Want to know more about Resham? Read on for a quick fire Q&A!
What was your first job?
We did lots of unpaid work in my parents' small businesses growing up, but my first independent job was as a semi-professional dancer! I trained in classical indian, and Bollywood dancing, and danced at the opening of the Millenium Dome. I love dancing, and carried on until I was 24 but then the 16 hours of rehearsals a week became too much to manage on top of my full time job!
I first "normal" job was at a student bar at Emmanuel College.
What do you do on weekends?
My husband works for a clean tech fuel company who are based between London and Bicester Heritage - so we like to make the most of our weekends as he's in the London office or Bicester factory every weekday.
We tend to spend Saturday mornings campaigning with friends - always followed by a pub lunch! We try and fit in a boxing class or workout every weekend, and we both volunteer for the Prince's Trust, so we use weekend time to catch up on the young people we are mentoring. I use the weekend to do some of my work as a Social Mobility Commissioner, and we make sure Saturday nights are date nights, or fun evenings with friends.
We're both very close to our families, so we try and make sure we have family time each weekend.
What do your parents do?
My parents came to the UK as teenagers to study - my mum from Sudan and my dad from Kenya. They met at Kilburn Polytechnic and fell in love, getting married at 21 (46 years ago and still happily married!)
My dad's first job was on the floor of a Wall's ice-cream factory. They worked two jobs each so they could afford to have kids, and after 13 years of hard work and saving, they had me and my twin sister. They set up their own accountancy practice and for many years ran a business supplying high street retailers...so my sister and I grew up with a total appreciation of small businesses and manufacturing. Many of our summer holidays were spent at their office and factory supporting where we could.
Do your family support you standing for Parliament?
They are so supportive! My husband is passionate about politics and loves a good debate.
He, my parents, and my twin sister campaigned for me every Saturday for 9 months when I fought the GE in 2015. In 2017 I had moved to Coventry to fight a target seat - my parents and husband moved to Coventry for a couple of weeks to campaign with me.
My twin sister was working in Australia at the time and took a week of unpaid leave to fly back to the UK and campaign for me.
What do you like to do outside politics?
I still love to dance, and when I'm not doing that, I love going to the theatre, or going for beautiful walks that end at a pub with a fry up or Sunday roast!
I really enjoy baking, and especially enjoy eating the cake after.
What is your guilty tv pleasure?
I LOVE watching the Apprentice and shouting at the tv whenever a candidate does something really silly or makes a mistake!
What football team do you support?
Liverpool all the way!
Dogs or cats
Definitely dogs!
