estate associate solicitor at Greenberg Traurig LLP, an international US firm.
I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a solicitor but I was extremely passionate about the community from which I came (being a young second generation Jamaican born and raised in Tottenham) and wanted to ensure that regardless of the career path, I played an active role in improving the lives of those in my community.
I have worked on some of the highest profile commercial real estate transactions in London such as the purchase of 33 Horseferry Road for £188 Million by Sinar Mas Land (with financing from investment bank OCBC), the purchase of Aldwych House for £250 Million and the acquisition of 99 Gresham Street for £143 Million as well as the £1.15Bn sale of the Leadenhall Building in 2017 alone.
I was part of the first corporate law programme run by SEO London in 2010 and trained at Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP (now BCLP) and qualified in 2013. Since then, I have assisting various charities and organisations which seek to improve diversity in the legal industry as well as mentoring multiple young black women applying for training contracts. Aside from mentoring informally, I am the director of Women in the City African and Caribbean Network and have also participated as mentor for the Legal Launch Pad programme run by the Black Lawyer’s Directory which seeks to help BAME students trying to enter into the legal industry for over 7 years. In 2016, I designed and delivered the UK’s first full day legal conference for students from diverse backgrounds for the legal charity Urban Lawyers and am a founding member of the Junior Lawyers Division of the Black Solicitors Network.
I am also the co-founder of Black Girls Book Club, which is a book club creating a safe space for black women who bond over a love of literature. Since its inception in 2016, Black Girls Book Club has hosted over 50 events which have been attended by over 2000 women and has also been featured in The Stylist, BET, The Metro, BBC Radio London and Pride Magazine. BGBC has hosted formidable, trailblazing women such as June Sarpong, Afua Hirsch, Dorothy Koomson, Liv Little, Angie Thomas, Malorie Blackman, Munroe Bergdorf and Jamia Wilson.
Katherine Ramo | CMS
Katherine (Katia) Ramo is an Associate in Technology & Media at the global law firm CMS, London office.
She advises on corporate, commercial and telecommunications regulatory issues for a diverse global client base.
She is listed as a top global 30 Financial Times Women In Business HERoes and Future Female Leader 2018. She is a core member of CMS equIP helping technology start-ups scale, a member of CMS BUZZ Network for Media Professionals. She serves in all diversity matters in the City and globally.
She is the Founder and Chair of CMS ENABLE Network (disability and wellbeing) and supports the other internal diversity networks (Women, BAME and LGBT*). She is a Co-head of InterLaw Diversity Forum’s Enable Disability Network and member of the United Nations Stakeholders Group on Persons with Disability and its High-level Political Forum (HLPF) which is the main United Nations (UN) platform on sustainable development, playing a central role in the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the global level.
Katherine is a Trustee on the Board of BlindAid and sits on the Editorial Board of City Solicitor’s Magazine. She is currently completing a PhD in International Law. She was shortlisted for a Personal Achievement award by enei (the Employers’ Network for Equality and Inclusion) in 2018 and nominated for the First 100 Years Project Inspirational Women in Law Awards in 2018.
Dana Abdulkarim | Linklaters LLP
Dana is an associate in Linklaters’ corporate team and has experience in both public and private M&A as well as private equity.
She has acted on a range of domestic and international M&A transactions, including Takeda's takeover of Shire and AB InBev's takeover of SAB Miller in the public sphere and Unilever's sale of its Spreads business as well as a number of other acquisitions and disposals for various PE house in the private sphere.
Dana is originally from Bahrain, a small Gulf nation to which she still has very strong ties (family included!) and speaks fluent English and Arabic. She moved to London in 2011 to pursue a degree in law at the London School of Economics, graduating with first class honours in 2014. Dana is passionate about women's rights, and is closely involved with both the Embassy of Bahrain in London and various charities and other initiatives to try to promote access to justice and encourage women to join the legal profession.
Shalah Akhtar | PwC
Shalah works within PwC's Tax practice with over 7 years of experience, having joined the firm as a school leaver.
Following her own personal experiences with mental health, she has been passionate about addressing the challenges she had faced in the workplace but also the community she belonged to. She has since become a mental health advocate and has been a visible role model for those from a minority or faith based background.
During her time at PwC, she has driven a number of D&I strategy initiatives and campaigns with energy and enthusiasm including driving forward PwC’s ‘This is Me’ video released in April 2018 where people from different faiths and cultures shared their personal mental health stories which helped tackle the stigma. She also sits on PwC’s mental health steering committee and is Mental Health First Aid qualified.
She has a real desire to help others and helped set up Thriving from the Start with other leading organisations including Bank of England, London Stock Exchange and Allen & Overy with the City Mental Health Alliance (“CMHA”). This is a mental health community for those early in their city careers and aims to set a new market standard on how highly employee mental health should be valued.
She was a speaker at the This Can Happen 2019 conference at the 02, the largest mental health workplace conference, and has had the privilege of meeting HRH the Duke of Cambridge for her work in this space. She has done keynote speeches at numerous events, hosted workshops and published articles and blogs sharing her mental health experiences, very much leading by example.
She leads the PwC Muslim Network and is responsible for over 600 people across the UK and recently took 20 PwC volunteers from different faiths, race & gender across London & the regions to Calais to support refugees. Finally, she has also been involved in advising clients on the implications of the government's consultation in ethnicity pay reporting.
Rachel Green | Aviva Investors
I grew up on a farm on the Caribbean island of Dominica and came to the UK when I was 17 (population 70,000 people).
Growing up, I always felt that there were only three career options available to me: becoming a Doctor, a Lawyer or an Accountant. As such, I came to this country with little knowledge of the financial services industry. Working in the City seemed completely out of my reach as I saw very few people who looked like me. After leaving university, I became an Auditor working for a professional services firm. My journey into the City begun when I secured a Risk Management role at Russell Investments, and then went on to Munich Re as a Longevity Associate and finally to Aviva Investors bringing on new business in their Institutional Sales team.
I am particularly proud of my achievements at Aviva Investors where I was instrumental in using my experience to educate my colleagues on the cultural differences and hurdles that ethnic minorities face joining the industry – contributing to changing our recruitment practices and the way we assess candidates. I am an Amos Bursary mentor and mentor young black women helping to raise the aspirations and motivations of the next generation of our workforce.
My most humbling achievement to date is my appointment on Aviva’s Evolution Council – a shadow board of 12 employees created to challenge and provide a fresh perspective to the Aviva Group Board – from strategy to culture and of course, diversity. I also sit on the Diversity Project's Ethnicity Workstream (#TalkAboutBlack) Steering Group leading the Intake workstream. Here, I am responsible for educating and raising awareness of the variety of career options within the Asset Management industry within the black community.