Tupoka Ogette

Tupoka Ogette was born in Leipzig in 1980 to a Tanzanian agricultural student and a German mathematics student. Shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, her mother moved with her to West Berlin, where Ogette lived until she graduated from high school. She holds a Master’s degree in African Studies and German as a Foreign Language from the University of Leipzig and a Master’s degree in International Business from the Graduate School of Grenoble. Since 2012, Tupoka Ogette has been working nationwide as a consultant and trainer in the field of anti-racism. In this role, she leads workshops and training sessions in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, speaks at events, and advises teams and organizations. Her handbook *exit RACISM. Learning to Think Critically About Racism*, published in March 2017, is a SPIEGEL bestseller. In 2019, Ogette was named one of the 25 most influential women of the year by Edition F magazine. SPIEGEL Online included her as one of ten women in its educational canon on the topic of theory and politics. In 2021, she was voted “Idol of the Year” by About You. She lives in Berlin with her husband, the artist and sculptor Stephen Lawson, and their children. Her books “And Now You: Living Critically About Racism” and “Active Against Racism, Day by Day” were published by Penguin.

Photo: Tatsiana Tribunalova