About Us

Anush joined Orchid Project in June 2021 from her role as the Director of Global Campaigns at the United for Global Mental Health. Prior to that, Anush spent 7 years at the largest voluntary organisation for girls and young women, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) as the Head of Advocacy and External Relations. In WAGGGS she led the global advocacy work and the oversight of the global Stop the Violence campaign that reached over 70 countries. Her previous roles were mostly within the United Nations family, focusing on gender equality and labour migration. At Orchid Project, Anush oversees policy, advocacy and communications work. She is passionate about girls’ rights and empowerment and social justice.

With over 30 years of experience in international development, Sean has worked with the highest levels of leadership, consulting with clients across Africa, the Middle East, the European Union and the United States. Over this time Sean has developed extensive social capital – a global network of trusted local partners.

Sean is now leveraging this social capital to bring proven real-world expertise, invaluable grassroots access and experienced impact pathways to research projects. Working at the nexus between practice and theory, the resulting interdisciplinary collaborations have the potential to produce high-quality knowledge that can shape programming and inform policy.

Sean is also a PhD candidate at the University of Leicester. Sean’s research explores FGM/C in diaspora communities.

Fiona joined Orchid Project in January 2022 from her role as Senior Trusts Manager at Leonard Cheshire. Here, she spent 6 years fundraising and managing grants from Trusts & Foundations to support children and adults with disabilities in Asia and Africa to access education and employment. Prior to that, Fiona spent 4 years at WaterAid as Programme Funding Officer for East Africa, where she worked with governmental donors to increase access to water, sanitation and hygiene in East Africa. Her previous roles include fundraising at organisations focusing on human rights, environmental rights and children’s rights. At Orchid Project, Fiona oversees all fundraising activity. She is passionate about children and girls’ rights as well as gender empowerment.

Dr Ann-Marie MBE, is a psychologist with over 30 years’ experience. She founded and led
the anti-FGM charity, 28 Too Many (www.28toomany.org) for the last 12 years, which focussed on anti-FGM research, producing over 100 reports in that time. Apart from managing a database of some 60+ countries, the research generated creation and
management of a global network of contacts and partners; capacity development
and resource production, enabling advocacy, supported by strategic communications.
Dr Ann-Marie successfully steered a merger with Orchid Project earlier this year, in liaison with the boards of both charities. As a global Expert, Ann-Marie continues to work closely with UK and overseas governments, NGOs and UN bodies and has delivered numerous papers, posters and talks on FGM-related issues. 28 Too Many has published anti-FGM research reports on 28 countries across Africa, 30 on the Law
and FGM, and 33 on FGM in the Diaspora. The Charity remains an Associate Member of the UN Inter African Committee.
Prior to founding 28 Too Many, Dr Ann-Marie worked in humanitarian aid for over 20 years in 14 countries, mostly in Africa and Asia; Middle East and the FGM diaspora across the US and Europe.
Before this, whilst in strategic human resources, complex change and marketing in Blue chip companies, Dr Ann-Marie graduated in Business, Cross Cultural Studies, and Psychology, holding degrees in each. Having run her own NGO and Charities Consultancy company, she also gained much governance, strategy and leadership
skills and experience. As a board member of seven charities, she has been responsible for diverse strategy, fundraising, global health and anti-FGM pioneering projects over the last few decades.
Ann-Marie is on expert panels with the Metropolitan Police, Child Abuse Linked to
Faith and Belief (CALFB), and the World Bank. She frequently reviews academic papers and lectures on FGM alongside related topics.

Her book, Overcoming – My Fight Against FGM, was published in 18 June 2021.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Ann-
Wilson/s?

Brenda Dora is a human rights lawyer with a cumulative eight (8) years technical experience
and expertise in Child Protection; Child Rights Governance; Policy Advocacy and Influencing
in Ending Harmful Cultural Practices; Partnerships, Coalition Building and Government
Engagement; Gender Rights Activism; Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health.
She joins the Orchid Project from Africa Capacity Alliance where she was the Policy and
Advocacy Advisor and her role was centred towards working with civil society organizations,
coalition partners, consortiums, and networks on how to leverage on national, sub-regional,
regional and global advocacy spaces to strategically influence and shape public policy in the
promotion of children’s rights with specific focus being Ending Female Genital
Mutilation/Cutting and Child Marriage. 
She considers herself a womanist who is passionate about women and girls, and is
proactively engaged in initiatives that advance the rights of women and children.

After working in various capacities in law firms for 15 years, in both Australia and the UK, Danica sought a more rewarding and philanthropic career. She studied English & Creative Writing and Media & Cultural Studies at the University of Chichester, then began editing for the research arm of 28 Too Many (now part of Orchid Project) in 2015.

Danica specialises in writing and editing pieces related to the media and social sciences; however, she has also edited manuscripts (including the occasional romance novel!) and a variety of other texts on theology, marketing, the music and publishing industries, high-control groups, and – a subject that hits close to home for her – health and disability. She has a particular desire to promote media literacy, evidence-based practice, and the sharing of knowledge and learning.

