Our team
Jenni was a BBC journalist and producer for nine years, and then moved into the charity sector as Head of Media Engagement at Mind during its signature Time to Change Campaign, engaging with journalists and programme makers to improve reporting and fictional portrayals of mental health. She joins IMIX directly from London Arts and Health, where she was Chief Executive, and built a strong organisation, supporting a network of creative grassroots organisations to connect effectively with health professionals and introduced an arts programme to support the mental health of refugees.
Jenni is also an active volunteer and campaigner for refugee charities, including as Chair of Trustees of Stories and Supper, a charity working with refugees of any status through food and storytelling.
Katie Bryson, Regional Communications Coordinator (North East)
Based way up North in the windswept coastal town of Whitley Bay, Katie supports the strong network of organisations working in the migration sector in the region with their communications and media.
An ex-BBC journalist with many years of experience in digital media, Katie clocked up over a decade at BBC News and CBBC Newsround before going on to work as a successful influencer, food writer, and freelance digital/social media editor.
She turned her hand to charity communications in 2018 where she has used her passion for storytelling to give a platform to people living on the margins. She’s well connected with the refugee sector having spent two years leading the Communications for Action Foundation in Newcastle, who provide migrants with supported housing, free English language classes and a social drop-in.
Katherine Maxwell-Rose, Digital Communications Manager (maternity leave)
Katherine is a communications specialist with a wide variety of experience in the arts and charity sector. After working as co-artistic director of her own theatre company for a decade, she decided to use her passion for storytelling to campaign for social change. Previously, she worked as an online editor with the NGO, Tearfund which included training young people to advocate and communicate on issues of poverty, climate change and sustainability. She firmly believes in the power of stories to bring about social, political and cultural change.
Katherine is a poet and novelist as well as a contributor to BBC Radio 2’s Pause for Thought on the early morning breakfast show. She loves writing, travelling, singing and occasional wild swimming, and tweets these adventures @KatherineMaxi
Julia Rampen, Media Director
Julia Rampen is a Scottish-Canadian journalist and editor, currently based in Liverpool. She has worked for titles including The Mirror, The New Statesman and The Liverpool Echo. She is the creator of a podcast about Liverpool politics, The Brink, and has appeared as a commentator on BBC and ITV. In 2013, she co-founded Qisetna, a blog collecting Syrian stories. Through this, she was involved in several storytelling productions, in which she interviewed refugees about their journeys across Europe, and then worked with Syrians in the UK to retell them.
Julia’s first encounter with the asylum system was when she visited the now-defunct Oakington Detention Centre as a student. Since then, she has reported in Calais and Athens for titles including the New Statesman and the Guardian. She loves travelling and the outdoors – weather and lockdowns permitting. She tweets @JuliaRampenMM.
Emily Jones, Operations Manager
Before joining the communications and charity sector, Emily worked for many years in financial services. Alongside this she completed a BA in International Studies with RMIT, Melbourne, and has a long-standing interest in migration and human rights. Outside of work, Emily is kept busy by her two young children and is most content when crafting, practicing yoga or on holiday by the sea.
Siva Thangarajah, Digital Communications Officer
Siva Thangarajah is a Digital Communications specialist with a background in multimedia journalism, including a stint in podcasting for publications such as The Conversation and Apollo Magazine. In addition to by-lines in The Observer, she was Commissioning Editor for the online community magazine Roman Road LDN before joining IMIX. She graduated with a Masters in International Journalism from City, University of London in 2018.
Siva is interested in using digital platforms to tell the stories of marginalised and underreported communities, and engaging with those communities online. Throughout her career she has interviewed a range of people, from grassroots activists to refugees. In her spare time, she can be found strolling through London’s many parks or, as a self-confessed news junkie, catching up on current affairs.
Ahmed Elmi, Digital Communications Manager
Ahmed has worked in various facets of the media, having spent many years in the world of creative and digital advertising, and more recently, in the charity and the international development sectors. He has worked on digital campaigns for household and lifestyle brands such as Sony, Nationwide, easyJet and British Airways. He has also worked on communications and research projects with various international NGOs, as well as smaller community-based charities in the UK.
