OUR TEAM
At Babylon Migrants Project, lived experience is in our DNA.
Our team of skilled facilitators, imaginative experts, and enthusiastic activists are all committed to positively influencing young people's lives.
Most of our team, including core staff, facilitators, workshop assistants and volunteers are people with lived experience of migration. The majority are refugees or asylum-seekers themselves and our LEAP programme has trained up participants to become facilitators themselves!
Core team
-
Ali is a facilitator, youth worker and activist based in London. Originally from Iran, Ali brings over a decade of experience as a facilitator, delivering workshops around the world—from youth centres to international stages and policy spaces. He is a trustee for Counterpoints Arts, and has also worked with organisations such as Our Second Home, the British Red Cross, and Safe Passage. In his advocacy, he challenges racism and stereotypes and pushes for safe, legal routes to sanctuary. Ali is passionate about building partnerships, empowering young people, and creating spaces where creativity and community thrive.
-
With a background in theatre and youth facilitation, Emma has been involved with Babylon Migrants Project since the beginning. She was inspired by her own family’s history of being Jewish refugees to the UK to volunteer with refugee youth movement Our Second Home, which set her on a path to joining Babylon. As well as youth work and theatre, Emma is an experienced fundraiser and events producer. As Co-Director, Emma oversees fundraising, finance, and impact.
-
Vanisha is from the UK and has over 6 years of experience in the charity sector. With a passion for social media, digital fundraising, and campaigns, she has worked both domestically and internationally, collaborating with organisations to create positive change in their communities.
As a second-generation refugee, Vanisha is personally committed to promoting the rights and dignity of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. She holds a Master's degree in Humanitarian Action and is passionate about creating meaningful and sustainable impact in the lives of those who are most vulnerable.
Hub co-ordinators
-
Filiz Ozcan is an arts leader and the current Babylon Stoke Hub Coordinator. Originally from Turkey, Filiz is the founder of Komola Collective, an arts organisation dedicated to telling stories from a female perspective. Her work is deeply rooted in a commitment to diversity and inclusion, with a particular focus on amplifying female voices within the arts.
Throughout her career, Filiz has worked with a range of respected organisations, including New Vic Theatre, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Mercury Theatre, Pegasus Theatre, Jacksons Lane, and Tara Theatre. A significant highlight of her career was directing Aleya Twist, an international production created in partnership with the British Council Bangladesh.
-
Lexy Morvaridi/beyn-na-beyn is an artist, cultural programmer and DIY activist - currently a studio artist at Gasworks in London, who release music under the moniker beyn-na-beyn. His social practice approach to sound art and music has seen him collaborate with diverse communities and activist groups in grass root settings and institutions such as Gasworks, Dulwich Picture Gallery, The ICA, Raw Materials and more.
His practice is informed by identity, agency and opening access to the creative process to different people through a social impact lens. As the contemporary music and culture programmer at Southbank Centre for five years he produced and commissioned specialised cross-disciplinary work and platformed under-represented artists at the institution.
LEAP graduates and facilitators
-
Mehraveh is from Iran. She has been in the UK for over a year, having been recently reunited with family. Mehraveh is currently undertaking a BTech in Science. She enjoys volunteering in different organisations and charities and is passionate about making new friends and gaining knowledge about other people with diverse backgrounds making everyone special and unique. Mehraveh is also involved with Springboard and Our Second Home.
-
Simon is a videographer, film enthusiast and self-proclaimed nerd. He is passionate about filmmaking and the creative arts as a whole and loves to share that passion with people from all walks of life. When he came to the UK, he was lucky enough to find a supportive community and a creative outlet in filmmaking and he wishes to provide refugees with the same support.
Simon hopes to continue working with and learning from refugees and asylum seekers and to expand their filmmaking portfolio to reach a wider audience and inspire social change. He also aspires to pursue further education and training in film production and explore new forms and formats of storytelling.
-
Ahmad Kwizera is a young talented model, writer and athlete based in London. He has been featured in a number of artist video clips and brand photo shoots. He is a passionate linguist, who believes that languages are about more than just words and phrases but are essential and the bridge to connect with the world, to understand and explore the beauty of different cultures and to bring us closer together.
Ahmad loves to connect with others and believes that by working together we can create a better world for all of us. And refugees should not be limited to big dreams, because dignity is for everyone. He is passionate, ambitious and has a love for what he does. His aim is to inspire and motivate others to strive for success and to reach their full potential with an inspirational and positive attitude of always never giving up.
-
Born in Syria and now based in the vibrant city of London, Ammar is a passionate and active actor with a flair for the dramatic. He is on an active journey on the stage of university drama and productions, and has been a part of Babylon company for a while now, and has felt welcomed and appreciated. He joined the LEAP training programme where he hopes to achieve the best results and learn to communicate with new people and help them best he can.
Facilitators
-
Amir is from Afghanistan and now resides in Southend-on-Sea after being evacuated in August 2021. In Afghanistan, Amir worked as a photographer, and he still has a strong interest in it. In 2021, he joined Safe Passage International as a Young Leader, and in 2022, he completed their Leadership Program. In their Fly With Me project, which involved thousands of kites flying at 47 locations across the world, he worked with Good Chance Theatre as a production and marketing assistant.
-
Sanam is a poet and activist who strives to use her creativity for social justice. She likes to explore her ethnicity, gender and sexuality through drawing, writing and discussion. She feels most inspired working with diverse communities and tries to create a sense of home wherever she goes. Through her work and studies, Sanam has specialised in facilitating creative writing, storytelling and drama workshops for children, teenagers and adults. She has worked with vulnerable youth in her borough, toddlers at summer camps, unaccompanied young asylum seekers, and care home residents. In her free evenings, she makes fesenjoon (Iranian stew) and cycles through the city for cups of tea and friendly conversations.
Volunteers
-
Ella is a linguist, human rights activist and refugee-rights campaigner from London. She founded Durham University Student Action for Refugees and works in fundraising for Asylum Aid. She holds an MSc in Global Migrations from UCL and a BA in Modern Languages and Cultures (French and Arabic) from Durham University. Her masters’ degree explored the use of digital technologies as a medium of preserving culture and diasporic connections in Palestine, and she believes in community and hope as resistance.
-
Tosin Segun-ige volunteers with Babylon and is from Nigeria. Their favourite food is pounded yam and egusi soup and they love to play football and also have work experience in youth work. They are involved in some other organisations like Young Roots, Our Second Home (OSH) and Breadwinners. They speak Yoruba and English.
-
Pietro is a Manager at a business & tech consulting firm. He has over 6 years of experience in leading digital project teams, facilitating high-stakes workshops and managing business change.
He holds a Business Management degree from Lancaster University and fluently speaks in English, Italian and Spanish (and occasional French). With two yearly sabbaticals under the belt, he has had the opportunity to backpack in Asia, Africa and South America, working seasonal jobs (food delivery, concierge, music teacher), community building for local organisations and enjoying learning about different cultures.He loves playing sports, music and hosting.
Photographer
-
Mehran is a photographer and comes from Iran. His favourite type of photography is Street photography and he has over 10 years of experience in photography. He graduated from Shiraz University in the field of fashion photography. He was working as a lecturer at a university in Shiraz. He has worked as volunteers at Harbour Project in Swindon also he has papered film and photos from them. He works as a facilitator and photographer for Babylon project. He can speak Persian and English. He likes Persian foods especially kalam -polw Shirazi. He enjoys music, watching French films and reading.
Keen to get involved?
Are you interested in joining our team and supporting young migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers in the UK?
We have exciting volunteer roles where you can gain experience, meet amazing people, and make a real impact!