Macharia is a development and social sciences professional with over fifteen years’ experience in developing, managing, monitoring and evaluating national, regional and international programs in the areas of gender and youth equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights and civil society strengthening.
Prior to joining Orchid Macharia worked as National coordinator for the youth anti FGM network coordinating youth led NGOs, CBOs, and activists in the 22 hotspot counties where FGC is prevalent in Kenya. He has vast experience in managing comprehensive and integrated gender and youth advocacy projects targeting vulnerable girls, women and young people. The programmes are aimed at addressing issues around violence against women and empowering them on poverty alleviation initiatives. Over the years he has assisted in mobilizing for networks and have coordinated programmes between Kenya, Norway, Kuwait, United Kingdom, East Africa, West Africa and southern Africa regions.

Anne has been translating or coordinating translations for 28 Too Many (part of Orchid Project) since 2018. Above all, she is passionate about change and strongly believes words and analysis can be powerful agents. She has worked, raised a family, or lived in six different countries in Europe, Asia and North America. She is focused on child education both at a local and global level and has personally experienced various gender norms across the globe. She is extremely responsive to how one can learn from each other both at an individual and group level, and how one can reconcile societal concepts with a thriving life.

She graduated in International Trade, including one year at Oxford Brookes University, and worked for a multinational company in an industrial sector. She is also currently involved in fighting for the return of forcibly transferred children and is keen to write reviews in the graphic novel world in her spare time.

Kirigo Njenga joins Orchid Project as Advocacy Officer to support the Africa Led Movement in influencing policy to end FGC through global advocacy, capacity building, technical support, and research.
Prior to joining Orchid Project, Kirigo was the Africa Coordinator at 28 Too Many, where she was responsible for supporting research and influencing policy on harmful practices at regional and national level. She was also involved in building the capacity of grassroot organisations in using evidence to inform advocacy and programming towards ending FGC.
She comes from a background as a human rights lawyer, researcher and policy and advocacy professional with over 10 years’ experience in litigation, policy development and capacity building in the areas of gender, women, girls and children rights.
She is passionate about human rights, gender equality and ending violence against women and girls.

Natalie joined Orchid Project in August 2023 from her role at Peace Direct as Communications Officer working closely with women’s rights organisations that were working to build peace and support women recovering from conflict. Here she worked on co-developing ethical content collection processes with partner organisations and has extensive training in this area. Prior to this, Natalie worked at the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, helping to spotlight the stories of grassroots organisations and working with youth led organisations. Natalie has an MSc in International Crimes, Conflict and Criminology and is a LLB Bachelor of Law. She is passionate about gender empowerment and women’s rights.

Shannon has worked in international development since 2010 working primarily with civil society organisations around themes of health, economic empowerment and gender-based violence. Shannon has a particular interest in participatory research and community mobilisation approaches that harness local knowledge and enable action at the grassroots. She is passionate about creating learning resources and accessible information for activists and practitioners to enable them to make use of evidence to increase their impact.

Shannon holds an M.Sc. in Health, Community and Development from the London School of Economics.

Beate serves as the Managing Director of Orchid Project Germany. The organisation was founded together with Andreas Zielke in 2023 in order to support Orchid Project’s activities more comprehensively. In working with philanthropies, Beate highly values a comprehensive community-based approach, an orientation towards measurable impact, and financial transparency. She is committed to supporting the end of FGM/C and the improvement of living conditions for women and children.

Beate has held a variety of managerial positions at McKinsey for 22 years and joined Zielke GmbH in 2016. Beate has been a supporter of women’s causes all her life and has been involved with several organisations in this field for many years.

Delphine was a Managing Director in Accenture, working across the UK and France. She recently stepped down from this role. She held a number of client roles in her 25 years career with Accenture, mainly focused on large scale transformation programmes and digital transformation in the High Tech sector.

Delphine has been a Trustee of Orchid project for 3 years. She spent seven months in 2022 as the Interim CEO for Orchid Project.

Joseph is a Senior Director in the Analytics team at the Global Innovation Fund (GIF) where he focuses on the measurement of economic and social impacts of prospective and portfolio investments. He works across various thematic areas including gender-based violence, health and livelihood-creation for the poorest people in developing countries. He previously worked with the Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF), where he led the evaluation of over 30 e-governance projects across 15 African countries. Prior to ICF, Joseph worked in the Gender division of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations where he undertook assessment of gender inequalities in agriculture sub-sectors.

Dimiana is an education strategist focused on social innovation, youth development, global citizenship, and inclusive entrepreneurship. She is a long time advocate for social justice and women, girls, and children’s protection and rights anti-Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). She served as Vice-Chair on the Trustee Board of 28 Too Many, now a part of Orchid Project. She has worked with government agencies in the GCC, along with higher education institutions and NGOs in different geographies, with a particular focus on the EMEA region. Her work has included managing projects for USAID and US State Department, along with work developing startups focused on advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She is founder of Global Vision Impact Consulting, US-based firm and founding member of People of Impact, a Dubai-based company, a social network to accelerate advancement towards achieving the SDGs.

