Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a truly inspirational woman who, as well as a Mechanical Engineer, writer and broadcaster, has become a leading advocate for transformative justice, with the aim of opening our minds to new ways of thinking, banishing stereotypes. Full of entrepreneurial spirit from an early age, at just 16 she founded Youth Without Borders and was named Young Australian Muslim of the Year in 2007 and Queensland Young Australian of the Year 2015. Much of her life has been dedicated to empowering culturally diverse women, and has since founded Mumtaza, an organisation dedicated to normalising the presence of women of colour in positions of power
Born in Sudan, Yassmin’s parents were skilled migrants and emigrated to Australia when she was just 18 months old. At the University of Queensland she gained a degree in Mechanical Engineering and initially worked in the oil and gas industry. It was whilst working at these oil rigs where she felt first-hand the unconscious bias, of being not just the only woman, but the only Sudanese-Australian woman. This experience kick-started a change in direction of Yassmin’s career – at just 24 years old she published her first book about the stereotyping she experienced. She has since written four more books, two of her middle-grade novels have been optimised for screen and ‘Listen, Layla’ was named notable book by The Children’s Book Council of Australia, and 2022 Honour Book for Children’s Africana Book of the Year by Howard University. As a testament to her exceptional writing abilities, Yassmin has also been a guest editor for Virgin’s International Women’s Day Series, and the host of the Virgin Podcast, Breaking Barriers.
A diverse and talented individual, Yassmin has been a key figure in governance, the Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop appointed her to the Council for Australian-Arab Relations. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) sent her to several Middle-Eastern Countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and Sudan to promote Australia. She has used her extensive experience working in different countries to her advantage, having delivered keynotes and workshops in over 25 countries in English, Arabic and French. Her TEDx talk ‘What does my headscarf mean to you?’ has been viewed more than 2.6 million times and was voted one of TED’s top ten ideas in 2015. Yassmin currently sits on the Trustee Board of the London Library, and was previously on boards of the Queensland Museum, ChildFund Australia and the domestic violence prevention organisation, OurWatch.
With her dedication not going unnoticed, Yassmin was honoured with the Young Voltaire Award for Free Speech, and she has since become one of the leading figures in challenging us to look beyond our initial perceptions, helping to eliminate unconscious bias at work. Having years of experience of public speaking under her belt, Yassmin has delivered training to companies such as Virgin, Ernst and Young, and LinkedIn. If you are looking for a motivational speaker who has had to overcome her own difficulties, coping with gender and cultural bias, look no further than Yassmin Abdel-Magied to hire for your event today.
