Tasneem Chopra OAM

Cross Cultura|

Helping business, not-for-profit and government become culturally competent, diverse and inclusive.

A multicultural and diverse workforce financially outperforms non-diverse teams

Is your organisation lagging behind when it comes to cross cultural competencies, gender equity, diversity and inclusion?

Need engagement audits and strategies to help you communicate better with diverse communities?

OR you recognise that having a diverse workforce is important, are already making small improvements and want to keep the conversation going?

McKinsey research shows companies with diverse teams, especially at executive level, deliver higher profitability (35%), helps improve a brand’s reputation (58%) and increases creativity and problem solving (59%).

In a world that’s grappling with unexpected challenges, a diverse and inclusive workforce can be the difference between your organisation’s success and failure.

Are you ready to develop a more diverse, inclusive and equitable organisation?

Let’s get started.

Creating a more inclusive Australia – Tasneem’s story

Services

Cross Cultural Competency training

Help your workforce understand cultural norms, communicate and interact with people from different cultures.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion trainer

Transform your recruitment and employee management practices to be more inclusive and diverse.

Use engagement audits to assess how effective your communications and strategies are.

Keynote Speaker

Riveting keynote speeches on diversity, identity and belonging, multiculturalism, inclusivity, gender equity and social justice issues.

Public Speaking with Impact & Media Skills workshop

Learn how to capture your audience’s attention and hold it until the end. Handle the media spotlight confidently.

Panel Moderator & MC

Expert panel moderator and charismatic MC to elevate your next discussion or event (online and in person)

Media Presenter

Media expert on culture, gender, identity, gender based violence, women of colour representation, social justice issues, diversity and multiculturalism.

Ambassador & Board Director

Promoting and creating pathways and frameworks dedicated to diversity, inclusion and multiculturalism.

Author & Writer

Contributor to journals and anthologies. Quoted and published in SBS Voices, The Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald and The Washington Post among others.

About Tasneem Chopra OAM

As a Cross Cultural Consultant, Diversity Equity & Inclusion trainer, Tasneem Chopra OAM helps your organisation approach diversity, equity and inclusion for long term success.

She works with business, governments, not-for-profits, educators and private clients to deliver online and in-person training.

Tasneem also serves as Ambassador and Board Director for a number of organisations, hosts the Strengths Untold Podcast, writes articles and opinion pieces for newspapers and other outlets, and contributes to various journals and anthologies.

She often appears on TV, podcasts and radio to share her expertise.

Her ultimate goal is to help ensure that diversity and inclusivity become an integral part of how an organisation does business (Business As Usual BAU).

She has developed diversity, equity and inclusive (DE&I) policies, managed projects such as curating exhibitions, running youth leadership programs, and executing strategies on behalf of government and business clients.

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Client appreciation

We really enjoyed your keynote speech on inclusive leadership, particularly around disrupting systems of privilege, making the most of multicultural talent and moving from tolerance to understanding. Thank you for also sharing your personal experiences.

And thank you for being part of the panel. We have heard glowing feedback about this discussion, and there was a genuine sense of engagement from the audience. Your advice and insights made for an extremely valuable discussion.

From myself and the team here at MAQ, thank you for making the second Speaker Series forum another successful event.

Multicultural Affairs Queensland & Engagement

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.

Southern Grampians Shire Council

On behalf of the students and staff of Minaret College, I wish to thank you for visiting to our college and sharing your personal and professional stories.

Students were left with an understanding of how moments from their lives and simple observations can lead to a wonderful story. Thank you so much for your excellent presentation.

Your ability to work with a large group of students was very impressive and allowed a fun experience for the children to fully participate in sharing your ideas. I have received a lot of positive feedback from the students and teachers on your ability to reach out and capture such a diverse audience.

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.

Minaret College

Thanks for organising the speaker series in conjunction with BCG. They were great…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.

Boston Consulting Group

Tasneem’s feed

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July 21 at 3:19am
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Take a good look…

Often, what works and what doesn’t in optimising workplace dynamics exists in aligning what ‘we say’ with what ‘we do.’

So then, why do we miss the mark if...
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Take a good look…

Often, what works and what doesn’t in optimising workplace dynamics exists in aligning what ‘we say’ with what ‘we do.’

So then, why do we miss the mark if it’s that logical?

