Guest Profile

Naomi Tutu

Naomi Tutu was led to become an activist for human rights through the challenges of growing black and female in apartheid South Africa. Those experiences taught how much we all lose when any of us is judged purely on physical attributes. In her speeches she blends the passion for human dignity with humor and personal stories.

Ms Tutu is the third child Archbishop Desmond and Nomalizo Leah Tutu. She was born in South Africa and has also lived in Lesotho, the United Kingdom and the United States. She was educated in Swaziland, the US and England, and has divide her adult life between South Africa and the US. Growing up the 'daughter of ' has offered Naomi Tutu many opportunities and challenges in her life. Most important of these has been the challenge to find her own place in the world. She has taken up the challenge and channeled the opportunities that she has been given to raise her voice as a champion for the dignity of all.

Her professional experience ranges from being a development consultant in West Africa, to being program coordinator for programs on Race and Gender and Gender-based Violence in Education at the African Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town. In addition Ms. Tutu has taught at the Universities of Hartford and Connecticut and Brevard College in North Carolina.

Ms. Tutu is a sought after speaker to groups as varied as business associations, professional conferences, elected officials and church and civic organizations. Ms. Tutu has also led Truth and Reconciliation Workshops for groups dealing with different types of conflict. Together with Rose Bator she is writing a book provisionally titled I Don't Think of You as Black: Honest Conversations on Race and Racism.

In addition to speaking, Ms Tutu is a consultant to two organizations, the Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence SAIV, founded by renowned author Riane Eisler and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Betty Williams, and the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa FHSSA. Ms Tutu is a single mother of three and currently lives in Nashville, TN.