Jameela Chowdhury

Who inspires you?

As cliché as it sounds, my wonderful mum! She marches to the beat of her own drum and believes in the capabilities and potential of her children even when we are unable to see it. She reminds us to challenge ourselves, but more importantly to take breaks, take care of our physical and mental health and enjoy our lives.

What have you done since the start of the pandemic to help drive diversity and inclusion – either in a professional or personal way?

I became more involved with mentoring - I was a virtual 'Big Sis' mentor with the charity Anima Youth. They support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through mentoring, health and wellbeing resources, free sanitary items and much more. It was very rewarding to be a positive influence for a young person and help them in making achievable personal and academic goals to work on together.

Who would you say is a role model, either in the firm or outside it?

Within the firm, I think Lorna Nsoatabe is a great role model. As the co-chair of DIVERSE she has supported the network in growing to over 100 members and always gets involved with any DIVERSE events and initiatives as well as with our social mobility programmes - sharing her insights, experience and career journey with students. She is a champion for diversity and inclusion and leads by example.