At IMIX, Ahmed utilises his creative, digital, social and communication skills to contribute to the migrant and asylum sector and work with organisations and individuals that seek to bring about positive social and political change.
Ahmed has a background in content, strategy and editorial, and he is passionate about using digital to tell stories of global injustice and violations of human rights. He holds a master’s degree in Global Media and Communication from the University of Leicester.
Elahe Ziai, Community Outreach Officer
Prior to working at IMIX, Elahe worked at the Scottish Refugee Council for 6 years as a caseworker, where the majority of her clients were newly granted refugees. Although these experiences taught her a lot and helped her achieve a large portfolio of work, at IMIX, her role allows for more collaboration.
She has also completed a BA in Education and Social Services and volunteered with multiple charities in Glasgow. She is also a board member of the Scottish Detainee Visitors.
Elahe is an adventurous outdoorsy person, and she was an experienced mountain/rock climber back in her homeland of Iran.
She loves camping, traveling, reading, and watching good movies.
Our Trustees
Geraldine Blake, Chair
Geraldine’s career has been in civil society, most recently as Chief Executive of Community Links, a social action charity working alongside local people to tackle inequality in east London and to share the learning nationally. Prior to that, Geraldine founded and ran a social enterprise, GAP Research, which supported residents and service users in highly diverse communities to work with public agencies to improve services and design effective solutions to long standing problems.
Shazia Ejaz
Shazia Ejaz is an experienced communications professional having worked in a variety of sectors. Her training ground was in government departments including Her Majesty’s Treasury which set her up to go on to work in a global management consultancy and a global affairs think tank. Having worked on political campaigns and now running communications for a business body, IMIX benefits from her strategic vision for communications and growing organisations.
Agnès Estibals
Agnès is a senior civil servant and professional economist. She has in-depth knowledge of Government, public policy and public affairs, having held roles spanning policy, economics and delivery of large programmes across Whitehall. She also has previous experience of advising print and broadcasting media clients on target audiences for Ipsos. Coming from a family with a long history of immigration herself, she moved to the UK twenty years ago. She is committed to promoting the positive contribution that immigrants from all backgrounds make to the UK economy and society, and to the public sector – from public administration to the frontline delivery of health, social care and education.
Phoebe Griffith
Phoebe is a recognised policy expert and advisor on a range of migration issues. She is a former Deputy Director at the Institute for Public Policy Research, the UK’s foremost progressive think tank. Previously, she led IPPR’s influential migration programme, was seconded to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, and worked at a leading grant making foundation, the Barrow Cadbury Trust, where she helped set up several major programmes on migration and integration, including IMIX. Phoebe has an MA in Latin American politics and society and a BA from Oxford University.
Dolores Modern
Dolores Modern is a Latin American migrant woman, who moved to the UK from Argentina in 2015. She is currently Policy and Communications Coordinator on Employment Rights at the Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS). She has a background in Political Science and Human Rights, and over 10 years of experience working in the women’s sector. She is passionate about fighting exploitation and inequality, about women’s issues and migration processes.
Zino Onokaye-Akaka
Zino is a psychology undergraduate at St Mary’s University in London. She also works as a Project Assistant at On Road Media and was previously a Let Us Learn Project Worker at Just for Kids Law. She has been campaigning on migrant issues since 2016 and is passionate about using her voice to change the conversation on migration. She moved to the UK with her family from Nigeria when she was aged nine and hopes that by sharing her own story and experiences she can help people to see migrants in a more human way. You can read more about Zeno’s story in our Human Journeys series.
Rachael Gould
Rachael has extensive experience of leading media and communications teams in not-for-profit organisations. Rachael is currently Head of Communications at the General Pharmaceutical Council, which regulates pharmacists and pharmacies. Previous experience includes working in senior communications roles for the General Medical Council, the National AIDS Trust and The Children’s Society, where she worked on major campaigns representing the interests of young refugees and asylum seekers and their families.