A former child genocide survivor, Taban is the founder of the Lotus Flower, a non-profit that supports women and girls impacted by conflict and displacement.

The charity improves the economic, social and cultural chances for vulnerable women and girls, and to date has supported thousands.

With a political activist father during Saddam Hussein’s regime, Taban was imprisoned with her family aged just four, and narrowly escaped being buried alive. After a year dodging bombs and bullets, they were finally flown to the UK by Amnesty International to start a new life. Taban later worked within an investment firm in London, but in April 2014, everything changed. As she saw ISIS waging another genocide in her homeland, she returned to Kurdistan as an aid worker.

Back in the UK, she knew she had to do more, and in 2016, she launched the Lotus Flower. Today, it has centres for women and girls in refugee camps, offering a wide

range of projects that fall under three pillars: Education & Livelihoods; Health & Safety and Peacebuilding & Human Rights. All programs are steeped in gender equality, and built around the idea that when women and girls thrive, the whole community benefits.

Taban has featured extensively across the media, including in the Guardian, BBC News, Sky News, CNN, Telegraph, Independent, Daily Mail, Grazia, HuffPost, Elle and LBC to name a few. She has received a Bravery Award from Hearst media company, and was a finalist in Red magazine’s Women of the Year awards.

Taban is a One Young World ambassador and has spoken at summits alongside Sir Bob Geldof and the late Kofi Annan. Taban is also a renowned speaker and has spoken in front of large audiences.