I’m a third-generation refugee, and my connection to the Welsh Refugee Council’s work is deeply personal. My family’s story, and my own experiences of displacement and rebuilding, have shaped how I see the world and what I believe good support should look like. I know how much difference it can make when someone feels listened to, understood and supported to build a life they can call their own.

I’ve been working in the humanitarian and charity sector since I was 17, starting with small national charities in Afghanistan, working remotely from Dubai, and later with the UNHCR field office there. That journey eventually brought me to Wales, which I’m now very happily calling home. Coming to the WRC felt like a natural continuation of something I’ve cared about for most of my life: making sure people who have been forced to leave their homes are met with dignity, opportunity and a genuine sense of belonging.

I lead our housing and homelessness work, supporting people at risk of homelessness and destitution while working with communities, housing providers, local authorities and policymakers to make housing pathways more accessible. I’m particularly passionate about bringing lived experience into the conversation. Not simply asking people what they think, but making sure their experiences genuinely shape the way services, policies and systems work. Our work is about both responding when people are in crisis and changing the systems that create those crises in the first place.

One of the things I love most about working here is that there is always room to ask, “Could we do this better?”. I’m a big believer in being curious, trying new things and bringing people together to find practical solutions. Most importantly, I want the people we work with to feel that they are partners in this work, rather than simply people receiving a service.

Outside of work, I’m still getting to know my new home: Cymru. You’ll usually find me exploring somewhere new, hiking, deciding what I’m going to knit next, or spending time with my two cats — Drogo and Xena — who are considerably less interested in my professional achievements than they are in whether I’ve remembered to feed them 🙂