Celebrating Phenomenal Women

At Bholani London, we’re all about celebrating women and their

achievements especially with all that life throws at us, there has never been a better time to highlight and celebrate those who have inspired us with the impact they have

made in their personal and professional world. In no particular

order, read on for some serious inspiration…

1) Aisatta Lam – Mauritania – Microfinance expert – vocal advocate for women’s rights. Aïssata Lam set up the Youth Chamber of Commerce of Mauritania to support young women entrepreneurs struggling to access funding for their start-ups. She is a vocal advocate for women's rights, using her platform to honour exceptional Mauritanian women, and was appointed to the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council by French President Emmanuel Macron. The time is coming when women's voices cannot be silenced, nor ignored. The time is coming when women's equal participation in today's most pressing issues is necessary. The time is coming when women's seat at the table is non-negotiable. This time is now. 2) Sarah Martins Da Silva - UKConsultant gynaecologist/obstetrician

She has focused on solving male infertility, to try to stop women being subjected to unnecessary and invasive fertility treatments. I hope that we can harness science, technology, investment and innovation in male reproductive health to redress global inequalities and the current burden of fertility on women. 3) Van Thi Nguyen – Vietnam - Van is co-founder of the Will to Live Center, which provides training for disabled people in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi. Her aim is to create an equal working environment for all. She also runs social enterprise Imagator, which employs 80 people, half of whom have a disability. I wish the environment in Vietnam enabled people with talent and devotion to develop, instead of people feeling like they need to move abroad to use their skills. 4) Farida Osman – Egypt - Swimmer - Nicknamed 'the golden fish', in 2017 Farida became the first woman in Egypt to win a medal when she claimed bronze in the 50m butterfly at the FINA World Aquatics Championships. She gives lectures at universities to inspire the younger generation to pursue swimming, and is training to fulfill her ambition of winning a medal at the Olympic Games. My hope for the future is to have more female athletes excel at their sport in order to represent Egypt well internationally. I want them to believe in their dreams and do whatever it takes until it becomes a reality. 5) Aisha Yesufu – Activist – Nigeria - Aisha Yesufu is a Nigerian activist demanding good governance in her country. She is co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, launched in response to the 2014 abduction of more than 200 girls from a secondary school in Chibok, Nigeria, by the militant group Boko Haram. She was also a prominent participant in the "EndSars" protests, during which saw Nigerians take to the streets to demand greater accountability from the Nigerian Police Force, beginning with the dissolution of the controversial Special Anti Robbery Squad (Sars) members of which have been accused of the murder, rape and robbery of civilians. My advice to women is to fully and unapologetically take their place in the world. Women should stop asking for a place at the table – they should create their own table. 6) Christina Adane - Netherlands – Campaigner Christina was behind the UK petition for free school meals over the summer holidays, which footballer Marcus Rashford supported. As the youth board co-chairwoman of Bite Back 2030, a campaign to fight injustice in the food industry – and having received free school meals herself – Christina wants to make sure no child in the UK goes hungry. Never compromise on yourself or your beliefs. No woman has ever made a change by blending in with the crowd. 7) Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr - Sierra Leone - Mayor Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr OBE is best known for her Transform Freetown plan, which targets 11 sectors – from tackling environmental degradation and climate change to helping create jobs in order to reduce youth unemployment. We probably feel frustrated and dissatisfied. That doesn’t have to remain a negative. We can turn it into a positive by allowing our dissatisfaction to give birth to the change we want to see. 8) Waad al-Kateab – SyriaFilm – maker Waad al-Kateab is a Syrian activist, journalist and award-winning film-maker who has received numerous accolades (including an Emmy) for her news reports in Aleppo. In 2020 her first feature, For Sama, won the Bafta award for best documentary, and was nominated for the Academy Award for best documentary feature. Having been displaced from Aleppo in 2016, Waad, her husband and their two daughters now live in London, where Waad works with Channel 4 News and leads the advocacy campaign Action For Sama. We only lose when we give up hope. To all women, no matter where: continue to fight for what you believe in, dare to keep dreaming, and above all, never, ever give up hope. 9) Elizabeth Anionwu – Nurse – UK​ Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu is an emeritus professor of nursing at the University of West London and a patron of the UK Sickle Cell Society. She is a groundbreaking sickle-cell and thalassemia nurse who campaigned for a statue of British-Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole. She's been a key figure in highlighting the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on BAME communities. Never underestimate the positive global contribution that you and so many other women are making. 10) Naomi Dickson – UK - Chief executive Naomi has dedicated her professional life to supporting Jewish women and children who have experienced domestic abuse, and to educating the Jewish community so that they have the tools to highlight, expose and prevent domestic abuse, now and in the future. As chief executive of Jewish Women’s Aid, Naomi enjoys working with women of all faiths and none, educating communities and faith leaders to create a world where no forms of violence against women and girls are tolerated. The world has changed a lot in 2020 and we have learned to build our own resilience so that we are able to help others.