This is the ethos that informed a recent workplace roundtable with executives I conducted for a government client.

We interrogated best practice in leadership and power dynamics when healthy workplace culture is defined less by statements and more by the daily experiences of those within its walls.

Similarly, we affirmed why inclusion is not checklist but a continuous practice to be embedded at every level of leadership and policy.

Love these opportunities to drill down and get to the 'who' and 'how' in improving everyone's experiences at work.

If this is an outcome that’s sings to you, please DM me for a consult.

#leadership #inclusion #belonging #intersectionality #powerdynamics #power #wellbeing #workplaceculture #employeewellbeing #culture
July 18 at 7:28am
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The festivals keep festivalling… Am delighted to be in conversation with Kylie Mirmohamadi about her latest novel ‘Diving, Falling’ - at the #NorthernBooks festival on July 27th... See more
The festivals keep festivalling… Am delighted to be in conversation with Kylie Mirmohamadi about her latest novel ‘Diving, Falling’ - at the #NorthernBooks festival on July 27th in Castlemaine 📚👓
July 16 at 11:36pm
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What happens when feminism excludes the very women it claims to liberate?

This was a powerful conversation I delighted in moderating, with authors Minna Salami (Can Feminism Be...
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What happens when feminism excludes the very women it claims to liberate?

This was a powerful conversation I delighted in moderating, with authors Minna Salami (Can Feminism Be African?) and Shahed Ezaydi (The Othered Woman) at the Bradford Literature Festival.

We navigated the harm, erasures, assumptions, and possibilities at the heart of global feminist discourse. Can such a discourse thrive when the globe south is cannibalised by a global north whose feminism fears intersectionality?

We drew upon African political philosophy, lived experience, and intersectional critique, as these authors interrogated how feminism becomes a tool fraught with dominance — when it might instead be radically reimagined through an inclusive lens.

From the politics of selfhood to the violence of mainstream feminism, this was a compelling session merging Minna’s academic rigour with Shahed’s broad sector savvy.

An absolutely smashing session!

#endsexism #endGBV #endmisogyny #intersectionality #globalfeminism #patriarchy #power #womenofcolour #intersectionalfeminism
Bradford Literature Festival
July 15 at 12:04am
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The rising threat of harm to Muslim minorities in the West is not an exception - but seemingly the standard.

This and other realities emerged during a panel ‘Islamophobia Now:...
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The rising threat of harm to Muslim minorities in the West is not an exception - but seemingly the standard.

This and other realities emerged during a panel ‘Islamophobia Now: Power, prejudice and resistance’ at the recent Bradford Literature Festival.

In the last 12 months in-person Islamophobic incidents more than doubled (+150%), and online incidents surged by 250%, in Australia.
In the UK, anti‑Muslim hate cases increased by 165% increase over the two years prior.

Talk gave way to personal, political and corporate paradigms and how exclusion manifests for Muslims diasporas across the West in a climate of global instability.

Of note, it was affirmed that the forces at play invested in the deliberate obfuscation of truths were occurring with alarming impunity and terrifying consequences across spheres of media, arts, corporate, health care, educational and political settings.

It was a privilege to share a platform with the sublime Naz Shah MP and inimitable Miqdaad Versi moderated by Saeed Khan, breaking down how we break-down prejudice by supporting movements and people with integrity who fight the good flight in countering rhetoric of power structures.

Kudos to the change makers that work hard to secure a more just and safer world for us all, speaking truth to power so often at personal risk.

You know who you are 🙏🏾

Bradford Literature Festival
#racism #islamophobia #muslimminorities #panel #BradfordLiteratureFestival
July 5 at 7:18am
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“The thing about Kenyan’s is that defiance is in our DNA”

At the Bradford Literature Festival I was delighted to introduce* ‘How to Build A Library’- a film about a revolutionary...
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“The thing about Kenyan’s is that defiance is in our DNA”

At the Bradford Literature Festival I was delighted to introduce* ‘How to Build A Library’- a film about a revolutionary project in my hometown, Nairobi.

Directed by Maia Lekow and Christopher King, this film follows two Nairobi women, Shiro Koinage and Angela Wachuka who refuse to let history have the final word.

They set out to transform what was once a whites-only library until 1958, into something radically new: a vibrant, inclusive, and unapologetically African cultural hub.

