Shaheen has 20 years' grassroots experience working mostly in the voluntary sector, including health, heritage, advocacy, employment and law.
She worked for the Black Environment Network (BEN) promoting natural, built and historic heritage as an area of enjoyment, education and employment for marginalised and under-represented communities. She has provided training to well-known heritage and environmental organisations to help them become more representative and inclusive.
She has also worked for a major public body as a regional and national diversity manager, where she was active in designing and delivering equity, diversity and inclusion training. This included the award-winning Springboard training course for women. She has also worked as a discrimination and advocacy officer. Shaheen has conducted award-winning work around equity, diversity and inclusion benchmarking in the workplace.
Shaheen is a community activist. She has published two pieces to acknowledge landmark events in Welsh history: the 180th Chartist Anniversary and Black Chartism, and the 1919 Race Riots.
She studied at the University of Glasgow and Coleg Harlech in Wales and has lived and worked in Wales, England and Scotland.