Shama Naqushbandi is a senior infrastructure leader, with significant experience of managing complex major global energy and infrastructure projects and public-private partnerships. In her current role Shama is responsible for empowering and leading teams to deliver on some of the most transformative infrastructure projects in Canada. Prior to this, Shama worked at Shell in London advising the group on major investment proposals, project financings and strategic joint ventures.
A first class honours graduate from Cambridge University, Shama formerly practiced as a lawyer in the Projects, Energy & Infrastructure practice of top international law firm, Allen & Overy, advising governments, sponsors, contractors, banks, and major multilaterals, including the World Bank, on a broad range of landmark energy and infrastructure projects across the world.
“Shama cares deeply about diversity, inclusion and social justice and has written for various publications including Amnesty International, the Wire, Rabble and Dawn.”
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Shama and her twin-sister Sabah since Cambridge. Both are exceptionally talented and fiercely proud of their Kashmiri heritage. Outside of work, Shama is a published author and writer, passionate about building empathy and a better world. Her first novel, ‘The White House’, won Best Novel at the Brit Writers Awards and explores the challenges of finding identity in an increasingly globalized world. Shama cares deeply about diversity, inclusion and social justice and has written for various publications including Amnesty International, the Wire, Rabble and Dawn.
Alongside her passions Shama mentors extensively - her two young children continue to push her to bring her best self to every day. She is currently writing her second novel.
Shama and I had a catch up to discuss her writing and journey so far.
How are you able to manage a high-powered job, writing your second novel and a young family?
Thank you Gulshan, with perpetual practice! To be honest, I’ll have to give the credit to my mum. She was a great role model - a powerhouse in her work and a mother of three girls - she just got on and did stuff without overthinking it. You hear a lot about women these days not being able to have it all and having to make choices so having lived the experience of someone who was able to keep all the plates spinning was and continues to be a big influence.
“I think when your starting point in life is a strong affirmation of a diverse identity where you can be one and many things at once you’re less inclined to put limits on yourself.”
At one point my mum was CEO of a major hospital and my dad’s boss, but she was probably getting bossed around at home by all of us! I think when your starting point in life is a strong affirmation of a diverse identity where you can be one and many things at once you’re less inclined to put limits on yourself. Sometimes I feel labelling yourself is where a lot of pain comes, because life just doesn’t work in pieces - you’ve got to apply your full self.
Please can you discuss when you knew you wanted to write a novel, and the process of writing The White House?
I’ve been writing ever since I was little. Writing was my way of processing the world. When you’re a kid there’s so much feeling you’re exploring - my children remind me of it every day . Recently, my 4 year old son asked me “Mama, why does God watch us?” and I had to think about what to say, that is a seriously deep question!
“I loved experimenting with verse because it gave form to feeling and space to emotions that I was unable to articulate.”
For me writing started early on with poetry. I loved experimenting with verse because it gave form to feeling and space to emotions that I was unable to articulate. It was my way of exploring vulnerability and having a voice. It never really stopped after that. The older I grew the more the words kept coming and I was able to thread lines into paragraphs. I realised I was ready to write a novel when I was typing notes to myself on my blackberry on business trips abroad. Life was literally feeding me content! In the end I took a sabbatical to bring it all together. ‘The White House’ is really the culmination of that effort, it’s a coming of age story that pieces together a lot of childhood and adolescent feeling to create a frame to experience I was unable to see at the time.
Your novel explores the challenges of shifting between the cosmopolitan city of London and the ghostly back-drop of war-torn Kashmir – in real life how have you achieved this?
London and Kashmir are such different realities: one is a kaleidoscopic city and the other is a little Himalayan valley nestled between three superpowers and the most militarised zone in the world. When I was younger, I struggled to bridge the realities. Kashmir was my Narnia, a secret world I visited in the holidays that I didn’t know how to share or explain to others. It’s a difficult place to process as a child - on the one hand there is so much beauty and on the other hand so much man-made suffering. I literally was able to tourist in and out of this garrison state for my summer holidays, and that left a mark on me. Growing up in London there were a lot of strong communities around me but I felt I didn’t fit into any one of them. I was this white-skinned kid growing up in a white neighbourhood with a secret identity into this really intense place. When you’re a kid belonging is so important - you want to be understood.
