Romesh Ranganathan

The last few years have been incredible for Romesh with two series of his BAFTA and RTS Nominated series Asian Provocateur receiving critical acclaim.  In 2016 Romesh embarked on his debut solo tour selling over 100,000 tickets and being awarded the Ents24 Hardest Working Comedian Of The Year.  The DVD/Digital release of the show is still flying high in the comedy charts with the highest sales of a debut in recent years. Romesh is a regular on our TV screens best known for his performances on BBC1’s ‘Live At The Apollo’, ‘Have I Got News For You’, ‘Jack Dee’s HelpDesk’, BBC2’s ‘Mock The Week’, ‘The Apprentice: You’re Fired’, ITV’s ‘Play To The Whistle’, ‘The Jonathan Ross Show’, ‘The Royal Variety Performance’, ‘Live From The Palladium’, Channel 4’s ‘Alan Carr Chatty Man’, ‘8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown’ and ‘8 Out Of 10 Cats’, Sky 1’s ‘A League Of Their Own’, Dave’s ‘Taskmaster’ and Sky Arts ‘Passions: Richard Pryor By Romesh Ranganathan’. Romesh embarked on his career in America last year appearing on ‘James Corden’s Late Late Show’ as well as performing at the world famous Greek Theatre.  2018 is already proving a busy year with him filming his new BBC2 series ‘Romesh’s Really Rough Guide’, Sky 1 commissioning a six-part series of ‘Rob & Romesh Meet’, becoming the new regular on ‘A League Of Their Own’ as well as writing and starring in his own Sky 1 sitcom ‘The Reluctant Landlord’.

Adil Ray

"JAN Trust is a grassroots NGO doing amazing work supporting vulnerable BAME women and young people, creating new and vital initiatives to tackle some of society’s the most pressing issues such as extremism, hate crime, and violence against women and girls. Given the incredible relevance of this work, it is vital that it receives support from across the board. JAN Trust and its CEO Sajda are truly passionate about creating a safer, more inclusive society and are committed to supporting the most marginalised communities. JAN Trust is paving the way in this arena and I’m delighted to become an Ambassador.”

Shazia Mirza

"JAN Trust is doing an outstanding job supporting and protecting the most vulnerable in society across London and the UK. JAN Trust is not afraid to speak out on a number of subjects, including extremism, hate crime, forced marriages, that others fear to approach, I commend their ability to do so and it is for this reason that I am very proud to be an Ambassador of JAN Trust. 

JAN Trust provides a safe haven for women, who are at the heart of many families and communities. The extensive work JAN Trust does provides women with vital skills that allow them to become part of society, supporting the creation of peaceful and inclusive societies."

Shazia Mirza is an award winning British stand up comedian and writer.

Shazia’s recent TV appearances include The Jonathan Ross Show (ITV), Graham Norton (BBC), Loose Women (ITV), The Late Late Show (RTE), Top Gear (BBC), and is a regular panelist on The Wright Stuff (Channel 5), The Frank Skinner Show (Absolute Radio)  Shazia has also appeared on ‘Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls’on Channel 4.

Her latest stand up show, ‘The Kardashians Made Me Do It’ was critically acclaimed all over the UK, US, Sweden, Ireland, and Paris, and completed four sell out runs at London’s Soho Theatre, and 103 tour dates internationally.

“Shazia Mirza is provoking laughter and large intakes of breath once again … brave and urgent” THE  TELEGRAPH

“As brave a piece of comedy as you’ll see” MAIL ON SUNDAY

“She’s effective at getting under your skin… strikes a blow” METRO

“At this moment in time – post-Brexit, post-Nice, post-Orlando – it’s on point chilling and superb” THE SKINNY

“Mirza has stepped up a gear… the bravest thing you’ll see on a comedy stage this year… a remarkable finale” SUNDAY TIMES

Bhavna Limbachia

“There are a number of excellent projects at the JAN Trust that support victims of cruel cultural practices including honour-based abuse, forced marriages and FGM, through these projects JAN Trust successfully provide a voice for thousands of women allowing them to empower themselves, their families and their communities in a safe space. Without this valuable work many women would have nowhere to turn, leaving them worryingly vulnerable.

The dedication and ambition of the JAN Trust team is admirable, and it is for this reason that I am so proud to be an ambassador of an organisation that is at the forefront of defending and promoting BAMER women’s rights at a community level. It is wonderful to see and hear of all the success stories at JAN Trust, proving just how vital their work is.”

On the 21st April, Bhavna Jayanty Limbachia was born in the City of Preston, Lancashire.

Her career has been incredibly versatile. In October 2010 she started her own unique business, designing and selling vintage clothes and accessories. Her media career includes TV Series, such as Doctors, Casualty and more recently for Mount Pleasant by Tiger Aspect Productions. Since 2012 Bhavna has played Alia Khan in BBC One’s Citizen Khan a family-based British sitcom produced by the BBC and created by Adil Ray. It is set in Sparkhill, Birmingham, described by its lead character, Pakistani Muslim Mr. Khan as “the capital of British Pakistan.”

