Meet the Team
Meet the Team
Nikki Kilburn
Director
Passionate about centring experiences of marginalised communities, Nikki is the founder of ZYA Community.
Nikki has a background in trauma-informed, psychotherapeutic mental health practice and arts-based community education. She has led multiple projects across Scotland to support mental health recovery and community-identified outcomes.
Nikki enjoys creating social justice and arts-focused resources for connection, healing, and empowerment. She loves yoga, dance, reading books, her art practice and wandering in nature.
Lesa is an Edinburgh-based Glaswegian librarian, poet and writer. Her work is published in the Responders of Colour Annual, and the Writers of Colour Audio Anthology (2022). She appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2022 and 2023. She embraces all the joy that the arts can bring, whether organising for her reading group to be on the BBC’s The Big Scottish Book Club or jumping up on stage to dance with NDT 2.
Charlotte Grieve
ZYA Wellbeing Project Director
Charlotte is interested in the ways in which we can access wellbeing so we have tools to support us to move through life calmly and with ease. Her tool is meditation and body movement: yoga, dancing, swimming.
Charlotte’s background has been caring for people of all ages, particularly children and families. She has studied psychology and been a cleaner/housekeeper. She is now moving into a space of supporting people to create joy in their lives.
Sophia Bharmal
Lemon Pickle Collective Creative Lead
Lesa Ng
Chilli Tree Network Development Lead
Bailea Jackson
Research and Development Lead
A proud overthinker, Bailea has always wanted to know why things are the way they are. Her undergraduate degree in History answered some of those ‘whys’, yet her diploma and master’s degree in Arts and Cultural Management only ignited more.
As a passionate researcher, Bailea joined ZYA to help bridge the gap between museums in the UK and Canadian communities. A settler in what is now known as Canada, Bailea has spent much of her higher education learning about the economic and cultural effects of colonialism. Bailea is a firm believer that social justice is generational, and works to ensure that she does her part for an equitable future.
If Bailea isn't typing away on her computer, she's typically reading, visiting museums or doom scrolling on social media.
Born in London, Sophia Bharmal (1996) received her MArch degree in Architecture from the University of Edinburgh in 2020 and MA degree from the University of Cambridge in 2016. Back living in Edinburgh, Sophia’s work is rooted in an exploration of her British Indian Muslim heritage. It draws strongly on the complexity of heritage and the exploration of space and identity, playing with smaller traditions and symbols to create new dream worlds.
Hannah Lintott
Research: Digital Community Lead
Hannah has always been a writer first, which is what led her to pursuing a career in communications. Following her bachelor’s degree in Professional Communications, she has also completed her master’s in Media, Management, and the Creative Industries at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. During her master’s, Hannah became involved with ZYA through The Journey Home research project and her keen interest in using her communications skills to promote important changes, projects and ideas.
Based in Canada, Hannah has worked in communications, PR, events and social media for various companies including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. As a writer first, her passions lie with storytelling in all forms, along with her own creative projects.