Culture Lena Nahlous: My Favourite Things Diversity Arts Australia's executive director has been fighting racism and elitism since she was small. Here, she talks podcast obsessions and the power of persistence. By jitendermittal Published 10 July, 2025 Culture Lena Nahlous: My Favourite Things Diversity Arts Australia's executive director has been fighting racism and elitism since she was small. Here, she talks podcast obsessions and the power of persistence. By jitendermittal Published 10 July, 2025 Previous article Thanking Adversity, To Move Through It Next article ‘If Not You, Then Who?’ Sally Rugg On Empathy And Activism Lena Nahlous wants to see a true representation of Australia’s multi-cultural society on the walls of our art galleries, our screens and the shelves of our book stores. “Art reflects who we are as a society,” she says. “It tells our collective and individual stories, and creates archives that document our histories, so if some of us are absent or erased from this, it isn’t telling the full story. Erasure also impacts on our sense of identity and individual and collective self-esteem.”Her commitment to “telling the full story” started young. Growing up, Lena experienced racism first-hand as the daughter of Arab immigrant parents. This spurred a career dedicated to fighting for social justice, tolerance and human rights, and a passion for amplifying underrepresented and marginalised voices in literature, art, film and theatre. Now, Lena is Diversity Arts Australia’s executive director and the presenter of their brilliant podcast The Colour Cycle. Lena Nahlous will be speaking at the next Future Women Social Club, in partnership with the City of Parramatta and Parramatta Artists’ Studios, on October 21 at 5:30pm. She will be joined by Zimbabwean/Australian advocate, artist and TEDx speaker Moreblessing Maturure in the heart of Western Sydney, as they explore how the arts community can enrich its diversity of cultural expression. For more information and to RSVP click here. myfavouritethings Best Of Future Women Culture The impossible choice faced by tens of thousands of Australian women By Rosa Volz Culture It’s morally corrupt. And it’s happening to one in six women By jitendermittal Culture How Toto’s* ex-husband used their children to keep her poor By jitendermittal Culture “Never an excuse”: Why Katrina still can’t stand the smell of bourbon By jitendermittal Culture Janine never thought divorce would mean losing her family and friends By jitendermittal Culture “Invisible victims”: Why Conor was forced to live in an unsafe home By jitendermittal Culture Miranda*’s mothers group helped her escape abuse. Then the stalking began By jitendermittal Culture “We can’t change this on our own” By jitendermittal Your inbox just got smarter If you’re not a member, sign up to our newsletter to get the best of Future Women in your inbox.
