Inclusion Award
As an associate director in EY’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness (DE&I) practice, Fatima is passionate about making DE&I evidence-based. Growing up as a British Arab woman in the UK, she was aware of different identity-based societal privileges and disadvantages. Studying psychology, she learned how barriers to positions of leadership existed but wanted to understand why. So, working with a network of fellow ‘pracademics’ (practitioner academics) during her PhD, she set the groundwork for innovative DE&I solutions. As a consultant, she is helping her profession and clients to address systemic barriers, disrupt bias, promote inclusive behavioural change and achieve positive, measurable outcomes.
Her achievements include leading the UK’s first cross-company talent accelerator programme for ethnic minority professionals, effectively contributing to the progression of diverse talent for participants including Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs and Meta. She leads EY’s Culture of Equity and Belonging programme, shifting leadership behaviours and enhancing decision making with measurable and sustainable impact on people’s everyday experience.
Fatima’s research has assessed the effectiveness of unconscious bias training on behalf of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and helped the General Medical Council understand racial inequities in fitness-to-practise referrals. She has helped the Financial Reporting Council examine barriers to progression for ethnic minority professionals in the FTSE 350 and extended the scope of the Parker Review to ethnically diversify talent pipelines in the UK.
Fatima has a decade of experience advising senior corporate leaders and policymakers in the UK and internationally to improve equality. With organisations under pressure to demonstrate meaningful change, Fatima is helping her profession and clients to leverage diversity for business success.
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