Mrs Bushra Nasir was a secondary headteacher with 20 years’ experience at Plashet School in the London Borough of Newham before retiring in December 2012. She was the first Muslim female headteacher of a secondary school in the UK.

In 2003, she was awarded a CBE for her services to education and in 2005 won the ‘Asian Professional Woman of the Year’ award. She served on the General Teaching Council from 2000 to 2005 and was president of the Muslim Teachers’ Association for six years. In 2006, Mrs Nasir was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of East London for her services to education; in 2007 she received a Fellowship from Queen Mary College London.

She is currently on the Education Advisory Panel for Mosaic and is a coach for the NCSL BME headteacher internship programme. She is a Council member of Queen Mary University and the Chair of the Education Committee of the Migration Project.

Mrs Nasir is co-author of a book called Breaking Stereotypes, which aims to provide positive role models for ethnic minority young people. In 2009, she was named in the top 10 list of Muslim women in the ‘Muslim Power’ list produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and published in The Times.She was special advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2007Mrs Nasir was awarded TES Headteacher of the Year in summer 2012. She has also been named as the top 10 most influential asian women in UK.

In this interview she discusses her transition to a new country as an 8 year old child, her career, some inspiring life lessons and much more.

She advocates:

Staying True To Your IdentityHoning Your Skills & Investing In Training & DevelopmentWorking HardMaking The Best Out Of The Opportunities Given To You

She can be contacted at [email protected]