If your table is full, extend it.
Born in Kenya, as a fifth generation of East African birthright with Indian origins but raised in country Victoria, Tasneem grew up experiencing life as the proverbial brown pea in a white pod. Fascinated with the world and its people from her early years, this country school girl followed her calling and today is a seasoned cross cultural expert, via her Consultancy, The Culture Lens.
She assists clients progress an intersectional lens, helping them communicate, work and lead across different cultures for better innovation and profitability, understanding the merits of upholding inclusion.
Tasneem has developed workplace inclusion policies, managed projects, curated exhibitions, run leadership programs and executed engagement strategies for and on behalf of government and NGO’s for over two decades within Australia and overseas.
She currently holds chairing and advisory roles within the Suburban Rail Loop Authority and the Gidget Foundation, with previous governance roles in the Victorian Public Service Commission, Fire Rescue Victoria, The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and Ambulance Victoria. She has also Co-Chaired the NSW Legal Aid External Anti Racism and Inclusion Committee and advised the Collingwood Football Club Expert Panel on Anti Racism.
She is passionate about culture and gender equity and was duly appointed the inaugural Ambassador for Women of Colour Australia. The Australian Human Rights Commission named her an Anti-Racism Champion in 2018 and she was been awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her services in cultural inclusion.
Tasneem has a background in Psychology and Sociology and a Masters in International Development from La Trobe University, where she was recognised as one of their Distinguished Alumni.
As a keynote speaker, Tasneem has spoken at national and international events, including for International Women’s Day, launches, AGM’s, academic conferences, festivals, panels and at schools.
She is an engaging panel moderator and MC having led many significant events, globally as well. Her written work has been widely published in journals, anthologies, print and online.
A TEDxMelbourne presenter and writer, Tasneem has featured on numerous platforms including the ABC, BBC, The Project, Q&A, Compass, & The Drum . She co-hosts the podcast Colour Outside the Lines with Leah Vandenberg, and has previously hosted Strengths Untold.
As a commentator, her expertise has been sought on topics related to leadership, cultural inclusion, gender justice, intersectionality, migration, social cohesion and social justice.
Talking Points
Cultural Competency - why it matters to walk your talk
Gain a better understanding of your organisation's cultural competency needs, current gaps in skills and knowledge and strategies to develop a more culturally competent leadership or workforce.
Cultural Competency - why it matters to walk your talk
Brown Pea in a White Pod
Why Multiculturalism Matters understanding the stories and distilling the hype
Brown Pea in a White Pod
Diversity in Centres of Learning
Providing cross cultural competency to educators, promoting how to communicate effectively with: diverse student bodies.
Diversity in Centres of Learning
Keynotes for Schools
Tasneem is skilled at delivering thought-provoking speeches and presentations for students.Keynotes for Schools
As a thought leader and activist, she's passionate about empowering youth, especially girls, to think and self-reflect on issues of culture, belonging, identity, the arts and activism.
Video
Tasneem Chopra | AUTHOR | CONSULTANT | CURATOR | ACTIVIST
Tasneem Chopra grew up experiencing life as the proverbial brown pea in a white pod having been born in Kenya, as the fifth generation of East African birthright with Indian origins, but raised in country Victoria. Fascinated with the world and its people from her early years, this country schoolgirl followed her calling and today is a seasoned Cross-Cultural Consultant.Tasneem Chopra OAM | Opening Remarks | Saxton Speakers
Your hosting was seamless and you truly made every element of the event so smooth and brilliant. ... keep reading The Wheeler Centre Management
I have found Tasneem to be an insightful thinker, polished performer, articulate, well informed, and diligent in meeting deadlines. She accomplishes diverse tasks (including research, drafting of reports, conduct of workshops, public speaking) reliably, insightfully and with commitment. Her presentations are well prepared; she argues her case clearly and cogently. I know that many of her colleagues are similarly impressed with the quality of all that she does.
Over a number of years Tasneem's multifaceted contribution to conferences, forums and a range of community and professional projects reveals an outstanding capacity to compile, digest and evaluate a large and varied body of information, from which she distils useful pathways for dealing with a range of social and cultural problems. Her work on issues of racism, islamophobia, and women's rights is widely known and appreciated.
After watching the video of our Pursuing Justice: Human Rights in an Age of Crisis, I'm struck by the first class engaging, warm, easily across the issues role you played. Thanks for being such a wonderful conductor.
Tasneem Chopra was easily the most impressive speaker of the entire series! We are extremely grateful to you for having brought the diversity lens to the forefront of the discussion and I think everyone is in heated agreement that diversity on boards leads to better decision making and there is certainly an appetite for change. You generously shared many thought provoking insights, ideas and leadership experience with our attendees of NFP Directors, CEOs, Observers & alumni.
On behalf of ASEAN Society, I would like to thank you again for talking to us about diversity and anti-racism. Your passion really showed the importance of these topics and many of the things you discussed truly resonated with others and I. Cultural immersion would not have been the same without you!
On behalf of the students, teachers, and administrators of Minaret College, we wish to thank you for taking the time to visit our school. It was a pleasure meeting you and listening to your motivational speech. I have never seen our students so excited and so highly engaged during your speech and video you shared with us. Your words of wisdom were very powerful and profound. They gave us many opportunities to think and self-reflect.
Tasneem has a fresh approach to delivering diversity and inclusivity training which we can hopefully build on in future. Well-spoken and passionate about the areas she consults on, she has a lot of experience and delivered some nuggets of wisdom we need to embed into our thinking, e.g. If we're not consciously inclusive then we're deliberately exclusive. We do need to ensure that the decision-makers are representative of the people they make decisions for, for example higher level management and working groups need to include, or be informed by, those who will be users of that service or affected by that project. It also made me think about how we're communicating, and how we make the opportunity to contribute accessible not only to people who speak various languages in different proficiencies, but to those who have different levels of ability and disability, varying access to technology or who are disengaged with the council.
