Mariam Veiszadeh

Mariam Veiszadeh is an award-winning human rights advocate, lawyer, diversity and inclusion practitioner, contributing author and media commentator. In late 2023, she was named overall winner of the 2023 Asian-Australian Leadership Awards.

Her Ted Talk on privilege has been viewed over half a million times. Mariam was appointed the inaugural CEO of Media Diversity Australia in late 2021, an organisation that seeks to ensure that the Australian media looks and sounds like Australia. She is also the founder and Chair of the Islamophobia Register Australia and has been involved in the anti-racism space for over a decade. As a former Afghan refugee from Afghanistan, Mariam has been a spokesperson for the Afghan Australian Advocacy Network and was at the forefront of advocating for Australia to increase its humanitarian intake when Kabul fell to the Taliban. She has also worked as radio commentator for the ABC radio and columnist for Fairfax media, and held multiple board positions including formerly as Co-Chair of Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights and Our Watch.

Mariam was named Fairfax Daily Life 2016 Woman of the year, the 2015 Westpac Woman of Influence and Woman of the Year and Role Model of the Year in 2015 in the Australian Muslim Achievement Awards.