Farhana Shaikh is a Lecturer in Marketing in the department of Leadership, Management and Marketing. She has previously worked as a Lecturer in Creative Writing and in professional services as a copywriter.
A confident and dynamic strategic thinker, Farhana has worked across the arts and business sectors to help organisations streamline their processes and tell better stories. Prior to moving into academia she worked as the Head of Content for a healthcare marketing agency.
Farhana’s research areas include creative and cultural entrepreneurship, marginalised voices and independent publishing - threads which have been shaped and influenced by her creative practice. In From Imposter to Impact: arts leadership in the 21st century, which was written during her time on the Curve's Cultural Leadership programme (2016-18), Farhana explores what cultural leadership looks like in the arts and how we can all unlock our leadership potential.
Farhana's creative practice involves writing fiction and non-fiction as well as running a small press. She set up Dahlia Books in 2010 to champion regional and diverse voices. Since then she has edited and published more than 20 titles. She is the founding editor of The Asian Writer, an online international magazine set up in 2007, which documents the experiences and literary journeys of more than 150 British & South Asian writers.
Farhana won the inaugural Travelex / Penguin Next Great Travel Writer Competition and was long-listed for the 2018 Spread the Word Life Writing Prize. She was long-listed for the #Discoveries2023 Women's Prize/CBC Creative competition for novels in progress for her debut, No Place for a Young Woman.
Farhana's teaching practice is shaped by personal values of faith, independence and openness. She strives to foster an inclusive learning environment with the belief that every student has the potential to reach their full potential regardless of their background or circumstances. Her pedagogical practice involves using a decolonised approach, stepping into a role to learn, not necessarily teach. Farhana is committed to creating learning experiences that are grounded in the real-world, providing students with an opportunity to apply their learning in useful and realistic ways.