Ayesha Quraishi

Quraishi was born in Botswana, to an Indian father who was an engineer and an entrepreneur mother from Botswana. Her father worked for Swedish and Nordic aid organisations like Sida and Danida. This led to the family living in Botswana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Sweden where their family was based during her upbringing and she was in Stockholm to do her A levels in Science and pursue her career after graduation.[2]

Quraishi started her professional career in the Fine Arts as part of the performance Art collective “The Dragonz” and landed music collaborations with The Royal Music College, where she wrote and performed the piece “W.P.O” with a 140 piece orchestra at the Stockholm Arts and Science festival 2002. She experimented with drum orchestras Oheema and other local bands throughout this period.[3]

Working out of the Royal College of Art in Stockholm she struck up a collaboration with producer Datafork. They went on to create Quraishi's debut rap album “Jade Fever” that they released independently on the label K-Werks in collaboration with Aqueen Enterprisez, her own label she founded 2001. The album earned critical acclaim and was nominated for several national awards.[4]

Aqueen Ent. grew to a roster of artists including singer songwriter Sona Jarjusey, Reggaeton artists Lady V and Linda Pira that were released as a duo. And also R&B singer Bes. The label produced the duo Kwaanza with Sona and Ayesha writing and performing together in the Eurovision song contest. She was one of five film subjects and produced and performed the music for Mia Engberg's theatrical documentary release “165 Hässelby”.[5]

Quraishi started developing the project Q which was at the time an online social platform around 2005. The project established her in the start up world but did not succeed in raising funding. The idea had a philosophical, system theoretical core to it that led her to establish a career as a public and motivational speaker winning her the praise, Best inspirational speaker and other accolades from business and mainstream publications. Her communication skills led her to work on several national television shows, including Swedish morning news in the culture sector, be a side kick to Malou's “Efter 10” on Tv4, and a panel member on Studio pop a cultural niche show on Swedish public service TV. Quraishi led programs on Swedish national radio[6] and was a summer speaker on the popular Swedish radio show “Sommar i P1” 2006.[6] She published several article series in publications from political magazines to mainstream newspapers and was part of several future trend spotting panels for Sweden's equivalence to Financial times Daganes Industri and government initiatives.[7]

Quraishi went on to release her second studio album The Lobby to critical acclaim.[8] With a big impact on media and several industries she took time to deepen her knowledge and art by educating herself in music production and film in Los Angeles where she coproduced the award-winning short fil "Four of a Qind" .[9]

She has worked as artistic director for one of Sweden's biggest theatres The House of Culture (Stockholm)[10] where she established a method to include art forms and demographics that not yet were established in the institutional landscape. During this time she headed such projects as Mapei's critically acclaimed musical monologue “Råttkungen” and directed the play “Svaret” that sold out before the premiere and was praised for its depiction of female blackness for a black audience. The play went on to win the year's political award at the Swedish “Scenkonstgalan” and “Play of the year” from entertainment publication Nöjesguiden.[11]

She is on the board of Skap (Membership association for music creators in Sweden) and is involved in several grant committees and consults in diversity and inclusion.[12] She has been appointed an artistic adviser by the Swedish government and works internationally with Swedish institutions as artistic consultant and director.[13]