Unearthodox is pleased to announce that Ryna Sherazi has been appointed as Ad-interim CEO of Unearthodox. Ryna will act as CEO while Melanie Ryan is on maternity leave until the end of May 2025.

Ryna, who is based in London, brings more than 25 years of experience working at local, national and global levels leading programmes, partnerships and strategies across a range of justice issues. Before joining Unearthadox, Ryna worked for the oldest human rights movement in the world: Anti-Slavery International, joining their executive team as Director in 2017 and driving significant growth and development across the organisation and its external funding partner community.

Ryna’s rich global experience includes local development and conservation in Vietnam, child trafficking in Nepal, water, sanitation and hygiene across Africa and Asia, health in the UK and gender justice in Afghanistan, India, Brazil and across the MENA region. She previously worked with the global development agency WaterAid, large-scale USAID programmes and lived-experience-led movements in South Asia. Between 2008 and 2017, she lived and worked in India and Nepal, where she led research on WASH and equity, developed ethical communications frameworks with people affected by trafficking and established the Womanity Foundation’s first global communications and fundraising programme.

Ryna holds an M.Sc. Sustainable Development and Economics from the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies, UK and a B.A. English Literature, from the University of Wales: Swansea, UK.