WEP Southwark are holding a panel discussion and Q&A at Peckham Palms on 26 February.

Panellists include:

• Alae Ismail - Alae is commited to innovating brands and businesses with a passion for Africa. Between 2012-2017, she ran an online store called 'Styled by Africa', bringing together contemporary Made in Africa fashion and celebrating African culture and diversity. Alae has now joined Imperial College London - Enterprise Lab as Innovation and Entrepreneurship Manager, running programmes to support women led founders to build their entrepreneurial and leadership skills.

• Reya El-Salahi - our host - Reya is an award-winning British news and current affairs presenter, reporter and journalist working in TV, radio, digital media and live events. As a professionally trained broadcast journalist Reya’s diverse career has ranged from travelling internationally to conflict zones as a documentary filmmaker for the BBC, to contributing to one of the world’s most listened to current affairs radio shows and podcasts This American Life.

• Korina Holmes - Korina was born in Chester to an exhuberant, Windrush generation Barbadian father and a softly spoken, idealistic (Northern) British mother. When she moved to Brixton after university, she experienced a unique, vibrantly diverse area that reflected what she valued most from her multicultural upbringing. Korina is a Women's Equality Party candidate, Windrush Action volunteer, Ted X speaker, retail lawyer, single parent and above all, intersectional feminist.

• Zina Alfa - Zina is an award winning producer and founder of the mobile app UnBeweaveable Hair. She created the app because she was unhappy with not only the asymmetric information regarding afro hair but terrible experiences many black people had whilst in salons and for those who were disabled, no home service at all. Her interests involve race related issues, inequality and discrimination. After facing hair discrimination herself and seeing our society use hair as a another form of oppression, she started the petition to end Hair discrimination in the U.K. which has now attracted over 75k signatures.

• Monique Tomlinson - Monique has worked in the field of business development, and community and education support, for many years starting from an administrator to project manager. Working with such companies; Ofsted School Inspections, Shell International PLC, and Social Enterprises, whose focus is on the building of communities through workshops on business start-up and employment. Monique has worked with London Borough councils, Housing Associations, and with the private sector engaging with communities on better business practice, business start-up and generating finance for SMEs. During her tenure, she worked with over 200 residents, created over 60+ start-ups and assisted back into employment more than 80 individuals. Working on projects like Co-pop at Pop Brixton, Lambeth Country Show, and Peckham Rye Station development. Monique joined Something and Son in January 2018, as general manager of The Palms Arcade, Peckham.