#121 Weaving Heritage into Fashion with Parasto Qalandri
Welcome to the 121st episode of the award-winning Diverse Minds podcast. This month, the podcast has focussed on access and accessibility. Thinking about how certain groups have access to certain careers and others don’t.
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Show Notes
Welcome to the 121st episode of the award-winning Diverse Minds podcast.
This month, the podcast has focussed on access and accessibility. Thinking about how certain groups have access to certain careers and others don’t.
In today's episode, I am so excited and delighted to be speaking to an award-winning burgeoning fashion designer Parastro Qalandri.
About my guest Parastro Qalandri
Shamsher is one of the founding Directors at Communities Inc and has worked with a range of diverse communities experiencing discrimination for 30 years. She is passionate about tackling inequalities, empowering people and creating opportunities for people to make better choices.
Shamsher developed the Stand by Me project to tackle bystander apathy in responding to hate crimes and incidents which are unfortunately increasing across the UK.
Stand by Me goes some way to tackling the barriers people have to help others when they experience hate and hostility (they don’t know what to do and are concerned about their own safety).
It has also been adapted to tackle prejudice and discrimination in the workplace with a focus on those that witness this rather than those that experience it. This approach has gained much attention and has grown from a pilot project in Nottingham in 2018 to a national rollout across England, Scotland, and Wales, supported by Google.org.
Through this project, Communities Inc are offering a free one-day training program at no cost to participants.
In today’s show
- About Shamsher Chohan and Communities Inc. [02:16]
- Her thoughts on how South Asian women are looked at in the workplace. [03:21]
- What do the terms "active bystander and upstander" mean to her. [07:21]
- How we can all build stronger communities by calling out inequalities faced by the most disadvantaged groups. [11:07]
- Her top 3 tips for looking after her mental health. [26:42]
Quotes
- Every time I watch the news, my brain is engaging in work mode.
- It's important to do the right thing, even if it means going against the social norms and being ostracised.
- Everyone is entitled to respect and dignity, including those we disagree with.
- When people do complain and raise issues, take them seriously and take action so that everybody else in the organisation sees that it's worth raising these issues.
- If somebody intervenes, within 10 seconds of an incident starts, then 50% of the time, they can de-escalate or stop that situation.