Biography

Rokhaya Diallo (born 10 April 1978) is a French journalist, author, film-maker, and activist for racial, gender and religious equality. According to The New York Times, she is “one of France's most prominent anti-racism activists.” She is a BET-France host and has produced and/or directed documentaries, television and radio programs. She has published: Racism: a guide, France Belongs to Us, France: One and Multicultural and How to talk to kids about racism, a graphic novel Pari(s) d'Amies, and Afro! featuring Afro-Parisians who wear natural hairstyles. Rokhaya Diallo was born in 1978, in Paris, France, to Senegalese and Gambian parents. Her father was a mechanic and her mother a sewing teacher. Her family moved to La Courneuve, a suburb of Paris, in 1989.After obtaining a bachelor's degree in International and European law, Diallo went on to study business, which led her to work for a short period at IBM, which she left because she felt "like a pawn". So she decided to work toward a marketing and distribution degree at the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris I), which she earned in 2003. She now works in broadcasting production.As an anime enthusiast, Diallo helped found the Japan Expo. She was also briefly a voice actress, performing Kamui Shiro as a child in X1999, by CLAMP, and Ex in Ah! My Goddess: The Movie.In 2001, she participated in the youth outreach programme of La Courneuve. She was asked to join in the city's Youth Council and rose to the position of president within two years. As a feminist, she campaigns for the anti-sexist association Mix-Cité. She also campaigns for the organization ATTAC, which fights for sustainable and socially just globalization policies, notably during the Film Festival "Images mouvementées".On 24 August 2020, she was named a contributor to the Global Opinions section of The Washington Post.In 2021, she became a researcher at the Gender Justice Initiative Research Center at Georgetown University in Washington. In France, she teaches cultural studies at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University.