11) Elin Williams - Wales, UK Disability blogger Elin is a writer and disability advocate who has shared her experiences of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and retinitis pigmentosa (a degenerative eye condition) on her blog, My Blurred World, since she was 16. She writes honest, open accounts of her experiences, sharing everything from advice and the emotional impact of her conditions, to the societal barriers she faces and the importance of promoting accessibility in the fashion industry. Throughout, she weaves a thread of positivity into her content in the hope of raising awareness and letting others in a similar situation know that they’re not alone. Find an outlet that allows you to channel your creativity, energy, thoughts, pain and happiness. Embrace all the positives it can bring. You deserve something that’s completely yours, without any outside forces influencing its purpose. 12) Anastasia Volkova – Ukraine - Entrepreneur Dr Anastasia Volkova is an entrepreneur and agricultural innovator, who uses science and technology to tackle issues of food security. In 2016 she founded FluroSat, a company that uses drone and satellite data, along with algorithms and other tools, to help farmers optimise crop production. Be the change that you wish to see in the world. I hope we can all find our own ways to take advantage of this situation and enable positive change.

13) Pardis Sabeti – Iran - Computational geneticist Pardis Sabeti is a professor at Harvard University, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She has contributed to human and microbial genomics, information theory, and rural infectious disease surveillance and education efforts in West Africa. In 2014 she was in the team of Ebola fighters named Persons of the Year by Time magazine, which also included her on its list of 100 Most Influential People. She is the host of educational video series Against All Odds, and lead singer of the rock band Thousand Days. Through all the challenges we will endure, solidarity and laughter with other good people in the fight for a better world is key to our endurance and success.

14) Miho Imada – Japan - Sake master brewer Sake-brewing has long been a man’s world – for centuries, women were forbidden to set foot in Japan's breweries. After the male master brewer at her family brewery retired, Miho decided to train and become one of the few female sake master brewers in Japan. Currently, about 20 of the country's sake breweries are run by women. If you can find a job worthy of your life's devotion, immerse yourself in it. If you treat your chosen profession with respect and sincerity, you will be on your way to achieving your goals.

15) Raya Bidshahri – Iran - Educator Raya is founder and CEO of the award-winning Awecademy, an organisation with a mission to use education to improve the world. It aims to inspire teachers and students with online learning modules like 21st Century Skills and Cosmic Citizenship, to bring positive change to humanity for the future. I am intelligently optimistic about the future. This is because the future of humanity is not pre-defined or set in stone, but rather it's up to us to create it. We can choose to create a future that is brimming with prosperity, progress, and love.

16) Mabel Bianco – Argentina - Doctor Feminist medical doctor Mabel Bianco has spent four decades putting women's health, reproductive rights, abortion, and HIV/AIDS on the public policy agenda in Argentina. She has introduced policies to save women's lives - from tackling breast cancer to violence against women - and has been a pioneer of sex education in the face of Roman Catholic conservatism. I want a near future without women dying needlessly. I hope we will reach a point where women all over the world can decide freely about their lives, their bodies, and whether to be mothers or not without risking death, and are able to live without gender violence. 17) Ashcharya Peiris - Sri Lanka - Designer Ashcharya Peiris was on her way home from work at a bank in Sri Lanka when a bomb blast left her blind in 2000. She lost her job to her disability, but ended up fulfilling her dream of becoming a fashion designer by describing her designs to a seamstress. She was a finalist in Sri Lanka's Up & Coming Fashion Designer competition, and is now a motivational speaker in garment factories, inspiring young women to follow their own dreams. Trials and tribulations in life are nothing but disguised blessings that empower you to achieve your goals.

