The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Warsi
Baroness Warsi is a British Pakistani lawyer, politician and a conservative parliamentarian, who co-chaired the Conservative Party. First Muslim Cabinet Minister, Party Chairman 2010-2012, Minister for Faith and Communities and Senior Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth office 2012-2014. Resigned from Government in August 2014 over the Government’s stand on Gaza.

Yalda Hakim
Yalda Hakim is the presenter of flagship programme, Impact on BBC World News. In addition to her presenting duties on Impact, Yalda continues to deliver hard hitting journalism not only for the Our World strand, but also for BBC News. Her interview with Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan lead to headlines across the globe as he accused NATO of causing ‘great suffering’.

For Our World her investigation into the USA’s use of drones in Yemen was widely reported. Yalda has also explored people-trafficking and torture of Ethiopian migrants in Yemen and following the Bangladesh garment factory collapse uncovered workers still being put at risk in unsafe premises.

Yalda was born in Afghanistan and moved to Australia in the late 1980s after her father fled Kabul with his family when Russia invaded

Ayesha Mustafa
Ayesha Mustafa, social entrepreneur and founder of Fashion ComPassion works with brands that employ marginalized communities and skilled artisans from all over the world, who work under the direct tutelage of some of the finest designers.

Fashion ComPassion provides a global platform for these groups. Appealing to the sensibilities of fashion lovers the world over and giving them an opportunity to directly contribute to the rehabilitation of these communities. Fashion ComPassion has received acclaim from leading fashion magazines, such as British Vogue, Vogue.Com, Vogue Italia, Marie Claire Spain, Observer Magazine, Grazia and many more. Numerous celebrities such as Livia Firth, Lily Cole, Eva Longoria, and Anne Hathaway have also worn pieces from various collections.

Ayesha is now considered to be a thought leader on ethical fashion and has been interviewed by CNBC Arabia and SKY News and is a contributor on The Guardian Sustainable Business. Ayesha is among BBC’s #100Women for 2014.

Sathnam Sanghera
Sathnam Sanghera is a award winning British journalist and author of Marriage Material: A Novel and The Boy With The Topknot: A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton.

Before becoming a writer Sathnam worked at a burger chain, a hospital laundry, a market research firm, a sewing factory and a literacy project in New York.As a student he worked at the Express and Star in Wolverhampton and dressed up as a “news bunny” for L!VE TV.Between 1998 and 2006 he was a reporter and feature writer for the Financial Times.He joined The Times as a columnist and feature writer in 2007.He also writes for Management Today magazine.

s9muses

Kaustubha Jewels

My Magazine

Amaya London

All images courtesy of Payal Shah photography. www.facebook.com/Payal.Shah.Photography

Baker Street, London 28th January 2015, Women Empowered held its first event of the year titled The World in Which WE Live. Politician, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, critically acclaimed news reporter Yalda Hakim , Ayesha Musfata, Social Entrepreneur and Sathnam Sanghera, celebrated columnist and writer, shared their experiences and insights as to how one person can shape the world in which we live.

The speakers covered the areas of politics and process, business and social enterprise, how one could use the power of the pen to give a voice to those who do not have one, as a vehicle to change the lives of others or to highlight causes and issues.

Reena Ranger, Chairman and Founder of Women Empowered began by welcoming the guests and said “Sometimes the world seems like a huge place and it may appear that we ourselves have little influence over it, but the reality is different, we all have a voice and we all have a sphere of influence, and it’s up to us to make use of that potential asset and decide how we will make use of it!

Yalda Hakim, presenter of flagship programme, Impact, on BBC World News, always wanted to be a journalist from a young age. Issues of social justice and current affairs were always discussed at home and she knew she wanted to tell the stories of people without a voice, the voiceless victims.

She spoke about her early years. Yalda was born in Afghanistan and moved to Australia in the late 1980s after her father fled Kabul with his family when the Russians invaded. She spoke about myriad of events she had covered including the Arab Springs, the birth of South Sudan, reporting from a mine field in Southern Afghanistan, covering the re-election of President Obama and stories from near Mosul 10 years on. Many of her stories touched and moved those present and sometimes illustrated stories of hope and desperation.

She said that she is empowered to keep going by seeing people who want to make a change in the world and while there are stories that really need to be told.

Ayesha Mustafa, a social entrepreneur and founder of Fashion ComPassion works with brands that employ marginalized communities and skilled artisans from all over the world and who work under the direct tutelage of some of the finest designers. Ayesha is now considered to be a thought leader on ethical fashion and has been interviewed by CNBC Arabia and SKY News and is a contributor on The Guardian Sustainable Business. Ayesha is among the BBC’s #100Women for 2014.

Ayesha realised from early on she wanted to make a change, she took some time to realise what that change was. Her extensive travels showed her that even though cultures were different many of the problems faced were the same. Growing up she was drawn to reading about stories of women both empowering and saddening. Armed with the wisdom from her father who told her, “We are all born with a purpose, a large or small one and it is up to us to find ours”. She realised that her purpose to help women. She spoke of her journey from the age of 16 helping women gain micro financing in Bangladesh and how she realised that economic empowerment was key and with that empowerment a women’s life and prospects change as well as those for her children. She decided to marry her two passions, fashion and philanthropy.

Baroness Warsi, the first Muslim Cabinet Minister, spoke about her upbringing and the sense of a need to achieve from an early age.

She shared her journey from childhood to date and how she overcame obstacles and achieved various milestones. She attributed a strong sense of wanting to effect change that had kept her focused through hard or difficult times.

She talked about always staying true to oneself and ensuring that one must be accountable to themselves for their actions. Long after all has come and gone, you must be answerable to yourself.

Sathman Sanghera, an award winning British journalist and author provided the male voice for the evening. He spoke about his family background and humble beginnings. He praised his illiterate father for taking him to the library regularly. He credited two factors for changing his life and furthering his aspirations: a good education and a love for books. He was the first in his family to purchase a book and how many of his 54 first cousins came from miles around to look at this book! He didn’t think that writing was for him and it was something that other people did but that was until he won a writing competition and met some journalists. He then realised that writing was his calling and began writing for his local newspaper at 16. He spoke about the need for diversity in the media and that we need to talk about it so that we can help the next generation. He added that we need to be role models for the next generation so that they too can aspire for more.

The evening ended with a busy and bustling Q&A session and networking followed by dinner whilst guests browsed through the stalls of S9Muses, Amaya London, Kastuba Jewels and It’s My Magazine. Reena Ranger thanked those who made the evening possible and Payal Shah for taking the photos that the world would see from the evening and thanked the speakers for sharing their stories with such honesty, passion and conviction.

Women Empowered or WE as it likes to call itself and feels it is, aims to encourage women and men to be the best at whatever they choose to do by providing role models to engage us with their journeys and inspirational stories. This in turn we hope will encourage us to take that leap of faith. Empowered with their advice and experiences enable us, to make the best of our individual skills and talents and achieve whatever personal and professional goals we may have.

Ultimately WE would like you to do whatever that special thing is, that thing that makes the difference to your life as you see it. We always include men in our discussions and encourage them to attend.

WE aims to provide a forum, a platform and a network where you can find support, mentoring and inspiration. A place to meet like minded people or that of a different mind-set and create alliances for the future. For more information or to be notified of future events please visit www.womenempowered.co.uk

Disclaimer: Speakers may change without prior notice. All partners at the event are individual third parties and personal due diligence should be done.
Women Empowered shall not take any responsibilities for any transactions done with any third party organisation.
Please Note: Photos and video recordings may be taken at this event and used on social media sites. Anyone that do not want to be included please let the organisers know.