Zaza has a mixed cultural (Afro-Arab/Caribbean) background with (Baptist-Muslim) parentage. This heritage has provided her with first-hand personal experience of the tensions that can arise between people of different backgrounds and enabled her to effortlessly build a rapport with and between diverse groups. She is fluent in English and several dialects of Arabic. She served on the Management Committee of the Muslim Mediation Service in Newham 2008-2010 and actively supports the growth of a credible Muslim Arbitration Service in the UK.
As a Trainer, she delivers a versatile Conflict Resolution Skills Training Course for adults and teenagers in schools and to Community Groups in the London Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich. She teaches children with Special Educational Needs to handle conflicts with their peers, siblings and parents more constructively. She also provides “Management of Change” training for managers and their teams in organisations undergoing restructuring initiatives.
Zaza regularly delivers lectures about “The impact of shame on families” at Universities in England and Wales to provide a rare hands-on insight into this trigger of intergenerational conflict. Her commitment to improving the levels of engagement within ethnic and religious communities is strongly evidenced by her founding two charities Converge a family Conflict Resolution service in 2009 and BIMA an international multi-faith association of mediatiors and arbitratiors which develops good practice in both fields in 2011. She is married with three children and lives in Bexleyheath in Kent.
