What I See meets… Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

As part of Cultural Identity month, we sat down with Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a Ugandan-born British journalist. You may recognise her from this year’s Women of the World festival, and her Independent column – she’s spent 17 years discussing immigration, diversity and multiculturalism.

Yasmin came to Britain to study in 1972. While she was at Oxford, Ugandan Asians were expelled from her home country, so she stayed here – and has since nurtured an illustrious career, writing for the Guardian, the Observer, The New York Times, the Daily Mail, and many more.

In 2001 Yasmin was awarded an OBE for services to journalism, which she famously returned in 2003 after Benjamin Zephaniah’s public refusal of his own award. She cited disagreement of the Labour government, particularly following the Iraq war.

We sat down with Yasmin in her home and asked her about her story: the advice she’d give to her younger self, defining moments in her life, happiness, and of course, what she sees in the mirror. Her answers are beautiful, fascinating and wise. Stay tuned later this month, when we’ll be releasing our podcast where she discusses her notions of cultural identity.