International Woman of the Year, Human Rights Campaigner and author, Zerbanoo Gifford was born in India on May 11th 1950.

Zerbanoo holds the Nehru Centenary award for her work championing the cause of Women, Children and minorities. She has been awarded the Freedom of the city of Lincoln Nebraska for her work against modern slavery and racism.

A member of the Race relations forum and an advisor to the former British Home Secretary, Zerbanoo has chaired the Commission "Looking into Ethnic Minority Involvement into British Life."  She made political history when elected as a councillor for the Liberals in 1982 as the first non white woman. She has also contested Parliamentary elections on three occasions.

Patron of numerous international charities, Zerbanoo is the Founder Director of the ASHA Foundation, which supports philanthropy and interfaith, intercultural understanding worldwide.

Zerbanoo also helped set up the Charities Aid Foundation in India. She has been the Director of Anti Slavery International and London Organiser,  for the homeless charity Shelter.

Zerbanoo has authored numerous books, including The Golden Thread; Asian Experiences in post-Raj Britain; Dadabhai Naoroji: Britain’s first non-white Member of Parliament; Thomas Clarkson, and the Campaign Against The Slave Trade; Asian Presence in Europe; and Celebrating India’s 50 Year Anniversary, which accompanied a television series.

In 2004 she was awarded a NESTA (National Endowment of Science Technology and Arts) Fellowship where she dedicated to engaging inspirational and influential women from around the world to work for a more just and peaceful world. The website "Women a World of Inspiration” initiated by Zerbanoo is a prelude to her forthcoming book “Confessions of a Serial Womaniser.”

Zerbanoo was awarded the “Splendor Award” in Hollywood last year for her work and in celebration of India’s 60th anniversary.

KEY PEOPLE

Thomas Chan runs his own management and training consultancy, specialising in diversity, race equality and service delivery training programmes for public sector agencies and capacity building programmes for voluntary sector organisations.

Previously he was the manager of an advocacy and interpreting services in central London. He is an examiner and moderator of the Institute of Linguists and conducts training programmes for community interpreters and bilingual advocates with Open College Network accreditations.

Thomas is a founding member and the Vice-Chair of the Chinese in Britain Forum, a trustee of the Chinese Community Centre and Chair of the Chinese Takeaway Association (UK). He is also a member of the Home Office’s Race Equality Advisory Panel, the Consumer Committee, Food Standards Agency and the Stop and Search Action Team Community Panel.

Byram Jeejeebhoy is a qualified barrister and chairman of the family property business, which owns estates in India and director of several property development companies in India and the UK.

An accomplished violinist, he is a trustee of the Bombay Academy of Music, Art & Drama.

For his charitable works, Byram was made an honorary Knight of the Society of Knights of the Round Table in 1971 and awarded the Vijay Rattna award for enrichment of human life in 1991.

Richard Gifford was educated at Cambridge University, and was a Senior Partner at Sheridans Solicitors, specialising in international human rights law.

He is the former chair of the Anglo-Mauritian Association and the trustee of the Illois Trust Fund

He is currently a Consultant with Clifford Chance Solicitors LLP.

Patsy Robertson is an international media consultant and a former diplomat with the Government of Jamaica and the Commonwealth Secretariat. Her career in the Commonwealth spanned two decades, and she was Director of Information and Official Spokesperson for the Commonwealth for many years. She has also worked with the United Nations as senior media adviser for the Fourth World Conference on Women and the follow-up conference Beijing+5 in 1990 and with UNICEF on the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children 1991-1992.

Jamaican born Mrs Robertson was educated in Jamaica and New York and has lived in London for over 30 years. Besides her work with the Asha Foundation,she is currently a Trustee of several other charities including Widows Rights International which seeks to promote the human rights of widows in Africa and Asia, the Thomson Foundation which trains journalists in over 40 countries, the Suzy Lamplugh Trust which works on personal safety issues and the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum based in Bristol.

Doctor of Optometry, Kusoom Vadgama was born in Kenya in 1932, and was educated at the then Government Indian Girls’ High School. In 1953 she came to London to study optometry at the now City University and in 1959 she went to America to the Illinois College of Optometry, Chicago. Kusoom also attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. She returned to London in 1962 and set up her own optometry practice.

At the height of the Quit India movement during the 1940s, Kusoom was an active and prominent member of the Indian Voluntary Force, drawing inspiration from the Indian National Army. She studied the glory and history of the British Empire at school, but her time outside was spent leading anti-British processions and attending ‘Free India’ rallies.

Throughout her career, she has maintained her interest in history, with a particular focus on the special relationship that existed between India and Britain during the years of the Raj. She hopes that one day there will be a research centre in Britain for the study of the Indian diaspora. Kusoom asserts that the history of the British Empire can only be true if it includes the history of the peoples from the Empire in Britain.

Kusoom has published two books. Her first was published in 1984: India in Britain 1852-1947, with forewords by Prince Charles and Mrs Indira Gandhi. In 1997, her second book was published to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Indian independce, British-Indian campaigns in Britain for Indian reforms, justice and freedom 1831-1947, with a foreword by Dr L.M. Singhvi, the Indian High Commissioner. Kusoom’s upcoming book is on the life of India’s first woman barrister, Cornelia Sorabji.

Audrey  Munro

Audrey Munro was born and brought up in the north of Scotland. After obtaining an M.A. (Hons) French/German at Aberdeen University, she pursued a career in broadcast journalism, specializing in international news. With a knowledge of several languages, Audrey worked in France, Germany and Switzerland, before coming to London, where she joined the BBC World Service. Audrey became involved with the ASHA Centre after coming across the Inspirational Women webpage.