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Baroness Floella Benjamin DBE has built an inspirational career for herself and is now an award-winning actress, producer, TV Presenter, Parliamentarian and an advocate for children’s welfare and education. Originally aiming to be Britain’s first black female bank manager, she changed the direction in which she was heading and decided she wanted to enter show business. Floella is a highly respected speaker and when booked, speaks on topics such as children’s welfare, diversity, media issues and Black History.
Floella was born in Trinidad and moved to England at the age of 10. She decided to leave school at 16 to work at a bank, but later realised that she needed to alter her career path. Her first presenting role was in 1976, where she led the children’s TV show ‘Play School’, which was then followed by ‘Play Away’, which ran until 1984. After this, Floella started to guest-star in different shows and movies including The Line of Beauty and The Sarah Jane Adventures which has allowed her to continue working within the show business industry for 5 decades, appearing in not only film and television, but also radio.
Due to her infamous career, Floella Benjamin has been presented with multiple different awards. Her first key award was an OBE for services to broadcasting in the 2001 New Honours List and this was followed by many more including a BAFTA Special Lifetime Achievements Award, a J.M Barrie Lifetime Award and in 2020, was awarded a Damehood in the New York Honours List for services to charity. Floella has also authored over 30 books and in 2016, the autobiography ‘Coming to England’ was chosen as the ‘Guardian Children’s Book of the Year.’ Most recently, in 2024, it was announced that Floella was the recipient of the BAFTA Fellowship for Exceptional Contribution to Television, commending her inspirational achievements.
Baroness Floella Benjamin DBE has become a role model within the show business industry due to her dedication and work ethic. Her passion has allowed her to remain popular in the industry for 5 decades and she is now wanting to speak upon not only her current career, but also how she got to where she is today. Floella has faced adversity throughout her career, falling victim to racism, however she has made the most of her life and overcome adversity – now encouraging others to follow in her footsteps. When looking for a speaker who has an inspirational story to tell, look no further than Floella Benjamin.
“I wanted to take this opportunity to say a warm thank you to Baroness Benjamin for a truly thought-provoking, powerful and amazing inspirational talk at this year’s Deloitte Black History Month celebration. I can honestly say everyone is still buzzing from last week. Here is just a sprinkle of some of the wonderful feedback, I have been inundated with following Floella’s inspirational talk: ‘It shook me to my core – the strength of Baroness Benjamin’s story and experience, and the power of her inspirational message about changing the future – I laughed, cried (lots!) and came away feeling truly inspired.’ ‘I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the event and was certainly not expecting to be taken on such a rollercoaster of emotions. I was completely enthralled by the Baroness. Truly inspirational lady and a beautiful human being’. I would be so grateful if you could please pass on my sincere and warm thank you to Floella.”
“Please pass on our thanks and gratitude to Floella for giving such a moving and heartfelt talk for our BHM final event here at Credit Suisse. Her very personal accounts of events throughout her life stirred up many emotions and resonated with many people. The feedback was very positive, many attendees were fortunate enough to give their feedback directly to Baroness Benjamin as she was kind enough to spend a significant amount of time meeting with people and taking pictures – again please pass on my extra thanks to her for taking the time.”
“Baroness Floella was superb—I only heard overwhelmingly good feedback, and she had a queue of people lining up to meet her after. She had a powerful and fresh take on highlighting DEIB in a humanising way, with personal and interesting stories. I found Floella engaging throughout her speech.”
The Diversity and Inclusion Speakers Agency has been one of the UK’s leading bureaus for inspirational figures of different races, genders, sexualities and abilities since 2020. We supply speakers for corporate and public events across the world, and cater to both in-person occasions and online webinars. Our roster includes athletes, psychologists, celebrities and more, to ensure that audiences of all industries receive tailored, impactful advice on diversity and inclusion.
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