Vote for our Founder Taban in the National Diversity Awards
Our Founder and CEO Taban Shoresh has been nominated in this year’s prestigious National Diversity Awards - and we would love you to vote for her! Taban has been nominated in the Lifetime Achievement category, and all you need to do is visit this link and place your vote.
If you’re aware of Taban’s story, you’ll know just how appropriate the Lifetime Achievement nomination is. After surviving genocide as a child during Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime in Iraq, she was imprisoned with her family aged just four, and they narrowly escaped being buried alive. They were flown to the UK by Amnesty International to start a new life, but in April 2014, Taban was horrified to see ISIS waging another genocide in her homeland. She gave up her City of London job and bravely returned to Kurdistan as an aid worker – and within two days was delivering provisions to displaced Yezidis trapped on Mount Sinjar.
Please vote for Taban!
Fifteen months later, Taban returned to the UK, knowing she had to do more. In 2016, she launched the Lotus Flower, and today, it has four centres for women and girls within the Duhok region of Kurdistan. Our projects have to date impacted on more than 40,000 women, girls and community members, and they fall under three pillars aligned to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals: Education & Livelihoods, Health & Safety, and Peacebuilding & Human Rights. If that’s not an incredible lifetime achievement, we don’t know what is!
The National Diversity awards celebrate the achievements of grass-root communities that tackle the issues in today’s society, providing recognition for their dedication and hard work. Founded in 2012, the concept arose when Founder, Paul Sesay and his team identified an urgent need for more positive role models to be actively promoted, with the aim to empower and inspire diverse communities.
Voting closes on May 20th, so do be quick and cast your vote today! The awards ceremony will be held in September this year, and you can watch a clip of last year’s event below…
Thanks so much for your support!