Four of the country’s leading media and PR professionals make up the 2018 Media Professional of the Year shortlist. The Media Professional of the Year category is supported by Routes Into Languages North West.
Farzana Baduel – Curzon PR
Farzana is founder and director of Curzon PR an agency which under her leadership has launched a range of international campaigns. She is a regular commentator on national television and print media highlighting social causes and female empowerment. She is also a keen supporter of charities and dedicates her time and expertise to charities such as CARE Pakistan and the Youth Music Theatre (YMT). She has been a passionate advocate for diversity in the media and has teamed up with initiatives such as Creative Access. This year Farzana was chosen as one of seven brand ambassadors for the L.E.V8 Women programme at the Oxford Foundry, University of Oxford. Farzana has also become the first British Asian CEO to achieve Chartered Public Relations Practitioner status.
Natasha Mudhar – Sterling Media
Natasha is Global CEO of Sterling Media, one of the UK’s leading, international business and communications consultancy agencies. The campaigns she has spearheaded have helped clients to empower consumers, shape perceptions, inspire positive action and create change in global communities. She is also recognised for her role in projecting India’s leadership position within various fields. In the past year Natasha led a range of high-profile campaigns, most notably the global release of the ground-breaking feature film on menstrual hygiene, Pad Man and the ensuing ‘Pad Man Challenge’ that reached millions across the world. This year she was included in Management Today’s 35 Women Under 35 list of young, female business talent.
Vickram Sembi – Exterion Media UK
Whilst working at Exterion Media Vickram has successfully created and developed an ethnic portfolio of high-profile clients and effective Out-of-Home (OOH) campaigns to showcase on mainstream media, in particular, nationwide buses and the London Underground. His agency has helped to dress towns and cities across the UK with Asian and ethnic brands such as Shaadi.com, Star Plus, Zee TV, Colors, SBI, Incredible India and Moneygram. In the past year Vickram worked tirelessly on creating targeted packages to showcase brands to Indian and Pakistani cricket fans, producing memorable campaigns for Lebara and bespoke packages for ZEE TV.
Manish Tiwari – Here and Now 365
Manish Tiwari is managing director at Here and Now 365 having founded the business 12 years ago. It specialises in brand communications for an increasingly diverse audience. A member of the RSA (Royal Society of Arts) and a member of the Institute of Practitioners of Advertising (IPA), Here and Now 365 is the only ethnic agency to be IPA-accredited and CPD-certified. Since 2005, Manish has worked closely and successfully with national and international brands such as Patak’s, Virgin, Unilever, Sony, Nestle, O₂ and the British Heart Foundation. The agency’s campaigns for Asda and Morrisons in recent years have helped the brands reach the heart of the Muslim community of the UK.
Winners and recipients of AMA special awards will be announced at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate on Thursday 25 October.
Previous recipients of an Asian Media Award include Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Waris Hussein, Art Malik, Mehdi Hasan, Nina Wadia and Anita Rani.
The University of Salford are premier sponsors and partners to the event include ITV, MediaCom, M.E.N, Press Association Training, Primesight & The Palace Theatre & Opera House.
The official Charity Partner for 2018 is CLIC Sargent.
The event is also supported by Manchester Metropolitan University, Routes Into Languages, Namey, AMT Lawyers, USI Money, Hilton Manchester Deansgate, Supreme Dream Events, Payal Events & Cleartwo.
