A catalyst for confident and creative South Asian women
ForwardCulture is a social initiative focusing on the empowerment of South Asian women, founded by Aaminah and Seetal of TWO-BROWNGIRLS. Having established their online platform for over a decade, they decided it was time to focus on making real and personal changes in the communities around them.
So far, our work has been generously supported by Arts Council England, Deutsche Bank, MeWe360, Natwest, GirlDreamer, DeMontfort University and The National Lottery Community Fund - Leaders with Lived Experience and The Rosa Fund.
What we do
Support Artists
We curate projects in collaboration with diverse artists, activists and creatives that inspire and empower the South Asian community.
Inspire the Next Generation
We work in partnership with schools, colleges and organisations to create development programmes for young South Asian women.
Meet the Team
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Seetal Kaur
Co-Founder & Director
Having grown up in Leeds and London, Seetal now resides in Leicester and works part-time as a Relationship Manager for Arts Council England with a specialism in dance and diversity. Throughout her work, Seetal advocates for pride, knowledge and critical analysis of cultural identity. She strongly believes in young people’s power to make a positive impact on the world.She is passionate about creative cultural practices and has been promoting Indian classical music and practicing the dance form of Kathak for over 8 years.
She manages the fundraising and strategic partnerships of ForwardCulture.
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Aaminah Patel
Co-Founder & Director of Programmes
With over 10 years of experience in teaching and studying classical Arabic, she completed her PhD in Islamic Studies from King’s College London in 2022. She continues to teach Arabic, study Islam and research alongside working at ForwardCulture.
As the director of programmes at ForwardCulture, she is working on building and growing the mentoring programme and additional development programmes for South Asian women and girls.
Born in London, she is deeply committed to her Pakistani and Indian heritage, striving to keep it relevant and empowering young women to embrace their cultural roots proudly. -
Renasha Khan
Director
Working as a documentary producer in the television industry for over a decade, Renasha has produced films for broadcasters such as the BBC, Sky, Channel4, and National Geographic Channel.Culture and identity are driving forces in Renasha’s research career, having completed her PhD in Sociology of Religion from King’s College London, in 2023 .Her research looks at the impact of social media in the lives of British Bangladeshi Muslim women. She continues this work in her role as DEI officer for the British Sociological Association’s SocRel committee and in decolonising projects at King’s College London.
Working with ForwardCulture on research & partnerships underlines Renasha’s dedication to making creative industries and academic spaces equitable and safe for everyone involved.
Ruchika Jain
Mentoring Outreach & Programme Coordinator
Ruchika is a second-generation Indian, born and raised in a small town in Canada. She is currently doing her PhD on how culture shapes the mental health experiences of South Asian immigrants in the UK and Canada.
Ruchika loves to host dinner parties, do yoga, arrange flowers and read in her spare time.
Jaspreet Kaur
Digital Marketing Manager
Jaspreet is a Fertility Awareness Educator, and as a Panjabi woman, she is fully aware of how challenging it can be to speak about menstruation, s*x and fertility whilst centring empathy.
In her spare time, you can find Jaspreet reading, spending time outdoors with her children or bingeing a Netflix series.
Our Values
Care
Our work serves to benefit the community of people who identify as female and from a South Asian background. We genuinely care about building strong, long-lasting relationships with individuals and organisations and will do our best to take on feedback to improve our services.
Quality
We are a recognisable brand with a reputation for professional, high-quality work. The partners and artists that we work with reinforce and uphold our values.
Accountability
We are honest, open and transparent about our processes. We are held accountable by the community that we serve and conduct ourselves responsibly as potential role models to others.
Relevance
Through consistent evaluation, we will ensure that we are relevant and operate to benefit our community. We are dynamic and adaptable to change our services and outputs to suit the needs of our community and society at large.
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