A film that is generous, poetic and hopeful, it also traverses the perils of navigating Kenyan bureaucracy and that delicate dance between censorship and survival.

Check out this remarkable film platforming cultural sovereignty, radical feminism and the decolonising of systems with profound grace.

#Storytelling #archives #culture #Preservation #Sovereignty #Chair #Arts #Films #Documentaries #Kenya

Bradford Literature Festival

*DM for bookings
July 3 at 6:34am
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Talking hard truths in a fabulous panel on FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: WHO GETS TO SPEAK? Alongside Burhan Sönmez and moderated by Peg Alexander.

On the raw cost of safeguarding...
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Talking hard truths in a fabulous panel on FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: WHO GETS TO SPEAK? Alongside Burhan Sönmez and moderated by Peg Alexander.

On the raw cost of safeguarding expression, digital censorship, power, privilege and the difference between speech & harm in building a more inclusive society.

Some curly questions in a fiery Q&A made this a memorable experience- was getting my panelling game on early at @BradfordLitFest !

#Bradford #UK #panellist #speaker #literaryfestival #writersfestival
Bradfordliteraturefestival
June 25 at 7:24am
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“Will I ever get to play Dorothy or am I destined to be the designated munchkin at every performance?”

This is a high school musical pondering & life metaphor I’ve long mused...
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“Will I ever get to play Dorothy or am I destined to be the designated munchkin at every performance?”

This is a high school musical pondering & life metaphor I’ve long mused over.

The pressure was real this morning.

Inside a closed room with 150 senior school students, representing 14 schools, I was charged with delivering an inspiring opening keynote for the ‘Casey Youth Summit’.

I can safely report the assignment was smashed.

Thank you City of Casey & Tessa McManus for the privilege of addressing this brilliant & engaged cohort.

Speaking truth to power, trusting your inner voice, leaning on mentors and calling out injustices - these were home truths I delighted in sharing to a culturally diverse young leaders.

And the intuitive questions they asked of me, about discerning identity, place and purpose- were incredible.

Days like these affirm why I love the work I do; it’s the people I get to meet, everytime.

And to those wondering…
I most definitely achieved my metaphoric Dorothy 😏

Speaking Out

#studentleaders #motivation #speaker #storytelling #culturaldiversity
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Mother daughter connections, racism at work, mental health obstacles, migration and sacrifices, finding your tribe, fleeing persecution…

Just some of the themes emanating from...
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Mother daughter connections, racism at work, mental health obstacles, migration and sacrifices, finding your tribe, fleeing persecution…

Just some of the themes emanating from this years selection of films screening at the Multicultural Film Festival launched last night.

This event celebrated emerging creatives whose cultural diversity enrich our story telling archives with excellence.

What a personal & professional joy to be in the company of such talent. Congratulations to every entrant, including winners and honourable mention recipients across all categories.

Check out upcoming screenings of these short films and documentaries that will leave your heart full.

And kudos to the VMC team for pulling together such a stellar event.

#MFF2025 #VMC #RefugeeWeek
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I'm looking forward to being a part of the wonderful Northern Books Day Festival next month, in conversation with Kylie Mirmohamad about her latest novel, 'Diving,... See more
I'm looking forward to being a part of the wonderful Northern Books Day Festival next month, in conversation with Kylie Mirmohamad about her latest novel, 'Diving, Falling'.

Can't wait!

Also, Castlemaine 🥰
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How it began..

Came across this little gem whilst researching content for a keynote.

From 1979 (do the math!), this was a promo in the Bendigo Advertiser (aka the ‘Addy’) for an...
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How it began..

Came across this little gem whilst researching content for a keynote.

From 1979 (do the math!), this was a promo in the Bendigo Advertiser (aka the ‘Addy’) for an coming Sari parade at the St Andrews Uniting Church, being held by the Indo-Australia club to which every Desi family in town belonged.

Noting the positive media commentary for its time- the reportage, though scant, seems quite progressive compared to what passes for multicultural story coverage in much of MSM today.

Regardless, THIS remains a cherished memory that uplifted the soul from my childhood in central Victoria.

#stories #storytelling #multiculturalvictoria #childhood

Priam Nandan Ameet Bains #jayamanchikanti
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