“I realised I was not at all unique and there were so many others like me juggling these hybrid identities that didn’t fit into neat boxes”
Of course as I grew up and saw more of the world, I realised I was not at all unique and there were so many others like me juggling these hybrid identities that didn’t fit into neat boxes. Globalisation, digitalisation and advances in travel have challenged a lot of assumptions around the way we think about identity - I’ve always believed so many of the social constructs that try to define us don’t account for the possibilities of these new realities. The White House was in some sense my way of giving truth to that white space between the lines. I hope it resonates with anyone who has at some point struggled to find themselves.
Your children will be the second-generation to be born outside of Kashmir, how do you think they will deal with their own identities?
It’s something I often wonder especially having immigrated to Canada recently. As a parent I think there is a natural instinct to want to control and protect your kids, you want to give them only the best of the world. As everyone knows though there is no one rite of passage into life. I was born and raised in London, one of the most phenomenal cities in the world - if my parents had said to me you’re going to end up in Canada and your kids are going to grow up with North American accents I would never have believed them.
“London and Kashmir are such different realities: one is a kaleidoscopic city and the other is a little Himalayan valley nestled between three superpowers and the most militarised zone in the world.”
I think that’s the beauty of life, things change and so do we. Canada is a beautiful country and full of its own stories, I know my children will go on their own journeys and those paths are going to be theirs alone to walk. The most I can hope for is to be a good steward along the way. Part of that is fostering a curiosity for the world around them and teaching them humility, empathy and above all kindness.
You have written for publications such as Amnesty International and Rabble on important issues such as the turmoil in Kashmir and Racial inequality. As individuals how can you and I make a difference to these deeply imbedded social causes?
I think real social change starts from a place of being open to the possibility that there are other ways of seeing things and surrounding yourself with diverse influences. With COVID it is easy to get nostalgic but I have such fond memories of my parent’s home always being full of people of such different walks of life. Our home was always full of stories. I am convinced my own curiosity about the world in some part grew from that.
“I think real social change starts from a place of being open to the possibility that there are other ways of seeing things and surrounding yourself with diverse influences”
I don’t think I do half as much as I should but something I discovered much later on is that only 10% of our empathic ability is genetic. Most of our empathy skills are learned which means we can build them at any point in our lives. This gives me great hope. I recall many moments from school to work when I felt that caring was a handicap or that my natural feelings were something I had to suppress - it meant I would not be able to rise up in certain ranks or that I would somehow be labeled.
“Our home was always full of stories. I am convinced my own curiosity about the world in some part grew from that.”
There is no doubt writing has helped me become braver, there’s a lot of power in being able to shine the light with your pen. Of course there is always the chance that not everyone will be comfortable stepping into the space you’ve created, but as a writer you learn to accept that lack of control - your job is just to open the window.
Do you have any advice for prospective writers?
Writing is not easy and you have to be comfortable with solitude. Yes, there is a lot of pleasure in writing, at times it really can be a beautiful communion with the soul, but I would be lying if I didn’t say the process takes a lot from you. Probably a lot more than it gives. For a start, I can’t remember the last time I watched Netflix with my husband!
“There is no doubt writing helped me become braver - there’s a lot of power in being able to shine the light with your pen.”
For that reason I think you need to understand why you are writing and remember that when you need the motivation to carry on. Putting thought to paper can be intense because let’s face it life can be intense so it’s important to keep connected, enjoy the moments of levity, and not always take yourself too seriously, laugh at yourself when you need to. I’ll be the first to cringe at some of my old work – we’re all human after all! Sometimes, you just need to trust the process because it does take time.
For some writers it can feel like a calling, and when the song comes it just flows. Remember those days and be kind to yourself on the days where you need to work harder. I still have to keep telling myself that every day …
You are a tremendously successful person, what keeps you motivated?
Wow - first off I definitely don’t wake up in the morning and think of myself in that way - there is definitely still plenty of room for growth! I also think success is such a relative and personal concept. My idea of success has certainly matured from when I was a younger person. I’ve been really fortunate to have been blessed with lots of opportunities and people who have and continue to support me along the way. Part of that privilege has instilled in me a sense of wanting to give back.
“I want to live an intentional life so that whatever small footprint I leave on this earth is a positive one for those around me.”
At the risk of sounding philosophical, the older I’ve become the more I’ve come to realise that our time on this planet is finite and purpose and connection are what drives us. I want to live an intentional life so that whatever small footprint I leave on this earth is a positive one for those around me. Having children has only reinforced that desire.
You can find out more about Shama at :
http://www.thewhitehousebook.com
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/ether/kashmir-state-silenced
Photographs courtesy of Shama Naqushbandi