Meet the Team

Over the last few months I've written a lot about my colleagues in the Equality, Diversity and Human Rights team at NHS North West.

Now there's a chance for you to see them.

This photo was taken recently as part of a professional shoot for a new publication, and because we are forever needing new and original photos for things like our newsletters and blog.

Who's who

On the back row, standing at the right is Shahnaz Ali. Shahnaz is the SHA's Associate Director for Equality, Diversity and Human Rights and is therefore our boss and, technically, my client.

Shahnaz has public sector experience going back decades, along with a history of black and minority ethnic community activism in her youth. She is best described as a visionary and a consummate networker and influencer.

Her ideas (which it's my job to help deliver) take E&D strategy to levels which few (if any) other people have gone in the UK. She's a pleasure to work with. Our talents are complementary and we often drive each other on by bouncing ideas around.

Standing on Shahnaz's left is Loren Grant, Assistant Director of Communications. She is responsible for all of our team's publications, news and engagement. She produces our monthly newsletter, writes content for our HELP portal, organises all our events, runs our Health Equality Stakeholder Engagement (HESE) consultations, and takes charge of publishing all our resources such as the LGBT History Timeline and our forthcoming guide to Sexual Orientation Monitoring. She sits opposite me and shares my interest in cycling. Again, it's always so much a pleasure to work with Loren as we can bounce ideas off each other.

Sitting next to me on the right of the picture is the newest recruit to our team, Annette Donegani, who is Shahnaz's new PA. Annette comes to us with experience from working in a local Foundation Trust and her title belies her experience. She's only been with us a couple of weeks as I write this and yet it feels already as though she's a full part of the team. As we're such a small group, Annette is also rapidly learning how to do things such as updating HELP, organising events, and so forth.

And lastly, seated on the left of the picture is myself. My role as programme manager is to make sure all our threads of work run smoothly and are completed on time. As an equality and diversity consultant, I have a big input into Shahnaz's vision and look after the detail work on our major developments like the Equality Performance Improvement Toolkit (EPIT) and the forthcoming E&D Competency Framework.

I like this new photo of our team as it really captures how we are together.