Sarah Joseph, OBE
Sarah Joseph is a globally renowned Muslim figure, respected for her innovative and independent thinking. She is a writer and broadcaster specialising in topics pertaining to faith, social change, environment, and education. She created the concept of Muslim Lifestyle and defined a contemporary Muslim life. She was listed as one of the World’s 500 most influential Muslims, one of Europe’s most influential leaders under 40, and has an OBE from the Queen. Her most recent work focuses on organisation design, education, climate change, and research into artificial intelligence and ethics.
A graduate of King’s College London and University College London, Sarah is an internationally recognised public speaker. Renowned for her independent and innovative thinking, she has addressed audiences the world over for over 30 years. Her audiences are eclectic - from South Asia’s leading CEOs at the Khazanah Mega Trends Forum in Malaysia to worshipers at Westminster Abbey in London; from educationalists in Singapore to academics in Georgetown University in Washington. She was listed as one of the UK’s most powerful Muslims in the Muslim Power 100 by Carter Andersen, one of Europe’s 40 most influential leaders under 40 by EuropaNova, and one of the World’s 500 most influential Muslims by Georgetown University and the Jordanian Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre. Sarah was awarded an OBE in the June 2004 Queen’s Birthday Honour’s List for services to interfaith dialogue and the promotion of women’s rights.
In 2003 Sarah founded emel - a brand which first created the concept and then detailed the progression of Muslim Lifestyle. The brand fundamentally changed the way Muslims were marketed to, and made Sarah an expert in contemporary Muslim consumers and ethics. Sarah has trained numerous creative teams in both the written word and design. She has conceptualised and developed multiple publications and websites, for her own company and for others.
Sarah has made countless media appearances including for the BBC, CNN and Al-Jazeera. She has also appeared on the Doha Debates. Sarah has written for international newspapers including UK’s The Times and The Guardian, and scripted and recorded for a variety of BBC and independent radio productions. She has a regular slot on the BBC’s most listened to radio show, The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show.
She was one of a handful of members of the Muslim community selected by Downing Street to discuss with the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary issues in the aftermath of the London bombings; and was a member of the Home Office Task Force on extremism following on from that. She currently serves on the UK Government’s Cross Government Working Group on Anti-Muslim hatred. She has been called in as an expert on contemporary Muslim life to numerous bodies and lectured at events across the world. Drawing on her enormous experience and connectivity, Sarah has acted as a consultant to governmental and non-governmental bodies in the UK and abroad.
Following personal experiences, Sarah became impassioned about the needs of Out of School Children. She consulted for an international NGO on the issue, and then started an online education project to build online education courses focused on humanities. To facilitate this work, she completed a Masters in Education Technology at UCL’s renowned Institute of Education, and received a distinction for her dissertation on "Faith perspectives on the use of Artificial Intelligence in education."
Sarah has a Facebook following of almost a quarter million. Scores of newspapers articles, plus PhD and other academic theses have focused on Sarah and her work.