Amazing Asifa!

To mark South Asian Heritage Month we were so privileged to hear the radiant Asifa Lahore share her inspirational journey and her immense talent, hosted generously by KPMG in London. After introductions, Hassan from KPMG expertly moderated the ‘fireside chat’ segment allowing Asifa to tell her story. It was uplifting, thought provoking and powerful: Asifa gave us insight into her intersectional identities as a transgender woman of Pakistani heritage living with a disability (progressive sight loss), the importance of her culture and family, the comfort of her faith, and the cultural contrasts between time spent growing up both in South London and Pakistan. It is a story of drawing power and positivity from the cards that life deals you: being courageous and being prepared to stick your head above the parapet and to be the change you needed when you were younger.

She then treated us to a performance of three songs. She framed her first, Ben E King’s ‘Stand by me’, as a plea for allies to stand by the trans community in these frightening times. The second song was a love song in Urdu showcasing the beauty and poetry of the language, devoted to her husband. She closed with a rousing rendition of Conchita Wurst’s ‘Rise like a Phoenix’ delivered in English and Urdu.

Everyone in the auditorium was putty in her hands, it was warm, engaging, emotional, and uplifting… Asifa is an absolute star and it was simply beautiful, as is she.

Huge thanks to Rachel Bleetman Mariana Ceccotti Rémi Ratail and Mel Knight from KPMG, Sarah Christie and Simon Percelay from DfT, the KPMG South Asian network for incredible food, and as always to the dozens of people from the Journey network who came together to share this spellbinding evening.