Andrew grew up in Oxford and London, and began his career in Soho, working as a creative video editor. After studies in Anthropology at UCL, Film at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and Law at Loyola, Andrew worked for
Miramax Films, wrote for a Shanghai Art magazine, taught film studies, created art installations, and
curated a film festival. He made the documentary film “Vinyl: Tales from the Vienna Underground”,
which premiered at international film Festivals across the world. Following his articles on the Syrian
refugee crisis, Andrew volunteered at a refugee camp and designed a T-shirt campaign to fund
support for unaccompanied minor refugee children. Since returning to London, Andrew organised
film premieres for Ai Wei Wei and Ifrah Ahmed, the international anti-FGM campaigner. He founded
the Pod Refugee Welcome Space in 2021, and designed and administrated emergency relief
services, foodbanks and community kitchens during the pandemic. Andrew started Karmabank as a
cooperative WhatsApp group to connect London emergency services in 2021, and, following
establishment as a CIC, launched the first funded projects with co-founder Rima Sams in 2022.

Rima’s creative background in sustainable fashion and organic food has driven several startups across Europe, from the world’s first energy drink Gusto to the House of Khadi fashion label. She produced over six thousand meals for COVID relief from her kitchen at the Playground Theatre, W10 and continued food support from her café at St. John’s Church, Notting Hill using surplus food collected from The Felix Project.

Rima began her charitable work in the first lockdown energising a team of volunteers to make over 7000 meals at her Theatre Kitchen for the vulnerable in her community who had slipped through the local authority’s net. It was during this campaign that she met Andrew Standen-Raz and through helpful connecting and working together they created an incredible resource of helpers and volunteers. Rima’s diverse career history includes marketing Europes first energy drink, promoting fashion labels, prop buying for film and private cheffing. Rima is now only interested in working on projects that create positive impact.

Marilena is an experienced accountant for the NHS and has coordinated food support and outreach for homeless and low-income Londoners for the Community Sant’Egidio for several years. In 2020, she created a foodbank from the back of her Fiat which served hundreds of vulnerable Londoners in Westminster and RBKC weekly throughout the pandemic.

As a paralegal at Bevan Brittan LLP, Gulsom supports the employment team with employment matters, drafting documents during tribunal proceedings of cases, and document management, as well as liaising with clients and other parties. Gulsom is passionate about pursuing justice and fairness for the people she represents.

Gulsom has a bachelor’s degree in criminal law from Balkh University of Afghanistan. There she gained a solid foundation of the legal system, human rights, and international law, as well as expertise in criminal legal systems of Afghanistan and procedure of criminal cases in the Court.

Gulsom worked as a Prosecutor and investigator of violence against women and child abuses for over five years, prior to her evacuation ot the UK in 2021. At the General Attorney of Afghanistan in the Northern part of Afghanistan, she investigated and handled cases related to women murders, rape, forced marriage, child marriage, sexual harassment in a workplace, and child abuse.

Ayuna grew up in the faraway republic of Buryatia, Siberia. An avid skier and competitive ballroom dancer from childhood, she became a wheelchair user at the age of 15. Despite this, over what she calls her «wheely» years, Ayuna has embraced diverse pursuits, from training for paratriathlons to surfing competitions. In 2021, Ayuna climbed mountain Munku-Sardyk, a 3491m peak, with a team from “Khan-Tengri Mountaineering Club”, a life-changing experience documented in a forthcoming film. In 2023, Ayuna rediscovered her love of ballroom dancing as a wheel-chair user, and toured in the West Midlands with the UK’s first all-wheelchair dance company “Propel Dance” in their reimagined ‘The Snow Queen’. Ayuna is an alumni of National Youth Dance Company 2023-2024, and will dance on stage with NYDC at Sadler’s Wells in July 2024. Ayuna became the first ever wheelchair dancer at the opening ceremony in UEFA history, performing at the Pepsi Kick Off Show for Champions League Final 2024 in Wembley with Lenny Kravitz. Ayuna’s love for performances fuels her passionate advocacy for all abilities to participate in sports, music, dance and art. She is determined to be the first female wheelchair user in space, and to compete in an ironman – she is an inspiration to everyone she meets.

Multidisciplinary artist Caroline Burraway’s body of work confronts socio-political conflicts and cultural ruptures between and within communities, engaging the viewer in converation around these issues. Concerned with underlying social structures and the everyday lived experience of the displaced and disenfranchised, she explores the interplay between the banality of the everyday and the political conditions of their precarious existence. Burraway has been responding to the refugee crisis since 2015, gathering research material from camps across Europe to produce mixed-media installations, large-scale drawings, sculptures, soundscapes and videos to provoke a humanistic response to the twin issues of displacement and dispossession in our compassion-fatigued world.

Anastasia is an unshakable optimist who believes in a bright future and our ability to build it together.
She started her career in creative industries, working for international agencies like Ogilvy and McCann. She then gained solid experience as a consultant helping major brands build effective digital strategies across the world, facilitate innovation, implement new digital tools and advocate for agile digital cuclture. For over 15 years she’s been focusing on building collaborative multicultural teams and communities to drive change and positive impact at scale.

As a creative entrepreneur, Markus has been involved with countless aspects of creativity, running a successful design agency, selling his illustrations, and publishing graphic novels.