Quick Facts
Biography
Nadia Shah (Bengali: নদিয়া শাহ; born September 1979) is a British Labour Party politician, councillor for Regent's Park and former Mayor of Camden. In May 2016, she became the first female mayor in the United Kingdom of Bangladeshi origin.
Early life
Shah was born and brought up in Camden, London, England where has lived with her parents and three sisters. She attended school in Camden and graduated from the University of Greenwich.
Shah's ancestral home is at Kulaura Upazila, Moulvibazar District, Bangladesh.
Career
Shah worked in Camden for all of her working life. She started her career as an investment banking advertiser at NatWest Bank of England. She also worked at Home Office and several departments of the local and central government of Britain. Shah has been employed as a social worker and a youth worker. As a teenager she volunteered with young people in the borough, and she has managed community projects helping people with drug addiction and a community centre as a social worker. She became a coopted trustee for the Surma centre (the largest organisation working for the Bangladeshi community) and then went on to become an elected director.
In May 2014, in the Camden London Borough Council election, Shah was elected as a councillor for the Regent's Park ward, where Tulip Siddiq was a councillor before becoming MP in 2015. In 2014, she was elected by members and served on the executive committee of the council.
In May 2016, Shah was appointed Mayor of Camden at Camden Town Hall in a ceremony which also saw confirmation of the council's new cabinet. She became the first Bangladeshi-origin female mayor in any city in the UK. Shah chose the Anna Freud Centre in Hampstead as her official charity for the forthcoming year.
Shah also works as an athletics co-ordinator for the University of East London's Academic Registry department, coordinating an athletics running group.
Shah currently works in the family business and also self-employed.
Awards
In 2014, Shah received the Camden Community Award in recognition for the work and dedication for the work done with the community. In November 2016, she picked up the inaugural Lord's Taverners Community Partnership Award on behalf of Camden Council.
Personal life
Shah's husband, Jajil Shah, works as the chief of Information Technology department at Camden Council. They have three sons.
Shah trains regularly at the Sports Dock gym and fitness centre at University of East London, and has run half-marathons. She has organised community runs around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
