The Team
Laura Marks CBE – Co-Founder & Acting CEO
Laura co-founded Nisa-Nashim on her journey to help strengthen bonds between communities and build social cohesion.
After a career in advertising and marketing Laura moved into the Third Sector, where she founded Mitzvah Day in 2008. She is also Chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, and through all the organisations she is involved in, finds ways to combat barriers to cohesion.
Laura brings people together across the nation to focus on the shared challenges of inclusion, tolerance and the reduction of hatred based on identity. Her interest in women was formalised when she chaired a commission on Women in Jewish leadership in 2011.
Her two passions of equality and inclusion, and of interfaith relationships come together in the wonderful women who make up Nisa-Nashim.
Lindy Diamond – Operations & Communications
Lindy is passionate about interfaith as well as enriching and supporting her community. Her work at Nisa-Nashim involves creating platforms and capacity for increasing understanding and solidarity, addressing issues of shared concern, and breaking down stereotypes that typically exist between Jewish and Muslim women.
Before taking on this role, Lindy worked in communications, fundraising and education for various NGOs. She is dedicated to dismantling prejudices and building a society rooted in mutual respect and understanding.
Lindy’s commitment to gender equality and interfaith collaboration is reflected in her work, where she uses her skills to put a spotlight on the incredible women who are Nisa and Nashim.
Co-Founder & Trustees
Julie Siddiqi – Co-founder
Julie was the Executive Director of the Islamic Society of Britain from 2010-2014 and was pivotal in peace initiatives following the murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich.
She has spoken on many major news programmes including Radio 4 and Newsnight, at the Christian festival, Greenbelt and the Jewish festival, Limmud, and at receptions hosted by the British Armed Forces.
She was previously a member of the Government’s National Muslim Women’s Advisory Group, a mentor for the Prince of Wales Charity, Mosaic and is Patron for Jewish and Muslim theatre group, MUJU.
Julie is an alumni of the Cambridge Coexist Leadership Programme 2013 and the Women in Leadership, from Windsor Leadership 2015. Julie is Founder and Director of Sadaqa Day, a one day Muslim-led focus on social action, which was launched in March 2015. Julie converted to Islam in March 1995 and is happily married with four children.
Dr Zaza Johnson Elsheikh – Interim Chair of Trustees
Dr Zaza Johnson Elsheikh MBBSPGDiPLP has worked as an International Commercial, Family and Workplace mediator (accredited by CEDR, ADR and Globis respectively) since 2006. Zaza is a Home Office approved Mentor and a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators. Zaza’s mediation style and approach are informed by her former careers as a Medical Doctor and Solicitor. Recognised as a faith leader in the UK, Zaza facilitates interfaith dialogue about complex issues on a bimonthly basis through the charity Belief in Mediation and Arbitration. Her own interfaith (Baptist and Muslim) and intercultural (Jamaican and Sudanese) heritage have enhanced her ability to work with individuals or groups from diverse communities.
Denise Joseph – Trustee
Denise Joseph is a Chartered Accountant with over 35 years’ experience of working in the public, private and charity sectors.
She has worked extensively with charities and social enterprises since 2004, including six years as the Fundraising and Finance Director of Mango, a UK based international non-governmental organisation (NGO) working to strengthen financial management and accountability of humanitarian relief and development organisations around the world.
Since 2011, Denise has managed a family business. She is also a trustee of a number of other UK charities including Trust for London, JW3 Trust and the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.
Ahmereen Reza OBE – Trustee
Ahmereen qualified as an architect in New York, her consulting practice is based on her graduate work from MIT in developing tools for housing and social mobility for the urban poor.
Ahmereen was awarded an OBE in 2020 in recognition of her 14 years of work at DIL UK, interfaith work and for public and political services. In March 2017, she was selected to be the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Hodge Hill- Birmingham and the GLA London wide List candidate in 2021.
At present, Ahmereen is a trustee of Nisa-Nashim, Vice Chair of Conservative Friends of Pakistan, Conservative Policy Forum-Area Leadership Champion, CWO-Diversity Officer and 50:50 Parliament – Conservative BiteSize coordinator.
Joanne Feldman – Trustee
Since qualifying as a Solicitor over 30 years ago Joanne has worked tirelessly to support and help people involved in conflict. She qualified as a Family Mediator in 2008.
Her passion for developing positive interactions between all humans led to her joining an interfaith group as a representative of her local Jewish community and when Nisa-Nashim was launched in 2015 she was asked to be the first co-chair for South Manchester. Her journey so far has proved to be extremely challenging, but enormously rewarding. Joanne regards herself fortunate to have been given such a unique opportunity to work with other like-minded brave females to create bridges between the Jewish and Muslim faith groups and breakdown barriers that have historically led to conflict between them.
She sincerely hopes that her legal training and mediation skills together with her northern charm will help her to meet the challenges of her role as trustee of this inspirational group of women.
Dr Shabina Asad Qayyum
Dr Shabina Asad Qayyum Practices as a GP within the City of Peterborough. She hosts a local community Radio Health show on a community radio station in Peterborough. She is a member of the British Islamic Medical Association and has delivered Health talks within local communities. In 2020 she was nominated as one of the 101 most inspiring Muslims in the NHS by the Muslim Doctors Association . She is currently the Leader for Peterborough City Council. And served as the Mayoress to the Mayor in 2022/2023.