March 7 (Reuters) - United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos is on her way to the Syrian city of Homs after talks in the capital, Damascus.
She was denied entry to Syria last week. The aim of her latest trip, which is scheduled to last three days, is to persuade the Syrian authorities to grant unfettered access for aid workers to deliver life-saving assistance to civilians.
Here is a look at Valerie Amos's career to date:
* U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon appointed Amos his new aid supremo, replacing fellow Briton John Holmes in July 2010.
- As the head of the high-profile Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), she has overseen fund-raising and the delivery of emergency food and supplies to trouble spots such as earthquake-stricken Haiti. She also visited the Libyan-Tunisian border area during Libya's civil war, and famine-hit Somalia.
* She became Britain's first black female cabinet minister when then Prime Minister Tony Blair made her international development secretary in 2003.
* A British newspaper described her at the time as "ice-cube cool, prone to neither emotional nor indiscreet outbursts, she thinks first, answers questions later".
- As Secretary of State, she participated in negotiations in tackling conflicts and post-conflict situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.
* She was appointed to the senior position of Leader of the House of Lords in late 2003, a Cabinet-level job that required her to steer the government's legislation through the upper house of Britain's parliament. She was the first black leader of the prestigious and influential chamber.
* She did a brief stint as Britain's High Commissioner (ambassador) to Australia in 2009.
* LIFE DETAILS:
* She was born in Guyana on March 13, 1954.
* She worked for local Labour Party councils in London; serving as a women's-issues officer and a race-relations officer from 1981-1989. She served as Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), London, chief executive from 1989-94.
* She was given a Life Peerage in 1997 taking the title Baroness Amos, of Brondesbury in the London Borough of Brent.
Sources: Reuters/United Nations/Debrett's (Reporting by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit) (Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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