Yassmin Abdel-Magied

Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a social advocate and advisor for federal governments and international bodies. She is also a mechanical engineer and a ‘petrol head’.

Yassmin was the youngest woman named in Australia’s 100 Women of Influence by the Australian Financial Review in 2012. She was the Young Muslim of the Year in 2007 and Muslim Youth of the Year in 2015. That years she was also named Queensland Young Australian of the Year. Yassmin has been recognised as one of Australia’s most influential engineers by Engineers Australia, and for her work in diversity by the United Kingdom’s Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

Yassmin is a writer and a familiar face on television. She is the host of ABC’s weekly show, Australia Wide and a regular on Q&A, The Drum, The Project, and internationally on the BBC. A passionate and eloquent public speaker, Yassmin advocates for the empowerment of youth, women and those from racially, culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

More about Yassmin Abdel-Magied:

Yassmin is passionate about making diversity the norm. At age 16, she founded Youth Without Borders, an organisation that empowers young people to realise their full potential through collaborative, community based programs. At 24 she released her first books, the coming-of-age- memoir, Yassmin’s Story.

A sought-after advisor for federal governments and international bodies, Yassmin has held seats on the Boards of ChildFund, The Council for Australian-Arab Relations (CAAR) and the domestic violence prevention organisation, OurWatch. She is the Gender Ambassador for the Inter-American Development Bank and has represented Australia through multiple diplomatic programs across the globe.

On radio, Yassmin is a regular on Triple J’s Hack, Radio National, and moonlights as a casual broadcaster on ABC Local. She is the host of the motorsport podcast Motor Mouth, and the host for the ground-breaking documentary The Truth About Racism. Yassmin’s TED talk, What does my headscarf mean to you, has over 1.5 million views. Yassmin has written extensively, her writing appearing in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, AFR, The Griffith Review, Huffington Post and others.

Speaking Topics:

• Unconscious Bias
• Gender & Cultural Diversity
• Women in leadership
• Empowering women
• Women in STEM