Jan 2025 – Present · 1 yr 3 mos · Bradford · Hybrid

• Under BD25’s Heritage fund, Zain Ali will lead the design and curation of an exhibition, titled "Nisbet Road Tailor Shop," an immersive recreation of a mid-20th-century South Asian tailoring establishment, reflecting Bradford's rich textile heritage and the contributions of its South Asian immigrant community. The exhibition will pay homage to the immigrants who built Yorkshire’s textile industry and established tailoring businesses in Bradford, with a curatorial blend of heritage storytelling and original art and textile installations by the contributing artist.

Apr 2024 – Aug 2025 · 1 yr 4 mos · London Area, United Kingdom

• In partnership with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Circular Fashion Innovation Network (CFIN) is an industry-led programme by the British Fashion Council (BFC) and UK Fashion and Textile (UKFT) to accelerate the UK towards a Circular Fashion Ecosystem. The programme aims to develop an action led road map to build purpose-led networks, accelerate knowledge sharing and activating industry-led research in working towards key strategic themes including Sustainable Manufacturing, Recycling Infrastructure, Circular Business Models, Green Growth, Novel Technology and Diverse and Future-proof Skills & Workforce.

Oct 2022 – Jul 2023 · 9 mos · London, England, United Kingdom

• Managing Standard Chartered’s flagship community engagement programme by working with 8 organisations across the world to deliver initiatives to support young entrepreneurs to earn, learn, grow and thrive. Countries include Japan, Vietnam, Germany, Botswana, Nigeria, Uganda, Indonesia and Turkey.

Aug 2020 – Oct 2022 · 2 yrs 2 mos · London, England, United Kingdom

• Programme Manager for Communities Driving Change, which was a radical public health programme, supporting hundreds of residents in East London to improve health and wellbeing locally, utilising systems-thinking and a bottom-up approach in ensuring we are working to drive long term, community-led change.

Feb 2020 – Present · 6 yrs 2 mos · London, England, United Kingdom · Remote

• A menswear brand, with a focus and appreciation for slow craft and handwoven textiles.

Jul 2018 – Dec 2018 · 5 mos · Tokyo, Japan

• Designed and delivered a course on Globalisation, with an aim to support young participants from 11 ASEAN countries build mutual understanding and share knowledge from their home countries on common issues. As part of this, I also delivered workshops on project management and supported the participating youths to plan their post-programme activities to maximise the chances of their social projects being achievable and sustainable.

Sep 2015 – Feb 2019 · 3 yrs 5 mos · London, United Kingdom

• During my three years at Mind, I built in-depth experience in community management and civil society projects. My last role as an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Practitioner, I facilitated groups and workshops for the UK National Health Service within a local community (including schools and hospitals) as part of the national ‘Improving Access to Psychological Therapies’ programme. The content delivered was a specific clinical intervention which supports clients in managing various mental health diagnoses. Alongside this, I worked with clients, over a period of up to two years, on a 1-1 basis in devising and executing support plans.
• Prior to this role, I carried out three roles at Mind, managing various projects and contracts in a target-driven environment. This includes managing a team of 38 volunteers and staff, as well as leading on training sessions and workshops for both staff and clients on mental health awareness and equality and diversity policies.

Aug 2014 – Oct 2014 · 2 mos · New Delhi Area, India

• Granted a British Council scholarship to travel, work and study in India, where I led and initiated a research project on education equality in India. I also taught and participated in seminars and lectures at Delhi University to share my research and conduct cultural exchange programmes.
• In concluding my scholarship, I was chosen as an ambassador to promote the programme, where I worked with the British Council to create various PR campaigns on the value of global experiences.

May 2014 – Aug 2014 · 3 mos · Manchester, United Kingdom

• Managed a project which sought to improve stakeholder engagement across the Civil service. I investigated litigation work, conducted consultations with several departments across the government and communicated with regional centres in advancing the project.
• Achieved a new model for stakeholder engagement and established new communication standards and guidelines.