Camila Batmanghelidjh

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Camila Batmanghelidjh CBE

Camila Batmanghelidjh receiving her honorary doctorate from the Open University in April 2008
Born 1963
Tehran, Iran
Known for Businesswoman, author and philanthropist

Camila Batmanghelidjh CBE (/kəˈmɪlə bætmænˈɡɛlɨdʒ/; born 1963) is a British businesswoman, charity leader and author of Iranian and Belgian ancestry. She has been living in England since the age of 11[1] and has founded two charities: the place2b[2] and Kids Company, where she and her team care for 17,000 vulnerable children and young people in London. The charity operates from three street-level centres in Southwark, Lambeth and Camden, as well as working in 41 inner-city schools. She lives in West Hampstead.[3]

Background

Camila Batmanghelidjh was born in Tehran into a wealthy professional family. Her mother was a Roman Catholic from Belgium, while her Muslim, Persian father was the controversial doctor Fereydoon Batmanghelidj.[4][5] Her family were supporters of the Shah and so hugely impacted by the 1979 revolution. She moved to England when she was 11 years old. She attended the fee-paying Sherborne Girls school in Dorset, where she claims "Everybody thought I was completely odd." "Y'know they just thought I was a total oddball."[6]

Severely dyslexic,[7] she has to dictate everything and cannot text or use a computer.[8] After leaving Sherborne Girls she went on to gain a first in Theatre and Dramatic Arts from the University of Warwick.[9]

Later she went to work as a nanny in west London, where she discovered a knack for dealing with emotionally damaged children.[10]

She has been described as "Britain's most colourful charity leader",[11] and is well known for her eccentric and flamboyant dress sense:

"it takes me probably 5 minutes to get dressed. I don't think about it at all... But the way I dress matches my psychological energy, so when I get up in the morning I think 'What colour do I want to wear today?' and I just bung it on really quickly and get out. I don't worry about what people think at all... And it's instantaneous - I instantly know what fabrics go together and what doesn't - and it's just instinctive."[12]

In 2009 the Women in Public Life Awards named her Businesswoman of the Year.[13]

In February 2013, she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.[14] In February 2013, she was appointed as an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her work on behalf of underprivileged children in Britain.

A 2013 interview with Batmanghelidjh can be found at www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/feb/22/camila-batmanghelidjh-interview.

References

  1. ↑ "How to Make a Difference". Howtomakeadifference.net. 2009-08-03. Retrieved 2010-09-17. 
  2. ↑ "Making a lifetime of difference to children in schools". Place2Be. Retrieved 2012-10-22. 
  3. ↑ As she stated on BBC Questiontime, 11 August 2011
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ "Interview with Camila Batmanghelidjh". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-10-22. 
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ Interview by Deborah Orr (2009-01-03). "Colourful character: Camila Batmanghelidjh on her unique approach to charity work - Profiles - People". The Independent. Retrieved 2012-10-22. 
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ "Foreign & Commonwealth Office". Ukinalbania.fco.gov.uk. Retrieved 2012-10-22. 
  10. ↑ Flintoff, John-Paul. "Lost Innocents". ft.com. 
  11. ↑ Orr, Deborah (3 January 2009). "Colourful character: Camila Batmanghelidjh on her unique approach to charity work". The Independent. Retrieved 15 September 2010. 
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ "Past winners 2009". Womeninpubliclifeawards.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-09-17. 
  14. ↑ BBC Radio 4, Woman's Hour Power list

External links

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