Mariam Veiszadeh

Mariam Veiszadeh is an award winning human rights advocate, lawyer, diversity and inclusion practitioner, contributing author and media commentator. Following her decade long advocacy work in championing diversity and inclusion, she was appointed inaugural CEO of Media Diversity Australia MDA in late 2021. MDA was established to challenge Australia’s media organisations to address the stark lack of diversity to ensure Australia’s media landscape looks and sounds more like Australia.

Mariam wears many hats and has many accolades to her name including former Co-Chair Australian Muslim Womens Centre for Human Rights (now board director), president and founder of Islamophobia Register Australia, former director of Diversity Council Australia and much more. Her impact is felt in all of the social movements she puts her name to including most recently her incredible advocacy efforts which called for #ActionForAfghanisan. This includes all of her mainstream media appearances, political engagements and lobbying efforts helping to raise public awareness and increase support for increasing Australia’s humanitarian intake from Afghanistan. She also helped raise significant funds for Australia for UNHCR and her Angus McDonald Archibald portrait was auctioned to raise $62,000 for Afghanistan.