OUR AMBASSADORS
People advocating for change
Our ambassadors are voices championing The Lotus Flower's work. They come from different backgrounds and professions, but they're united by a commitment to supporting women and girls affected by conflict and displacement.
Pary Baban
Pary Baban is a Kurdish chef, entrepreneur, and community advocate. After fleeing kurdistan as a young woman, she built a career sharing Kurdish culture through food, founding Nandine restaurants in London. Through her work, Pary champions cultural heritage, community empowerment and opportunities for women.
Sayran Barzani
Sayran Barzani is a jewelry designer/creative whose work is deeply rooted in her Kurdish heritage, personal journey, and commitment to creating meaningful impact. As a third culture kid raised in the United States while staying closely connected to her Kurdish roots, she draws a lot of inspiration from the intersection of cultures that has shaped her identity. Her designs explore themes of belonging, remembering her roots, and connection across generations. For Sayran, jewelry is more than adornment, it is a way to celebrate culture, honor personal stories, and preserve the traditions of homeland.
Beyond design, Sayran is passionate about using her work as a platform for humanitarian causes. She strives to create opportunities to give back through her brand, supporting initiatives that uplift communities and raise awareness for issues close to her heart. By combining design with purpose, she hopes to create work that not only reflects beauty but also contributes to positive change, allowing each piece to carry both meaning and impact.
Raz Xaidan
Raz is a Kurdish multidisciplinary artist, independent archivist, photographer, and founder of The Jiyan Archives, the first Kurdish women’s archive, as well as the creative art platform The Darling Beast. Rooted in matriarchal narratives, Kurdish womanhood, and resistance, her work explores memory, identity, displacement, and cultural survival through archival practice, visual storytelling, and experimental media.
Born in Sweden, raised in South London, and shaped by over a decade spent in Kurdistan, Xaidan’s practice bridges preservation and layered art, exploring the intergenerational histories, resistance, and inheritances of Kurdish women.
Payzee Mahmod
Payzee Mahmod is an award-winning global advocate, activist, public speaker and a proud Kurdish woman who has dedicated her life to fighting for the rights of women and girls.
As a survivor of child marriage, FGM, and honour-based abuse, Payzee has turned her lived experience into lasting legislative change. She has been instrumental in driving landmark reforms in the UK, including raising the minimum age of marriage to 18, the criminalisation of virginity testing and hymenoplasty, and the formal definition of honour-based abuse in law. Her TEDx talk has reached over a million people globally.
Payzee is an Intervention Lead at Lasting Support CIC, a specialist safeguarding organisation supporting children and families across London, and Advisory Ambassador for The Vavengers, the UK's leading organisation tackling FGM and intersecting violence. She is an Obama Leader and graduate of the Nelson Mandela Foundation's Social Justice programme.
A mother, a campaigner, and a community builder, Payzee believes deeply in the power of Kurdish women lifting one another, and is honoured to stand alongside The Lotus Flower as an ambassador in its tenth year
Basima Abdulrahman - Founder & CEO of KESK
Basima Abdulrahman is a seasoned green tech entrepreneur with more than 15 years of expertise in the field. She is the Founder and CEO of KESK, the pioneering company in Iraq that fuses renewable energy solutions with software technologies for a smooth transition to sustainable energy generation. With a diverse range of accomplishments, Basima is the 2025 Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, served as a World Economic Forum GSC Foundation Board Member between 2019 and 2022, and is a laureate of the prestigious Cartier Women's Initiative in the MENA Region and the ExpoLive Global Innovators Award. As a thought leader in the Greentech sector, Basima was featured in renowned publications such as TIME magazine, Inhabitat, Forbes, WEF Agenda, CNN, and the National, among others. She was named as one of the 100 most influential women by the BBC in 2023. Since 2018, she has been sought after as an international speaker on entrepreneurship, climate change, greentech, and environmental issues in the Middle East. Basima holds a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering and a master's degree in Structural Engineering from Auburn University/USA. She is an accredited professional by the U.S. Green Building Council since 2016.
Beri Shalmashi
Beri Shalmashi is a screenwriter, director, and commentator on Kurdish and Iranian affairs. Her documentary On the Edge of the Revolution (2023) was filmed on the Iran-Iraq border during the protests following the killing of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, while her earlier film Shouted From the Rooftops (2017) about Kurdish female fighters reached wide audiences across the Kurdish diaspora. Her debut film Mama (2010) was nominated for a Golden Calf, the Dutch Academy Award, and she won the Silver Camera for Storytelling for Big Village (2021). Born in Paris, to a family from Rojhelat, Iranian Kurdistan, Shalmashi is a frequent media commentator and speaker on human rights, regional security, and Kurdish issues.