18) Onjali Rauf – UK - Writer Onjali Rauf was recovering from life-saving surgery when the idea for her first book came to her. Inspired by a real-life meeting between herself and a refugee mother in Calais, The Boy at the Back of the Class is a child's perspective on the refugee crisis and won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2019. She is also founder of Making Herstory, which seeks to end the abuse, enslavement and trafficking of women and girls in the UK and beyond. The future for us women seems both a beautiful and a precarious thing. Beautiful because in so many ways, untold stories of just how much women have been sacrificed at the altar of male progression are finally seeing the light of day. But the advancements are fragile too – with outright misogynists and abusers still in seats of power and women still battling wars that our great-grandmothers were battling too.

19)Samah Subay – Yemen - Lawyer Samah is a lawyer who has worked tirelessly in difficult circumstances since the war in Yemen started in 2015. She provides legal support to families whose children have 'disappeared'. This year her team at Mwatana for Human Rights managed to reunite some of these families, though she continues to advocate for the release and education of many more children still in detention. The time will come when people will be convinced in the pointlessness of wars. Then change will come, including legislative changes in terms of the rights of women specifically and Yemeni people in general.

20)Saran Kaba Jones - Saran is a clean water advocate and social entrepreneur from Liberia. She is the founder of FACE Africa, an organization working to strengthen water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure and services in rural communities across sub-Saharan Africa. She is World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a 2016 TIME Magazine Next Generation Leader. Her work with FACE Africa has been profiled in the Boston Globe and CNN Inside Africa. “In our lifetime, we can solve this water crisis. It’s something that’s achievable. It’s doable.” - Saran Kaba Jones

21) OlaJumoke Okoya Jummy is a highly accomplished coach, leadership and organisation development consultant with more than 2 decades’ experience. She was listed among top 50 inspirational black women in the UK in 2019. Her expertise includes Leadership & organisation development, Diversity & Inclusion, Workplace Resilience and Wellbeing, and Women in Leadership coaching. Jummy is a thought leader and an outcome focused individual who is passionate about helping others succeed and constantly seeking to be innovative.

22) Natalie Elizabeth Ellis & Danielle Canty – CEO BossBabe Natalie and Daneille are the female powerhouses behind BossBabe an empowering “Community of unapologetically ambitious women.” BossBabe is the fastest-growing educational media company for female entrepreneurs. Natalie and Elizabeth have worked with 100,000+ women all around the world through their monthly membership, mentorship programs, coaching containers and courses, to help women make their dreams a reality (professional and personal!). ‘Did you know that less than 18% of women hit 6 figures in their business and only 2% reach the 7 figure mark? We’re on a mission to change that, and make starting and scaling successful businesses the new norm.’

23)Pippa Vosper Pippa is a stylist, brand consultant, spin instructor and an authority on creative living. After years making her name as a stylist for US Vogue, W and Harper’s Bazaar, Pippa has recently carved a new path defined by honesty and sharing; opening up on her own personal trauma and in doing so, helping other women find strength in difficult times. She is an advocate for women empowerment, mentored many of her female employees and in doing so, hopefully made them see that they can achieve whatever they set out to do. ‘My upbringing helped shape me: it showed me that anybody can do what they set their mind to if they have sheer determination and don’t take no for an answer’

24) Freya Lewis - Student Freya and her best friend were just 30ft away from Salman Abedi’s bomb as they walked out of the Manchester Arena on May 22, 2017, after watching Ariana Grande perform. After being wheelchair-bound for three months, Freya decided to run the 2.5k Junior Great Manchester Run on May 20, 2018, raising an incredible £40,000 for the hospital that saved her life. At the 2018 NHS Heroes Awards, she received a Young Fundraiser Award from former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson ‘I’ll continue to learn to accept what has happened to me, and to not let it define me, but instead shape the way I live.’

a George, campaigner

25)Amik - After founding the #FreePeriods campaign during her A levels in 2017, Amika forced parliament into action with her petition calling for an end to period poverty with the provision of free sanitary products for disadvantaged teenagers nationwide. Thanks to her efforts, the government has pledged £1.5million to the cause, and the Department For Education announced its commitment to providing free sanitary products across England’s schools. ‘Keep thinking of the people you’re standing up for and it will give you the courage to keep going!

26)Charlotte Kneer Charlotte suffered 16 years of violence before finally leaving her husband in 2002. Seven years later, she became a support worker at Women’s Aid, helping give food, clothes, bedding, money and uniforms to victims of domestic violence. Inspired by these women, she reported her ex-husband to the police in 2010 and he was later sentenced to seven years in prison. In July 2011 Charlotte became chief executive of RBWA. “One of the most amazing things about doing this job is seeing women at the end of their journey through our refuge,” “A shadow comes in, and a woman leaves.”