Sanela Diana Jenkins

Sanela Diana Jenkins
Born Sanela Dijana Ćatić
1973 (age 44–45)
Sarajevo, SFR Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Nationality Bosnian
Alma mater University of Sarajevo
City University, London
Occupation Entrepreneur and philanthropist; J/P Haitian Relief Organization; Sanela Diana Jenkins Human Rights Project at the UCLA; Sanela Diana Jenkins foundation for Bosnia and Herzegovina
Net worth >£150 million
Spouse(s)
Roger Jenkins
(m. 1999; div. 2011)
Children 2
Website dianajenkins.com

Sanela Diana Jenkins (born Sanela Dijana Ćatić in 1973) is a Bosnian entrepreneur and philanthropist. She currently resides in California.[1] Jenkins fled her home country during the Siege of Sarajevo and emigrated to London, where she studied at City University, London.

Early life

Born in Sarajevo, Jenkins is the elder of two children in a middle-class Bosniak family. Her mother was an accountant and her father was an economist. She grew up in the concrete-block apartments that characterized communist-era Yugoslavia.[2] Jenkins studied economics at the University of Sarajevo, but the outbreak of war in 1992 forced her to flee her home and spend more than a year in Croatia as a refugee before emigrating to London.

Career

While still a student in London, she acquired the swimwear line Melissa Odabash.[3]

She produced a photography book entitled "Room 23", photographed by Deborah Anderson. Many of the celebrities in the book are friends of Jenkins, including George Clooney and Elton John. Proceeds from the sale of the book benefit several philanthropic programs.[4]

In 2009, Jenkins created and launched the Neuro line of functional beverages based in Sherman Oaks, California.[5]

Philanthropic activities

Diana Jenkins established The Irnis Catic Foundation in 2002 in memory of her brother who was killed during the Bosnian Conflict. The foundation provides essential funding to the medical facilities at the University of Sarajevo. In 2009, Diana Jenkins was awarded the Peace Connection prize by the Center for Peace and Multi-Ethnic Cooperation.[6]

On May 5, 2018 Jenkins was honored at the Advisory Council for Bosnia & Herzegovina Gala in Washington, DC for her continued support and philanthropic activities in the country.[7][8]

She established the Sanela Diana Jenkins Human Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles in August 2008.[9] The clinic concentrates on legal advocacy, political advocacy and documentation.[9] It is the first endowed program on international justice and human rights at any law school in the western United States.

Immediately following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Jenkins and actor Sean Penn established the Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief Organization to deliver hospital supplies and provide medical care to thousands of displaced Haitians. She compared the long-term recovery in Haiti to that in Bosnia,[10] highlighted the need for basic humanitarian aid,[11] and argued that the U.S. military should not leave the country prematurely.[12]

In March 2010, Jenkins posted bail for former Bosnian President Ejup Ganić, who was detained in London on a Serbian extradition request.[13]

Personal life

In 1999, she married banker Roger Jenkins. The couple met at the gym at the Barbican, where Jenkins was living after the end of his marriage to his first wife, a banker at Barclays. They have two children together.[14] She received an estimated £150 million after her ten-year marriage to Jenkins. The estranged couple called their 2011 split as ‘the happiest divorce ever’ and she joined him among Britain’s wealthiest 500 individuals in 2012.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Thomas Jr, Landon (2008-11-22). "A Friendship's Paying Off for British Banking Giant". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
  2. ↑ Collins, Laura; Sanderson, Elizabeth (2009-07-05). "The beautiful refugee from Bosnia who clinched the £7.3bn deal that saved Barclays". Daily Mail. London.
  3. ↑ Jacobs, Mark (2005-12-18). "Odabash". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
  4. ↑ "Room 23". Los Angeles Times. 2009-02-19. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
  5. ↑ "DIANA JENKINS NEURO HEALTH DRINKS TARGET - BevNET.com". BevNET.com. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  6. ↑ "Center for Peace and Multi-Ethnic Cooperation Peace Connection Prize". Archived from the original on 2011-07-28.
  7. ↑ "2018 ACBH Gala". Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  8. ↑ "Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina (ACBH)". touch.facebook.com. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  9. 1 2 "Sanela Diana Jenkins Human Rights Project". Archived from the original on 2014-06-02.
  10. ↑ Jenkins, Diana (2010-01-23). "Don't Let Haiti's Natural Disaster Become a Man-Made Tragedy". Huffington Post.
  11. ↑ Jenkins, Diana (2010-01-25). "Among the Building Blocks in Haiti: Tetanus Shots and Prosthetics". Huffington Post.
  12. ↑ Jenkins, Diana (2010-03-01). "U.S. Should Go Slow on Haiti Troop Withdrawal". Huffington Post.
  13. ↑ "Serbia is trying to distract us from the real war criminals". The Daily Telegraph. London. 2010-03-18.
  14. ↑ Cadwalladr, Carole. "Diana Jenkins: Accidental Philanthropist", The Observer, 27 September 2009. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
  15. ↑ "Best way to get rich quick? Get divorced: How ex-wives to the super-wealthy have made their way into the rich list". Daily Mail. London.
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