Hi there, I am Sema Gornall.

Growing up in a house full of inequalities, gender segregation and unfair treatment because of my gender, I was waiting for the moment when I would turn 18 to do things my way. When I did, with the support of my mother and sisters, I walked off to a free life - to my own path. To millions of people breathing on the same planet, a university education might not have been as important or valuable but to me and to those like me, it was more than the degree, it was what it represented and I craved that education, strategised to run for it throughout my childhood and competed with every ounce of my strength to get my space because all the odds were against me and where I grew up, no one wanted the girl child to be “that” educated. I became the first person in my family to get a bachelor’s degree and I chose a degree in literature. I loved words, the meaning of everything we say, read and hear, the feeling and the power of it. When I got lost, I found myself in stories and in storytelling.

My first official venture

I have already decided who I was going to be in this world: the creator, the change-maker, the vanguard. All the terms I haven’t heard being associated with women and girls, I wanted associated with me and all the other women and girls. During university, after travelling to dozens of countries hitch-hiking, camping, applying to all possible programmes and opportunities available, I Co-founded a business in my first official change-making journey. I was always an activist since I was a little girl but this time, I had the power to do good and I could own it. The business focused on bringing coffee from smallholder farms in Africa to the small businesses in the Middle East market. Building things from the start and creating change supported me in my self empowerment journey and I knew I wanted to go on and keep creating.

*The relations built for most businesses still goes on.

My NGO journey

After moving to the UK, I continued my career in NGO because I love change-making and I wanted to work towards creating a world where everyone is valued. Soon enough, through my own experiences, I realised it’s a sector that needs to change itself to enable true change-making. As a minoritised person, I felt othered in my early career and vowed to transform the sector in my lifetime with all my efforts and by setting an example in leadership roles. I then found myself creating new ventures.

Advisory Board Member for

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Scotland Yard

Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime

Home Office UK

Crown Prosecution Service

Advisory Highlights

• Legislation Review & Contribution: England and Wales Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022

• Campaign Production: ‘FGM Stops Here’ by Mayor of London’s Office for Police and Crime

• Review & Production: VAWG Educational Pack for Secondary Schools in the UK (2022 Production)

• Work Culture & London Safety Review: Scotland Yard

• The New Met for London Plan

PowerSuit

Founder

I created PowerSuit to help businesses & people to own their power, you know to level up the field. In a world where so much female power shaming happens as soon as a woman states she “wants” something, we need to build up one another, as much as we build ourselves so that everyone can live in a just society. Most of my company’s work focuses on empowering people for equality through business development. PowerSuit builds tech products, runs training & leadership programmes and creates solutions.

www.powersuit.uk

The Vavengers

CEO since 2021

The Vavengers is a true home to my change-making journey. With all the Vavengers, we are working to end FGM/C and all other forms of Gender-Based Violence. We built the first pop-up support & wellness hubs for women and girls and even won an award for it - all so casually. As a group of entrepreneurs and creatives, we love using our power to create change. The Vavengers campaigns, educates and provides direct support.

www.thevavengers.co.uk

The Un-told

Founder

I created Un-told because I didn’t see too many outlets for change-makers to share their stories and also wanted to fill in the gap in the ethical marketing space. Un-told uses storytelling as a powerful tool to build new platforms for those changing the world and teaches businesses to adopt ethical marketing.

www.theun-told.com

Art & Writing

I also define myself as an artist and writer because I love producing art in different mediums and writing new stories. My art and stories mainly focus on social injustice and gender.

Get in touch