ⓒ Image taken by Tom Sparey
Sado Jirde
Director
As Director of Black South West Network (BSWN) since 2013, Sado Jirde rebuilt the organisation’s profile and repositioned its role from an infrastructure body to a racial justice incubator, where alternative solutions to systemic racial and socio-economic inequalities issues are developed in collaboration with the Black and Minoritised communities across the City of Bristol and the South West region.
Sado is active on several relevant boards and advisory structures including Bristol’s One City Economy board and Bristol University Court. She is also the Vice-Chair of Bristol Old Vic Board – the oldest continuously working theatre in the English-speaking world.
She was awarded The African Achievers Award in 2015, as well as the Most Inspirational Role Model Award by the West Women of the Year Awards in 2019 and listed as a Women of Inspiration: 100 social enterprise leaders showing Covid who’s boss in 2020. Sado is a fellow of Royal Society of Arts and is proud to have been made a Visiting Fellow to University of Bath Spa in 2020.