Warnings about how she wouldn’t have a regular income and almost certainly faced spells of unemployment initially made Bhavna choose a different path altogether. “I still loved being creative so I studied fashion design then went on to do a degree in costume design,” said Preston-born Bhavna, who lives with pals in Manchester when filming.

Bhavna landed an agent and has never looked back, with Citizen Khan the show she was best-known for before Corrie came calling. In fact, she revealed she hasn’t had to choose between the two jobs. She has just finished filming the fifth series of the sitcom, fitting in work on that as well as Corrie.

Tez Ilyas

"Social inclusion and the empowerment of young people and women from all backgrounds are essential to solving the root causes of radicalisation, extremism and hate crime. Your projects demonstrate the importance of the work you and other organisations do to address these issues that help the most vulnerable in our country.”

Tez Ilyas hit the ground running finding himself in no less than eight competition finals including the prestigious BBC New Comedy Award and Leicester Mercury New Comedian of the Year in his first year as a stand up. In 2015 Ilyas achieved phenomenal success with his debut stand up hour TEZ Talks. A sell out run at the Soho Theatre and his own Radio 4 series based on the show followed, with a second series coming this year.

In 2016, his highly anticipated follow up show Made in Britain went on to sell out every single performance (including extra shows) at the Edinburgh Fringe and gained spectacular critical acclaim, with a smash hit nationwide tour in 2017.

His third show Teztify once again delivered a spectacularly powerful, provocative and brilliantly funny hour of topical stand up, delivering to packed out audiences night after night.

Tez has appeared on The Last Leg (C4), Mock the Week (BBC Two), Live From the BBC (BBC Two), Man Like Mobeen (BBC Three), Kevin Hart’s Live from Montreal (LOL Network), Virtually Famous (E4), The Now Show (BBC Radio 4) and made a brand new quiz show pilot for Vice. He has also written and starred in his own scripted comedy shorts for BBC Three, BBC iPlayer and Sky Arts.

Geva Mentor

"I'm honoured to be an ambassador for JAN Trust, as a sportsperson I've seen the challenges and benefits being active can have on us females any opportunity we all have to make a difference whether it's educating, supporting or empowering young girls or women is a wonderful thing. To provide them with the tools and confidence to make a positive impact in society makes for a safer, more knowledgeable and united community."

Geva Mentor's name is always mentioned when netball experts talk about the best defenders in International netball. The England international has plated a significant role in building the English team's capacity to match it with world leaders in Australia and New Zealand. Selected for English at just 15 years of age in 2001, Mentor has built a career around athleticism, the ability to read the play and a desire to do what's needed to be the very best. 2017 was another stand-out year for Mentor as she leads the Sunshine Cosat Lightening to the Inaugural Suncorp Super Netball Premiership win against the newly formed franchise Giants Netball.

Click here to view her website!

Mawaan Rizwan

"The education and empowerment of women across London and the UK is vital in creating inclusive and active societies, JAN Trust does a fantastic job working with BAME women to further their education and empowering them to use their voices to formulate change in their communities and across society as a whole.  

We all must play our part in promoting and defending the rights of women, and it is for this reason that I am a proud ambassador of the JAN Trust. Supporting their frontline services preventing and tackling marginalisation, extremism, hate crime and violence against women through innovative educational projects at a community level. There extensive work is highly commendable.” - Mawaan Rizwan

Mawaan started his career on YouTube, where his comedy videos have been viewed over 19 million times.

He currently stars in the BAFTA-winning BBC3 drama Murdered By My Father and is shooting a six-part ITV drama produced by Mammoth Screen, due to air later this year. Mawaan is also becoming a favourite on the alternative comedy scene, with his unique hybrid of absurd stand-up and captivating physicality. He studied clowning with world renowned teacher, Philippe Gaulier, whose alumni include Sacha Baron Cohen & Helena Bonham Carter. Later this year, Mawaan will be on a UK stand-up tour with Simon Amstell.

Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed

"The work that the JAN trust are doing with young people from BAMER backgrounds is not just truly outstanding, but absolutely essential in the current socio political climate. The responsive, grassroots approach with the organisation takes to tackle key issues affecting the community separates the work the JAN trust does apart from other charities. The trust faces immense barriers whilst helping often marginalised and disadvantaged communities. This makes the JAN trust one of the most important NGO's in the country today, deserving of our support and praise."

Having been a passionate home cook all her life, Saliha battled 64 contestants in front of 6 million viewers to become the winner of MasterChef 2017.

A proud mother and wife, Saliha also works as a junior doctor in North West London, specialising in Gastroenterology. Balancing a life in food and medicine, Saliha has enjoyed appearing at various food festivals and shows across the country since her time on MasterChef.  She has also written her debut cookbook KHAZANA published by Hodder & Stoughton in September 2018.

In her book Saliha builds upon her reputation for recreating traditional South East Asian food in a modern and exciting way.

“Saliha is a class act. She’s walked in here and taken her food culture apart and put it back together in a modern and very exciting way. She always does something a little bit extra – something which always surprises us”. (John Torode, MasterChef judge)