Shelina Janmohamed

Shelina Janmohamed is one of the UK’s leading voices in the creative economy and uses the power of creativity to change our social, cultural and business stories. She is the author of the memoir Love in a Headscarf, which was published in 13 languages, and Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World, and she has since made waves in children’s non-fiction, with the books The Extraordinary Life of Serena Williams, Be-You-Tiful: Radiate Confidence, Celebrate Difference and Express Yourself, and Story of Now: Let’s Talk About the British Empire. Her work has been nominated for the Carnegie Awards, shortlisted for the SLA Information Book Awards, longlisted for the Jhalak Prize and chosen as an Observer Best Children’s Book of the Year.

She combines this with business leadership, with over a decade in the advertising industry at Ogilvy, most recently as Director of Consumer Equality, driving growth through championing under-represented stories of Minority Ethnic and Muslim audiences. She’s been described by the industry as ‘bold, brave and kind’ as well as a ‘fearless commentator’.

She is also a newspaper columnist, podcaster, advocate for a free press on the UK’s only Royal charter approved press regulator, Impress, and has been a grassroots activist for 20 years. Her first podcast, the news and current affairs series ‘The Shelina Show’ was nominated for The British Podcast awards, and her more recent podcast ‘Muslim Women Talk Ramadan’ was nominated for the International Women’s Podcast Awards. She was until recently a primary carer for both her parents, and is now on the road to post-bereavement, post-carer recovery, including learning how to have ‘free’ time. This unique combination as a polymath-in-progress means the mum of two and proud visible British-East-African-Indian-Muslim woman always brings a different, fresh and exciting perspective to conversations. She is happiest when sipping cappuccinos and nibbling on white chocolate chip cookies.