Farah Mohammoud
Director & Co-Founder
Farah is a passionate social entrepreneur, with over five years experience of training people, managing volunteers and turning a social action campaign into a social enterprise. At You Press, Farah‘s team main activities involve training and developing young people’s talents through the creative arts and writing.
In the past Farah has been on a self-development journey to make him an effective leader for You Press and his community. This journey ranges from many international trainings and local scholarships. In 2012 Farah successfully completed a Post Graduate Diploma (FHEQ Level 7) in Law & Community Leadership at SOAS University and was awarded a Distinction grade.
Shahin Ullah
Director & Co-Founder
Shahin was born and raised in South London. Coming from a background of mixed heritage, that being English and Bangladeshi, this has contributed to his appreciation for different ethnicities and cultures. After graduating in 2005, he worked within the private sector in Retail Management, where he quickly came to the realization that this sector, which is usually characteristic of a cut-throat culture, did not match his values and belief system. As a result, he crossed over to the public sector. Shahin has always had a strong entrepreneurial mind-set and played an active role in Business. This has led to him to starting up three businesses, including You Press. You Press has provided him the opportunity to empower young people.
Amir Qulatein
Director
Amir is an ambitious young man with an interest in youth leadership and a passion to help and teach young people. He has been an active supporter of You Press and joined the You Press team in 2015. Through his passion to make a positive contribution to the society, Amir has helped You Press to design and deliver inspirational projects that have included One Story, Our Voice, Voices of Redemption to name a few. In the past Amir has taught English as a second language in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) to young people (between ages of 11-16 years). Amir is multi-lingual and speaks Arabic, Dutch and Barawa. Amir is also an I.T Technician and in his spare time, he enjoys travelling and meeting different people from all walks of life.
Samir Sattar
Content Editor / Writer
Samir was born in an Indian family that has lived in Paddington Green for most of his life. In the latter stages of secondary school, he found his passion for creative writing and interest in daily affairs. This led him to get a degree in Creative Writing and Journalism from Middlesex University in 2017. After graduating, he spent a long time looking for work in a relative field until a close friend recommended Samir to You Press. After months of volunteering, Samir has finally found his first steps into the world of Journalism and Media, working for You Press as both Editor and Writer of articles uploaded weekly to ScribersHive. You Press has helped Samir not only empower his voice, but motivate many other writers.
Aliyah Coreana
Graphic Illustrator
Aliyah is You Press’ Graphic Illustrator who produces our comics and graphic designs for ScribersHive. She is a very versatile artist who enjoys experimenting with different mediums and combining the use of colour to help convey emotion and imagination. Her love for drawing and storytelling goes back to childhood, the cartoons she watched and the books and comics she read filled her with inspiration and fuelled her creative urges. Also being a graduate in Animation from Ravensbourne, she is able to animate and video edit too She strives to highlight the importance of diversity in all her work because, people of colour are under-represented in illustration, animation and art.
Julius Razanauskas
Growth & Development Manager
Julius joined the You Press team as a volunteer in 2015, when You Press had a blog that limited our capacity to communicate our projects. Since then Julius has joined the You Press team as our Website Designer. This role involves managing the website brand, content, features and designs for all our projects and services.
Aneel Idress
Networking & Community Development Consultant
Aneel is You Press’ Networking & Community Development Consultant. With this position Aneel supports You Press with his expertise in Networking and Community Development. In conjunction with this position Aneel has also taken the role of a mentor for our participants and volunteers development and growth.
Professionally Aneel is a Biomedical Scientist who trained clinically as a nurse and specialises in Oral Health Education. His ambition is to become a qualified orthodontic surgeon. Apart from his professional ambitions, Aneel is a social entrepreneur at heart. His passion and enthusiasm has gained him numerous scholarships around the globe and he is a fellow at the school of social entrepreneurs. Over the years Aneel has become a networking professional and an accomplished Community Development Consultant for many organisations. Aneel’s passion lie within the medical field and achieving change through social innovation.
Najmul Haque
Project & Engagement Volunteer
Najmul is a recent Business and Economics graduate who has found that his interests lie in humanitarian work and helping the world become a better place. He has worked with marginalised young people, the homeless, ex-offenders and most recently, refugees, where he co-founded "I, Too, Am Human“, a campaign that uses photography to dehumanise refugees in Europe. Najmul is You Press’ Project & Engagement Volunteer. By supporting You Press, Najmul has had the chance to see and learn a side to enterprise that he has always looked for, but has never been taught in his education - a side where the aim is not profit or net worth, but rather the empowerment of people and the ability to change lives for the better.
Merium Bhuiyan
Creative Development Leader
Merium is a teacher of English and Maths, and also the founder of CakeFace Makeup. CakeFace Makeup is a dynamic lifestyle and beauty brand which has a unique approach. It aims to use creative and exciting techniques in all things beauty, education and business. She strongly believes in empowerment and defining own standards of success. She strives to enhance both inner and outer beauty in a fast-moving and ever-changing world. She also uses her brand as an uplifting tool to reach out to women around the world and to educate and inspire communities.
Merium has actively supported You Press and has joined the You Press Team as the Creative Development Leader. With this position Merium supports You Press to reach and engage diverse communities in London. She also develops and guides our participants, artists and volunteers to achieve their goals and reach their potential.
Chris Dias
Filmmaker
Chris is You Press’ filmmaker, leading on the project videos, films and documentaries. He has a deep interest in the natural world and human stories. His work is mostly in the visual medium, namely film and photography. Chris likes to create work that gives the viewer the opportunity to let their imagination and knowledge inform what they see. He has worked in the visual arts for the past 4 years and he is continuing to hone his style. Chris is especially fond of documentary as he feels it is the most powerful form of telling real stories.
Aimee Valinski
Photographer
Aimee is a talented photographer with a great passion and a steady focus for life, for social justice and for the true beauty of the world. Rejoicing each new day that brings a new opportunity. She began her photography journey in 2010 and through hard work, she now specialises in; photographing, documentary, events, nature, portraits, travel and weddings. Throughout her work, love, passion and wonder, she has embraced many cultures and she energetically loves working with diverse peoples (communities) and environments. She blossoms in creativity, drawing inspiration and paying close attention to the movements and details of all life.
Since 2014 Aimee has been an active supporter of You Press and has produced incredible project photographs that have had positive impact on diverse communities. Aimee is You Press’ Photographer and she is keen to support You Press to achieve its vision and mission to empower people to find their voice and be heard through writing and creative arts.