Author, human rights campaigner and founder of the ASHA Centre. Zerbanoo Gifford holds the International Woman of the Year Award 2006 for her humanitarian work, which spans over fifty-five years of grassroots and global activism. 

Zerbanoo has written widely on historical, social and political themes and made two documentaries on street children. She was chosen, along with Bishop Trevor Huddleston, to present the ‘People's Petition’ to Mrs Thatcher at 10 Downing Street, calling for the release of Mandela. 

In 1989, Zerbanoo received the Nehru Centenary Award for her work championing the rights of women, children and minorities. A pioneer in British politics. In 1982, she made history and was elected a Councillor in Harrow and was the first global majority woman to stand for parliament. Zerbanoo chaired the Commission ‘Looking into ethnic minority involvement in British Life’ and was an advisor to the British Home Secretary on race relations and equality. 

A director of Anti-Slavery International (the oldest Human Rights organisation in the world), she was awarded the Freedom of the City of Lincoln, Nebraska, for combating modern slavery and racism. In 2007, Zerbanoo received the International Splendour Award in Hollywood for her lifetime achievements in the field of equality, human rights and interfaith understanding. In 2010, to celebrate the 90th Anniversary of American Suffrage, she was honoured by the Sewall-Belmont Museum in Washington, DC in an exhibition commemorating key global women who have advanced women’s rights. 

Zerbanoo has been the President of the World Zoroastrian Organisation. In 2022, the World Zoroastrian Congress presented Zerbanoo with the Global Entrepreneur Award, where she launched www.zasha.info as a celebration of the diversity and talents of Zoroastrian women worldwide.  In 2025, Zerbanoo became the only woman to be made one of the select Honorary members of the World Zarathusthi Chamber of Commerce (WZCC).

Zerbanoo is one of the few women to be inaugurated into the ancient order of the Knights of the Round Table.

Author of seven books, including ‘Thomas Clarkson and the Campaign Against Slavery’, and ‘Dadabhai Naoroji, Britain’s First Asian M.P.’ ‘Confessions to a Serial Womaniser – Secrets of the Worlds Inspirational Women’. It highlights the lives of 300 exceptional women from 60 countries, who she interviewed and was awarded a ‘NESTA (National Endowment of Science Technology and Arts) Fellowship’. ‘Z- A o f Zoroastrianism’, Zerbanoo’s biography ‘An Uncensored Life’ by Farida Master is published by Harper Collins.