Yassmin Abdel-Magied

Top Diversity Keynote Speaker, Sudanese-Australian writer, broadcaster and award-winning social advocate with a background in mechanical engineering

One of the 2020 LinkedIn Changemakers, Yassmin is a globally sought-after advisor on issues of social justice, focused on the intersections of race, gender and faith. She has travelled to over 24 countries across five continents, speaking to governments, civil society and corporates on inclusive leadership, tackling bias and achieving substantive change.

  • Yassmin Abdel-Magied Keynote Speaker Fee Fee range is for U.S. events, depending on location and organization type

    Please Inquire

  • Languages Spoken

    English

  • Travels From

    Australia

  • Yassmin Abdel-Magied Keynote Speaker Fee Fee range is for U.S. events, depending on location and organization type

    Please Inquire

  • Languages Spoken

    English

  • Travels From

    Australia

Suggested Keynote Speaker Programs

Leadership

  • Age is never a barrier to getting involved!
  • How to become a leader and achieve change

Valuing diversity and beating bias

  • Unconscious bias: what is it and how can we deal with it?
  • Diversity: The importance of acknowledging diversity for social growth and innovation

Harnessing Diversity

  • Women in male dominated industries (challenges and benefits, etc)
  • Faith and Culture as enablers for change and leadership

About Keynote Speaker Yassmin Abdel-Magied

Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese-Australian writer, broadcaster and award-winning social advocate with a background in mechanical engineering.

One of the 2020 LinkedIn Changemakers, Yassmin is a globally sought-after advisor on issues of social justice, focused on the intersections of race, gender and faith. She has travelled to over 24 countries across five continents, speaking to governments, civil society and corporates on inclusive leadership, tackling bias and achieving substantive change. Yassmin’s internationally acclaimed TED talk, What does my headscarf mean to you, has been viewed over 2.3 million times and was chosen as one of TED’s top ten ideas of 2015. Soon after, Yassmin became a lightning rod for such discussions in Australia and globally, challenging the orthodox view of gender in Islam and spurring on a global conversation about being a young, Black Muslim woman in the West today. Speaking out came at a cost, and now ‘getting Yassmined’ is an academically recognised term for the punishment meted out against women of colour who challenge white comfort.

Yassmin published her best-selling memoir, Yassmin’s Story, with Penguin Random House at age 24, following up with her first novel for younger readers, You Must Be Layla, in 2019. The sequel, Listen Layla, is scheduled for release in 2021 and both books have been optioned for screen. Her TV show Same Same, co-created with Tania Safi, was optioned for production by Little Dot Studios in 2019. In 2020, Yassmin co-write the sold-out immersive theatre production at Kensington Palace, United Queendom, and was awarded the prestigious Keesing Studio International Development Residency by the Australia Council. Beyond her fiction work, Yassmin’s social commentary has appeared in TIME magazine, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, The Independent, Huffpost, London’s Evening Standard and more, with her work on the Sudanese Revolutions of particular note. Her critically acclaimed essays have also been published widely, including in the best-selling It’s Not About The Burqa and The New Daughters of Africa.

Yassmin’s broadcasting portfolio is equally diverse. On TV, Yassmin was the presenter for the national current affairs show Australia Wide, the host for the ground-breaking documentary The Truth About Racism, and created Hijabistas, a series looking at the modest fashion scene in Australia. She is a regular news and current affairs commentator on The BBC, Aljazeera, Monocle 24 and is a presenter on various BBC World Service radio programs. Yassmin has also hosted numerous podcasts, including Motor Mouth (on becoming a Formula 1 driver), EY’s Better Questions (helping CEOs lead into the future), and The Guilty Feminist.

Yassmin has over a decade of governance experience across sectors, allowing her work to be informed by both theory and experience. She founded Youth Without Borders at the age of 16, then started Mumtaza a decade later, focusing on women of colour. Yassmin has been awarded numerous awards for her advocacy, including the 2018 Young Voltaire Award for Free Speech, FYA’s Changemaker of the Year in 2017 and Queensland Young Australian of the Year in 2015. She is currently a Trustee of the London Library, and has previously served on the Boards of the Queensland Museum, ChildFund Australia, the Australian Multicultural Council, The Council for Australian-Arab Relations and the domestic violence prevention organisation, OurWatch. Yassmin was also Head of Media for the Australian Youth G20 Summit, the Gender Ambassador for the Inter-American Development Bank and a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering Global Challenges Steering Committee.

Yassmin started out as a race car chassis designer and was Team Principal of the UQ Race Car Team at 19. She graduated Valedictorian with First Class honours from mechanical engineering at 20, then went on to work as one of the few female engineers on oil and gas rigs around Australia, before pivoting to focus on her writing and broadcasting career.

In all her work, Yassmin is an advocate for transformative justice and a fairer, safer world for all.

Testimonials

“Yassmin delivered a keynote address to a group of 400 senior global managers. She maintained the attention of the group by delivering a set of simple and powerful messages in a very personal and compelling way. She has developed a level of insight and maturity well beyond her years.”

Michael Wade

Professor of Innovation and Strategy at the IMD

“Yassmin is such a natural and gifted presenter – her fierce intelligence, her empathy and her humour made it one of the best stage presentations I’ve ever seen.”

Feedback for Women in Leadership Showcase - Melbourne, Australia

 

“Brilliant. What a character, a real stage presence, the world needs more people as comfortable and expressive as Yassmin.”

Feedback for Women in Leadership Showcase - Melbourne, Australia

 

We loved Yassmin’s energy and her helpful advice on mentorship, unconscious bias, and tackling diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace. Thank you Yassmin!

Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA

 

The first time I saw Yassmin present I was hugely impressed. Speaking to an dominantly white, middle aged male audience from the petroleum industry, Yassmin spoke about inclusiveness and diversity and blew them away. She won over a potentially sceptical audience with personal stories, charm, warmth, humour, and importantly, a gentle provocation that simply gets individuals to consider why we think the way we always have, and do we need to reassess. She makes a difference!

James Johnson

Chief Executive Officer, Geoscience Australia

Again thank you so much for speaking at our virtual session yesterday! It was extremely well received by the participants – afterwards we heard words like ‘incredibly inspirational’, ‘ready to take on the world now!’, ‘what a positive force’! Thank you for sharing your wisdom, your smile and your ‘sparkle’ with us!

Dailah Nilhot

Member of the Management Board of NN Group, Netherlands

Yassmin, You truly hit the mark with the XLPs…Thank you for highlighting that they should look closely at power structures and what diversity means for them locally. I’m not sure they have heard it that way, but it resonated along with the data, history and your personal story. Thank you!

Tanya Spencer

Accelerated Leadership Program (XLP) Manager, GE Global

I loved your program on unconscious bias at the National Speakers Association. In the 17 years I’ve attended, yours is one of my favorites. You challenged us to reconsider the assumptions we made. The unique way you illustrated your points are what I will remember. Social thought leader, executive, race car driver, oil rig worker, speaker – you are none of the things anyone would expect. But all of the things that you are make your message one that is unforgettable, undeniable and one that needs to be heard.

Lois Creamer

National Speakers Association, Orlando, USA

An outstanding, inspirational, insightful, connected, topical and learning laden presentation.
You are the best keynote we have ever had.

Ben Bengougam

Senior Vice President Human Resources EMEA at Hilton

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