Nahid Rasool is the Chief Executive of Shantona. She has worked in the charity sector for than 35 years. Prior to this she worked in London and Bradford in various roles. She faced lots of challenges, prejudice, inequality and barriers within the South Asian community and these made her determined to do something for the culturally diverse women and girls who live in this country, facing inequality and discriminated within their homes and workplaces. 

In 1998 she joined Shantona and with only 1 full time staff member, including herself, the organisation started offering help and support to the women of the Bangladeshi community in Leeds. Today Shantona has more than 30 staff and the team works tirelessly to help create a community of strong, confident, and empowered women, challenging negative behaviour and practices.  

Her determination and passion for her work has steered the organisation towards success in delivering projects locally, nationally, and internationally.  It has not gone unnoticed, with various awards for the organisation, most notably Shantona was awarded the ‘Duke of York Community Initiatives Award’ in 2007 and again in 2012. It has also been awarded the A1 Business Excellence Award “Best Women’s Centre” in 2015 and in 2007, Shantona was the winner of GSK Impact Awards 2020. 

Nahid has also been involved in the hate crime strategy for Leeds and published a book, “Islamophobia, The Untold Story”.  She has also worked nationally and internationally.  Nahid was the UK coordinator of “Gender Wise”, a transnational European project looking at gender equality issues before the policy came into practice.  Representatives from various countries in EU such as Brussels, Italy, Spain, and Denmark were involved.  

Nahid has a BA (Honours) in History from the University of Dhaka and a Masters in Business Administration from Leeds Beckett. In 2017 she received an Honorary Doctorate from Leeds Beckett for her contribution to voluntary and public sector. 

Her connection with Bangladesh continues and in 2016 the “Sufia Khatun Health Clinic” was opened in Baluarchor in Bangladesh to provide free health care for the villagers. The clinic was named in memory of Nahid’s grandmother.