Leyla Okhai

Leyla Okhai is the founder and CEO of Diverse Minds UK Ltd.  Diverse Minds creates a positively productive workplace for all through training, coaching and consultancy.  The focus is placed on wellbeing, mental health and race equity.  Okhaihas over eighteen years’ experience in developing and implementing diversity, inclusion and equity practices, with senior leadership teams. She is also the host of the award-winning Diverse Minds Podcast a weekly show about mental health and inclusion.  She is a TEDx Speaker, her talk is entitled The Connection between Race, Culture and Mental Health.  As a trained coach, mentor, speaker and mediator, Okhai’s coaching practice centres on how staff can navigate boundaries and reach their full potential whilst maintaining their wellbeing. Leyla has also spoken regularly on mental health and wellbeing in the workplace and delivered training programmes and workshops on these issues across both private and public sectors. 

Okhai was the Head of Centre for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Centre at Imperial College London, from July 2012-June 2017 and prior to this worked at the University of Oxford for over six years, firstly in student recruitment, specialising in increasing applications from underrepresented BAME young people. She went on to pioneer innovative race and religious belief equality initiatives at Oxford’s Equality and Diversity Unit from 2008-2012.  She was the University’s first specific advisor for race and religion.  She has been a member of the University of Leeds Council since November 2018.