Shani has over 20 years’ experience working in executive recruitment, talent management and coaching, both in the UK and the USA. She is a leading diversity and inclusion campaigner who has devoted her career to re-addressing the balance of diversity within leadership and Board appointments.

From an early age, she knew she wanted to be involved in social justice, human rights and equity issues. At the age of 10, Shani announced to a careers teacher that she wanted to be a human rights lawyer, and he told her she should be more realistic about her ambitions - he thought the local factory was a more realistic target for ‘someone like her’.

Ever since her teenage years, Shanihas ferociously read the works of Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and many others, whose brave, powerful voices ignited her indignation, determination and passion to challenge systems that consciously or unconsciously demonstrate inequality or bias on any level, leading to setting up Cadence Partners over 10 years ago.

She set up Cadence Partners with the declared intention of combating the discrimination she saw in her day to day working life as a recruiter. Even relatively early in her career, she was struck by the seismic impact her decisions could have on people's professional prospects, and more concerningly, saw how lightly this enormous influence was treated by many others in the recruitment sector.

At Cadence Partners, we want all leaders to have an inclusive and equitable mindset, and for this to be embedded into the way organisations are run, and embedded into their recruitment practices. There is no perfect solution, but we can all be better;we aim to inspire, challenge, educate and partner with organisations who aspire to build and develop a workplace that is genuinely and authentically committed to being inclusive, and driving positive social change.

Shani’s energy and drive to address inequality still grows stronger every day, especially when it comes to creating fairer more transparent recruitment process, developing diverse talent and building inclusive organisations.

She is a Trustee with Agenda Alliance, sits on the Advisory Board of the innovative charity foundation, The Fore, sits on the race advisory group of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO), and is a Women on Boards recruitment partner. She has also contributed to reports and guides, such as, ‘No more tickboxes’, a guide to support hiring managers in the NHS to recruit senior leaders more inclusively, the NHS Board Recruitment Compact, supporting to raise the overall standard of executive search recruitment, and promoting greater innovation, inclusivity and consistency, and Getting on Board’s guide on “How to diversity your charity’s Board”.

When she isn’t working, Shani is a chauffeur to a 9 year old with an enviable social life, dog walker to 3 naughty pooches and found reluctantly camping in wet and windy corners of the British Isles with her daughter and wife. She loves music in all of its forms and is convinced that festivals are a neutralizer / remedy / countermeasure / ointment for aging.