Kanika has volunteered in a number of roles from an early age - acting as a peer mentor at her secondary school (Whalley Range High Schools for Girls), becoming a Millenium Volunteer and volunteering at the Manchester Jazz Festival, planting trees and helping out at a playscheme for disabled children.

As part of a team of Black and Minority Ethnic girls she worked on a European
Union funded project to develop a website for BME young women and attended an international exchange in Bosnia.

She worked part time from the age of 16, whilst at Xaverian Sixth Form College gaining three A Levels, and saved enough money to travel to India, here she volunteered for three months at a school for slum children in Bangalore. She then spent a further four months volunteering at an orphanage in Chennai, sometimes having sole responsibility for caring for 80 children.

On returning to Manchester, Kanika took up her part time work at the Body Shop where she became Values Lead for her region arranging volunteering opportunities for staff and encouraging them to participate. In the summer 2009, she was promoted to an Assistant Manager post and has recently won the Anita Roddick Award for her values work.

Kanika has participated in a Common Purpose Young Leaders course and has been working with the Connectives to develop an internship. She is currently working on the development of a re-use/re-cycle retail business, and aims to take this to 'proof of concept' phase early next year.

Kanika recently became an ambassador of the Inspiring Young Woman Foundation and will help judge the awards as part of the Inspiring Women Awards ceremony in Spring 2010.

Liz Cross	Liz Brooks- Allen	Maggie Riley	Mags Porter	Lynn Harrop	Karen Flear	Peter Buglass	Carol Pickering	Catherine Thomson	Kanika Selvan	Dick Bunning
Leoni Antoniazzi	Fliss Bridgewater	Ben Blunt	Kirsty Holt	Theresa Hackett