Founded in October 2020, MLI is my latest undertaking. It brings together all my practitioner experience, a leadership journey that started with me as the Data Manager for the ZAMBART Project in Zambia, then moving to the UK and taking on various jobs including as an IT trainer in the NHS in 2003. After that as the founder and CEO of BME Community Services from 2005 to 2015, a not for profit charity which helped to bridge the gap in service provision for people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities in West Sussex, a job that I thoroughly enjoyed and did tirelessly for 10 years. In addition to making a massive difference in many migrants’ lives and contributing submissions to policies such as the UK FGM law, the Domestic Violence Visa rules and much more, it also paved the way to me obtaining an MSc in Leadership and Management from the University of Southampton in 2010, an induction as a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management in 2011, a diploma in Corporate and Executive Coaching from the Coaching Academy.

Somewhere along the line, I became a leadership development coach from 2013, rejoined the NHS at a senior level, became a Prince2 Practitioner, and a Certified High Performance Coach with the High Performance Coaching Institute USA from 2016 to 2019. All that experience brings an excellent grasp of issues facing highly skilled and highly qualified migrant professionals like myself.

Starting in 2019, I decided to position myself as an expert and prove my credibility by embarking on my academic journey to the expertise in ‘ Migrants Self-Inclusion into leadership’ and organisational behaviour as a University Lecturer (PT), and PhD(c) in Inclusion in Leadership for which I am due to graduate in 2022.
The result is an institute showcasing highly skilled migrants’ professionals and encouraging more migrants to aspire for a seat at the decision-making leadership table. Life as a migrant is tough, but together we can achieve our goals and making a difference in both our home countries and our host countries through effective participation in leadership.

In February 2017, I founded Diverse Cultures Publishing. It was born out of my passion for writing even though I have dyslexia and can never write without mistakes, and I cannot read fluently. When I was told about my dyslexia in 2015, I started challenging myself to write more, after all, I could write creatively, the only problem was that my work was not typo-free to a point where I had been shut down so much that I lost my self-esteem. It was extremely confusing, especially that at that point, I was doing well in my career, I was business-minded, and the go-to person for others. Additionally, I had already contributed chapters in three anthologies published by PWN Books, a US-based independent publisher. I had to change my mindset; I vowed to teach myself to read and write in ways that worked for me.

Secondly, I have a shaky history of not knowing my paternal ancestry. Maybe if someone could have written it down before my dad’s sudden passing followed by my sister with whom I shared a dad and knew more than me, I would have something to tell my children and future generations; thus I am keen to change that, not just for me but for many out there who want to leave a legacy.
After naysayers told me I had no chance of being published by major publishing houses, I did not even want to try; instead, I learned how to publish books using the same channels they used. After much research, I thought if I have struggled with reading and writing, but, I am creative, many neurodivergent and multilingual people might have the same struggles, So I set out to help people who would not typically be offered an opportunity by mainstream publishing houses and would not be confident to self-publish.

That is what we do at DCP, we help people to tell their stories and leave a legacy. I became my first client and published my first solo book in 2017, then clients’ followed, the catalogue is slowly growing. On a funny note, relax, I do not do the proofreading by myself.