Cécile is Managing Director with Bain Capital in London. Prior to this, Cécile was with Morgan Stanley for nine years, most recently as Head of Global Fundraising for the Private Equity Fund of Funds business. Cécile has also worked for the financial sponsors group at JPMorgan and at HVS International, and is a founding member of Level 20, a non-profit organisation that aims to inspire women to join and succeed in the private equity industry.

Carole is Head of the Office of Board Affairs at the Global Fund to fight AIDs, TB and Malaria. Prior to that she was the Executive Director of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health based out of WHO, which she joined after working at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Up until 2008 she worked for the UK Department For International Development (DFID) and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO). Carole has served on the Boards of the Global Fund, UNAIDS, WHO, and humanitarian agencies in her FCO/DFID role. She also served for many years on the Board of the HIV Alliance. Carole started her career as a nurse and midwife, working in a refugee camp on the Thai/Cambodian border. She has a PhD in Public Health Policy, and graduate education in Anthropology and Health Systems Management.

Carina joins Orchid Project with over 10 years experience working with UN agencies and international NGOs. She is currently the Head of Advocacy and Policy at Margaret Pyke Trust, where she joined in 2015. She advocates on the importance of sexual and reproductive health and rights, and family planning in particular, not only to improve the health, well-being and lives of women and girls, but also as part of climate and biodiversity policy. She is the Co-Chair of the Biodiversity & Family Planning Task Force of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a member of IUCN’s Commission on Environmental, Economic & Social Policy and a Steering Committee Member of the UK SRHR Network. Carina brings to Orchid Project her passion for advocating for investment in women’s rights and health, including the elimination of FGM/C.

Alice joins Orchid Project from Shell International Trading London, where she is the Structured Commodity Finance Lead. She has been at shell from 2008 where she has held various roles within the financial space. Alice has an educational background in Accounting, Finance and Economics. Alice also brings experience of being the Co-Chair Governor at Wallace Fields Infant School, where she works alongside the leadership team to ensure high standards of educational achievement and guides the strategic direction of the school. Alice is particularly passionate about the rights of girls and young women which led to her interest in Orchid Project.

Andreas joins Orchid Project with over 35 years of international management consultancy experience, including almost two decades as a Senior Partner with McKinsey. He is now the owner and CEO of his own private company Zielke GmbH providing consulting services to automotive clients and holding interests in select small businesses.
Andreas has a passion for helping to end FGM/C and has committed his time and experience to doing so since 2020.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in April 2016

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in March 2019.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in April 2016.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in November 2016.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in March 2019.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in April 2018.

Attended Tostan Training Center in January 2020.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in March 2017.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in July 2016.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in July 2016.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in July 2015.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in April 2018.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in July 2015.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in December 2018.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in December 2018.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in March 2019.

Participated in Mercy Corps GirlSPARKS training in 2018.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in July 2016.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in April 2016.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in April 2016.

Attended the Tostan Training Center in January 2020.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in July 2016.

Participated in a Tostan Training Centre seminar in March 2017.

Julia founded and was Chief Executive Officer of Orchid Project from 2010 – 2019. Prior to this she spent 18 years in the corporate sector, specialising in transport policy. In 2008, she volunteered in Ethiopia, where she came to understand more about the devastating scale and impacts of FGC. In 2010, she led a panel discussing how to end FGC at the World Economic Forum in Davos and then spent time in Senegal and The Gambia, visiting communities and seeing incredible change happening at the grassroots level. This community-level change inspired her to set up Orchid Project to meet the vision of a world free from female genital cutting. In 2017 Julia was awarded an OBE for her work to end FGC. In 2019, Julia chose to hand over the leadership of Orchid Project. She now divides her time between volunteering and consulting globally with social justice organisations whose work she admires. She is on the International Board of Voluntary Services Overseas and is Chair of Under One Sky, a UK homelessness charity.

Natalia Tena is a British actress and musician. She’s a dedicated fundraiser and supporter of Orchid Project; from walking the Camino de Santiago for us, to raising awarenss of FGM/C through fundraising campaigns, she’s always ready to help. We’re eternally grateful for her support and are delighted to announce her as an ambassador for Orchid Project. Natalia is well known for her roles in About a Boy, the Harry Potter films, and Game of Thrones. A talented musician, she is also the lead singer and accordionist of Molotov Jukebox.

Ali Mashayekhi is a Canadian based film producer and was the president of Landed Entertainments for the past 24 years. He has produced over 80 films around the world since 2003, screening at over a 100 festivals and winning several awards including Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film at Austin Film Festival in 2022. Ali has long standing experience supporting the charitable sector, currently working with children in conflict and to promote inclusivity and diversity in the arts. We believe Ali’s creative approach towards philanthropy will be an asset to Orchid Project’s journey to creating a future free from FGM/C for all women and girls as well as his passion to drive equality. We are excited to announce Ali as our new ambassador and look forward to this collaboration.