It is with great sadness that I announce the loss of our valued Funny Women Advisory Board member and a good friend, Nisha Jacques, who died as a result of a brain aneurism on Saturday 25th July aged just 37.
I first met Nisha just over a year ago at a networking event. I was struck by her honest, ‘down under’ approach and soon found out that we shared a love of comedy and humour. It was only natural that she joined our Advisory Board where her knowledge of business, finance and technology was invaluable.
Nisha had not long graduated from the London Business School and wanted to put her MBA to some practical use outside of her usual remit – she had over 10 years’ experience in improving the risk profile of global organisations and had recently started a new job at Transport for London.
Nisha was a good fit for us as an advisor – she passionately believed in the use of humour in the business environment to improve confidence and facilitate engagement at all levels.
Our last occasion together was when Funny Women was invited to preview the new Amy Schumer film, Trainwreck, which opens in London next week. I therefore thought it was rather fitting that I publish this: the last email Nisha sent me and the first review she ever wrote. It is full of life and promise and it is how I will always remember her.
Trainwreck – Review by Nisha Jacques, 19.5.1978 – 25.7.2015
You mentioned that when we are invited to something by Funny Women, we should write a review. Tonight I went to the film Trainwreck with Amy Schumer, and although I have never written a review before, I thought I would give it a go. Hence why I am sending this on the train on the way home, so that I don’t lose my nerve and not send it (I’m a wreck on a train, ha!) Let me know what you think, probably needs a bit of editing. (I haven’t – LP)
I’ve seen Amy Schumer before, on Comedy Central roasting various celebrities, she’s funny – great one liners and harsh put downs, exactly what I would like to quote. But I did wonder if she could hold her own in an entire film – after all, most of those roasters need only be funny for five minutes, and will have probably already used all their best stuff. But not Amy.
The story is what you would expect, girl gets boy, girl loses etc. but there is a difference. She’s confident, driven and relatable. As I sit here in McDonald’s, eating my large McNuggets meal and Big Mac, wiping the grease off my iPhone, I think – this is what Amy would do. I also look out the window at the huge, muscly biceps of the men walking down the street and think – that’s also what Amy would do… Yum!
As a single, fairly successful, commitment-phobic women in her mid thirties, I was a little scared of what I would see in Trainwreck, would I come out of it thinking I would have to change my entire life? Would I be depressed thinking it was time I grew up? No, I walked out happy and content feeling like getting a burger or a pizza and being happy about it.
The one message I took from the film, is to let people surprise you. Not everyone, not all of the time, but occasionally, there might be a time that someone does something unexpected – don’t think about motives, don’t think about excuses, just accept it. Trainwreck was great, just accept it.
