Mariam Veiszadeh is an award winning human rights advocate, lawyer, diversity and inclusion practitioner, contributing author and media commentator.

Mariam was most recently an Executive Director at Diversity Council of Australia, founded the Islamophobia Register Australia, and has held multiple board positions.

She has delivered a TEDxSydney talk advocating for greater cultural diversity, was featured as an Anti-Racism Champion by the Australian Human Rights Commission and currently sits on the Commission’s Expert Advisory Group for the Workplace Cultural Diversity Tool as well their Multicultural Advisory Group. Mariam has worked as radio commentator for the ABC radio and as a columnist for Fairfax media.

With many accolades to her name including the Fairfax Daily Life 2016 Woman of the year, the 2015 Westpac Woman of Influence and Welcoming Australia Life Member Award in 2021, Mariam is renowned for influencing positive change both in the workplace and in society more broadly.

Mariam was born in Afghanistan and came to Australia in 1990 with her family as a refugee.

Simone Amelia Jordan is an award-winning writer, journalist, and host, who works as Director Of Special Projects for Media Diversity Australia. She is the recipient of the 2021 Richell Prize, for her upcoming memoir Tell Her She’s Dreamin’. Simone holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Journalism) from the University of Technology, Sydney. Jordan was appointed the first international Content Director of The Source magazine in 2015 and was selected one of five women in the world to design her own shoe with Reebok Classics in 2012. Jordan’s work has appeared in SBS Voices, ABC Everyday, Channel 10, VIBE Magazine, The Industry Observer, and Diversity Arts Australia.

Twitter Handle: @SimoneAJordan

Nayonika is an English literature and marketing major who studied at the University of Sydney. Before joining MDA, Nayonika has worked in social media marketing and content creation in Australian publishing. She brings her knowledge of content curation and social media production across all social platforms.

She has worked in translation, content writing and editing both in Australia and India, offering a culturally diverse perception of media communities and a deep understanding of ever-changing marketing trends.

Nayonika was born in India.

Miguel D’Souza is a journalist, consultant and trainer and was Google’s News Teaching Fellow for 2020-22. Miguel’s career in online news spans more than two decades, working at AAP, SBS, 7News and News.com.au after a decade in community radio. He works as a university tutor, designs training curricula, advises newsrooms in data and social media applications for news monitoring and stories.

Miguel began his media career as a radio volunteer at Sydney’s 2SER-FM, starting The Mothership Connection at the beginning of the 1990s, and writing about the growing music and street culture of hip-hop. He was born in Pakistan, of Indian parents, spent his childhood in Singapore, his teens in Melbourne and discovered hip-hop and clubbing in Sydney in his young adulthood. Miguel is also a board member at the Midjuburi Youth Resource Centre in Marrickville.