She was educated at the Netherlands Film Academy, the Utrecht School of the Arts, the University of Amsterdam, and the University of California, Los Angeles, and has lived and worked across the Middle East, including in Erbil, where she taught at Salahaddin University. During the war against ISIS, she wrote columns for the Dutch national newspaper de Volkskrant. Shalmashi has served as a consultant to the Netherlands Film Fund and is director of program agency Avanti, while advising international organizations, funds, and filmmakers.
Elu
Elu is a multidisciplinary artist and cultural preservationist, whose work is rooted in community empowerment, social impact, and the preservation of indigenous knowledge. Through her interdisciplinary practice, she builds bridges between cultural heritage and contemporary social issues, using art as a vehicle for education, connection, and meaningful change. Over the years, Elu has led and contributed to international fundraising initiatives that have supported humanitarian causes and grassroots communities. A central focus of her work is advancing mental health and wellbeing, particularly for women and marginalized communities across the SWANA region. Through innovative community-led projects, she has helped create accessible pathways to mental wellness support, recognizing emotional wellbeing as a fundamental component of empowerment, resilience, and social equity. Drawing from her Kurdish heritage and extensive experience in community organizing, Elu has collaborated on exhibitions, festivals, workshops, and cultural programs worldwide, with a strong commitment to amplifying underrepresented voices and fostering inclusive spaces for dialogue and representation. She is internationally recognized for her pioneering work in the revival and preservation of DEQ, an indigenous Kurdish tattoo tradition. Through exhibitions, archival initiatives, publications, and an upcoming documentary, she continues to safeguard and elevate this important cultural legacy for future generations. As an ambassador, Elu brings a deep commitment to advancing the rights, wellbeing, and empowerment of women and girls, championing initiatives that strengthen mental health, cultural identity, community resilience, and equal opportunities for all.
Beyan Salah
Beyan Salah is a Kurdish filmmaker, global activist, and London-based storyteller whose work travels across borders to center children, women, and human rights—the voices and margins that too often go unheard. Born in Kurdistan, she relocated to London seven years ago, where she develops documentary and narrative projects that blend intimate, character-driven storytelling with broader social inquiry. Her films invite audiences to witness courageous lives, reflect on systemic injustices, and consider how empathy can translate into action. By collaborating closely with communities, NGOs, and festival circuits, Beyan crafts work that is artistically rigorous and socially impactful, with the aim of creating tangible change wherever it’s needed. An ambassador for Free To Run, she has run the London Marathon in support of the Samaritans charity. She is honored to join Lotus Flower as an ambassador, partnering to amplify underrepresented voices and to advance a vision of storytelling that empowers communities, fosters solidarity, and drives lasting impact. She also works with The Forgotten Women Charity to support survivors of gender-based violence through access to resources, education, and opportunities to tell their stories.
Dr. Iman Ibrahim
Dr. Iman Ibrahim is a medical doctor, lecturer, founder, and public health advocate. Her work focuses on improving health outcomes, social impact, and creating opportunities for young people and women to thrive.
She currently serves as an Advisor and Clinical Lead for digital health initiatives aimed at improving access to care and strengthening health system coordination in the Kurdistan Region. Passionate about evidence-based solutions, she advocates for data-driven approaches that inform policy and improve services.
Dr. Ibrahim is the Founder of Wigs & Wings for Cancer Support and Research, an initiative that provides free real-hair wigs to children experiencing hair loss due to cancer treatment, helping restore confidence and dignity during their cancer journey.
A strong believer in the power of mentorship and representation, she develops initiatives that connect young people with mentors and opportunities while championing visible and relatable role models for young women. As an award-winning innovator recognised at the age of 17, she experienced firsthand how early support can shape a young person's vision for what is possible. She believes that when young women look up to leaders who come from communities like their own, ambition becomes tangible and success feels attainable.
Over the past decade, Dr. Ibrahim has led and contributed to numerous community, leadership, and youth development grassroots initiatives as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community. Having participated in several international leadership programmes, she continues to champion health equity, women's wellbeing, innovation, and opportunities for the next generation of leaders.
Lara Fatah
Lara is a communications specialist with a background in journalism, human rights advocacy, and consultancy. She is currently Head of Communications at the Freedom Fund and previously led communications at SEED Foundation in Kurdistan-Iraq, where she developed awareness campaigns on gender-based violence and preventing sexual exploitation, harassment, and abuse. She also led research for the Kurdistan Memory Programme, documenting modern Kurdish history and the 1980s Anfal genocide. Lara holds degrees from the University of Edinburgh and SOAS and in her spare time is a keen reader and baker.