About

A disturbing number of Roni’s friends have learnt to avoid eye contact with her whenever her trade-mark ‘I’ve just had a great idea for a project’ dance kicks in ; this normally means that you will end up being roped into an incredibly random creative community project. Roni is responsible for curating projects and produces the visuals and musical scores.

She is also a dance practitioner trained at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Dance and specializes in curriculum-led dance. Roni is founder of Dance-Africa.

Sharmin Akter joins Pamodzi as Funding Strategy Director, bringing extensive experience in strategy, partnerships, and operational delivery across complex, multi-site organisations. With over 15 years in public and private sectors, she is a people-first leader skilled in property strategy, FM, governance, ESG delivery, and vendor performance. Sharmin will shape a diverse funding plan—spanning grants, corporate partnerships, and innovative income streams—to power Pamodzi’s storytelling projects and community programmes. Known for building high-performing teams and embedding impact-led reporting, she ensures creativity and inclusion are sustainably resourced.

Sharmin moved to Portsmouth in 2021 to be close to her late best friend, Rachel, whose kindness and community spirit continue to inspire her. In Rachel’s memory, she volunteers with Pamodzi to enable creative, community-led storytelling across the city. Her leadership reflects Pamodzi’s values of integrity, inclusion, creativity, and community—championing diverse voices and challenging negative narratives through arts and storytelling.

I’m Alison, Managing Director of Biscoes Solicitors, where I’ve proudly spent 32 years supporting vulnerable clients in care, adoption, and Court of Protection matters. Since becoming MD in 2015, I’ve led the firm’s growth with a focus on delivering accessible, approachable, high-quality legal advice. My fellow directors and I are committed to a people-centric, values-led culture that enables our team to thrive and provide excellent service to every client, every time. I’m also honoured to serve as a Director of LawNetUK, supporting excellence across independent law firms nationwide.

My passion for Portsmouth runs deep. I serve as a director and company secretary of Shaping Portsmouth CIC, a NED at the Guildhall Trust, and a Trustee of Pompey in the Community, helping raise aspirations across the city. I actively champion the Armed Forces Covenant and Employment Recognition Scheme, influenced by my upbringing in a Royal Naval family. A lifelong learner, I hold a law degree, a master’s, an MBA, and Chartered Manager status—and I’m always happy to share my business experience with others. One day, I hope to study psychology simply for the joy of learning, because people truly are fascinating!

Stef first met Roni Edwards in October 2018 and played a pivotal role in helping the Inspirational Women of Portsmouth establish itself through his work with Shaping Portsmouth.

Reflecting on his journey, Stef shared:
“After retiring from my role with Shaping Portsmouth, I was eager to continue contributing to organisations that make a meaningful impact. With a background in finance and operations, I have been proud to bring my expertise to Pamodzi Creatives and am excited to support the next stage of its development. It is a true honour to serve as a non-executive director for this wonderful organisation, and I look forward to helping Pamodzi Creatives thrive and reach even greater heights.”

Gav is a seasoned video content producer with over 15 years of experience, specialising in translating brilliant ideas into video, telling stories and taking a project from conception to final edit, he expertly crafts narratives that captivate and inspires. Gav spent time building video departments from the ground up at an international travel agency and a leading international sports brand before deciding to set up Carmann Creative a freelancer partnership he runs with his wife, Amy.

Their agency aims to produce beautiful creative content, graphic design and video for social and positive impact organisations, with a focus on local community interest companies, charities and businesses in Portsmouth. Working with the likes of Pamodzi, STEMunity, Downtown Pompey and The Parent Network to name a few.

Sarah Roads is the owner of three businesses based in Portsmouth specialising in Marine Recruitment and Payroll. She is best known for SLR Marine Recruitment which is her biggest passion recruiting for roles in the Marine sector. The Middle Group was a proud sponsor of the IWP [Awards] in 2021.

Sarah is a regional governor for TSAT and thrives on educating our younger generations on all the opportunities that are available to them, especially in the Marine Sector.

She is a Mum to wonderful football mad boys and is on the go all the time.

Jane Moody has 15 years experience of supporting schools and in 2022 created her own CIC, Marvellous Fabulous Projects. She enthusiastically creates and delivers projects that continue to support schools and young people in Portsmouth. In addition to facilitating Pamodzi’s youth engagement projects, Jane has worked with and delivered projects alongside wonderful local Organisations such as Share (Portsmouth), Creatful, STEMunity and The Lark Network. 

linktr.ee/marvellousfabulousprojects

Laura Watford is Chief Executive Officer of STEMunity, an innovative University and Industry led initiative brining together STEM subject academics, schools and communities. Laura plays a pivotal role in supporting the delivery of our education and community programmes.

Debbie was a 2022 IWP award recipient for her voluntary work in the community. At the awards ceremony itself—boogying away on the dance floor—Debbie said to Roni, “This is a truly heartfelt event. I would love to be involved.” The rest, as they say, is history.

Debbie has designed and created Pamodzi’s merchandise, and she plays a key role in sourcing sponsors, fundraising, and organising events such as the Inspirational Women of Portsmouth Awards, Girls’ Night In, and Kambini.

She is also a voluntary pastoral worker with The Vista Project, which provides support for women working in the sex industry. Alongside this, Debbie is a support worker for two SEN boys.

Three things Debbie strives for in her daily life are Kindness, Jesus, and Joy.

UBUNTU 💜💚👑

I’m a student in Portsmouth and I volunteer for the Portsmouth Youth Cabinet, working closely with other young people as well as members of the council to amplify youth voice and create positive change in our community. Recently, I helped launch the Save Our Solent – SOS campaign, which aimed to stop Southern Water from illegally dumping sewage into our coastal waters and am currently working on a campaign promoting sexual health education and services for young people.

I’m very passionate about equity in education and hope that school becomes a place where every child is given the same amount of time and care as the next, given access to equal opportunities and given hope. I really look forward to working with Pamodzi and hope to empower other young people along the way.