About

Salam (peace)!

Hi there! I'm Haleema Ali. I'm a woman of many hats... and hijabs! 😅

I'm an ‘artivist’, using creativity and art as a form of activism, by galvanising the community and curating innovative projects to create and inspire social, climate and political change. Two of my exhibitions have feature on BBC News: "22 Seconds To Murder" - a creative fusion of spoken word, music, paintings, martial arts and discussions on tackling knife crime and "A Life in Chains: Shackles of the Mind, Body and Soul", which addressed human rights injustices. For my "day job", I've worked across many industries: education, arts, politics and the charity sector, in roles ranging from teaching students who've been expelled from mainstream school, interning for an MP, youth worker, programmes coordinator and Campaign Manager, lobbying the government to extend free school meals and tackle food poverty and most recently, fighting for refugee rights. I've held positions across several volunteer panels, such as Vice Chair of a police scrutiny panel, ensuring stop and searches were conducted fairly.

As a young, South Asian, working class woman and a hijabi, I fit into many categories of the unrepresented, and unheard communities - and sadly have been victim of discrimination, harassment and prejudice over the years. I am a carer to my brother who has a rare life threatening illness and I myself have long term health issues. I’ve had to fight harder than my peers to get to where I am in my career and I am passionate about ensuring others like myself and those in disadvantaged groups do not face the same issues I have had to battle. This has led me to fighting for change - whether that's by doing advocacy work to make the charity sector more inclusive or running Diversity Equity Inclusion workshops.

As a public speaker, I often appear on radio, podcasts and occasionally on TV, talking about serious and often controversial topics, which affect the most vulnerable in society, but are often not addressed by our political leaders. I am not afraid to be the voice against injustice and will continue to advocate for a more fairer and equitable world.