Camila Batmanghelidjh
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Camila Batmanghelidjh CBE |
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Camila Batmanghelidjh at the NHS Confederation annual conference, July 2011.
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| Born |
c. 1963 Tehran, Iran |
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| Education |
BA, Theatre Studies and Dramatic Arts MA, Philosophy of Counselling and Psychotherapy |
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| Alma mater |
University of Warwick Antioch University |
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Camila Batmanghelidjh, CBE (/kəˈmɪlə bætmænˈɡɛlᵻdʒ/; Persian: کامیلا باتمانقلیچ Kamylā Batmanghelych; born c. 1963) is an Iranian-born author and former charity executive in the United Kingdom. She is best known as the founder of Kids Company, a charity which worked with marginalised children and young people in the UK.
Between 1996–2015, Batmanghelidjh became a high-profile "", fêted by celebrities and politicians for her work with Kids Company. In 2007, The Guardian described her as "one of the most powerful advocates for vulnerable children in the country". She was dubbed the "Angel of Peckham".
In 2015, amid allegations of mismanagement and the squandering of funds, Batmanghelidjh was forced to step down as the charity's chief executive, and Kids Company was closed, by now insolvent, despite millions of pounds in government funding.
Batmanghelidjh was born in 1963 in Tehran, Iran, the third of four children, to Fereydoon Batmanghelidj (c. 1931–2004), a doctor, and his wife Lucile, a Belgian national. Her parents met and married in London, where her father was studying at St Mary's Hospital, before returning to Tehran. Batmanghelidjh was born two-and-a-half months premature and was not expected to survive. Her birth was not registered and the date was not noted. The preterm birth resulted in Batmanghelidjh developing learning disabilities (including dyslexia) and an unnamed endocrine disorder alleged to be the reason for her obesity.
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