Tania de Jong AM has garnered an international reputation as an award-winning social entrepreneur, acclaimed soprano, inspirational speaker and storyteller, creative alchemist, philanthropist and spiritual journey woman. She is a passionate leader for social change. Tania is one of Australia’s most successful female entrepreneurs and innovators having developed 6 businesses and 4 charities.

When she was just 14 years old her best friend told her not to bother having singing lessons. So, it’s not surprising that her mission is to change the world, one voice at a time. Tania’s TEDTalk ‘How singing together changes the brain’ has sparked international interest.

Tania is a global authority on creativity, innovation, leadership and collaboration. With a grandmother who invented the foldable umbrella, innovation is in her blood. And, as thedaughter of Holocaust survivors, she has learnt about resilience and re-invention and developed a passion for mental health and social inclusion.

Tania is an agent for change. She is an inspirational and moving storyteller and presenter. Her keynotes, combined with the power of song, are transformational. She is known for her ability to unleash creative energy and capabilities, expand mindsets, build ‘can-do’ teams and strategies to develop a culture of innovation, diversity and inclusion.

Tania has an unusual background because her work and knowledge spans the business, public, creative and community sectors. She is able to draw together cross-sector themes relevant to business and government sectors. She is a dynamic and insightful speaker, MC, panel member, workshop leader and performer and enjoys customising her contributions to create outstanding and memorable outcomes.

Individuals, communities, corporations and governments face increasing challenges and accelerating change. Tania expands mindsets and inspires audiences to think more laterally and creatively about the future. In 2018 Thinkers50 invited her to be a keynote speaker and performer at the European Business Forum in Denmark.

For 10 years Tania produced the ground-breaking Creative Innovation Asia Pacific forum bringing together international and national leaders to focus on managing and preparing for a rapidly changing world. Creative Innovation Global has received international and national awards including Corporate Event of the Year in the global Eventex Awards. Creative Universe and Creative Innovation Global were ranked among the top 20 event organizers and agencies from around the world as part of the Eventex All-Stars Index.

Tania is the Founder of Creative Universe transformational leadership and innovation capability building programs, Creative Innovation Global, MTA Entertainment & Events and acclaimed singing group Pot-Pourri. Tania founded a co-working space Dimension5 in Melbourne to drive social innovation and collaboration.

Tania is also the Founder of four charities, including Mind Medicine Australia (with her husband Peter Hunt AM). MMA aims to expand the treatments available for Australians suffering from mental illness through safe and effective use of psychedelic-assisted therapies. MMA successfully applied for the rescheduling of psilocybin and MDMA in 2023 – a world first!

Tania’s latest charity is Umbrella Foundation which is committed to telling stories that matter through the innovative use of music, theatre and other artforms, raising consciousness and inspiring generosity, diversity, inclusion, harmony and compassion. Umbrella Foundation recently presented world premiere seasons of Driftwood – The Musical leading to international interest in the acclaimed production. Tania played the role of her inspirational grandmother Slawa Duldig, who invented the first foldable umbrella in Vienna in 1929 and miraculously escaped Nazi Austria.

Creativity Australia (founded 2008) works with a range of marginalised individuals (including migrants, people with depression and disabilities and job seekers) and communities to build supportive networks through the acclaimed With One Voice choir social inclusion programs. In 2016, Creativity Australia received the Melbourne Award for Contribution to Community and has been named in Anthill’s Top 100 Smart Innovations every year since 2013.

Tania founded The Song Room which has provided access to creative learning and wellbeing for over one million disadvantaged Australian children since 1999.

Tania has a Bachelor of Law (Honours) from the University of Melbourne and is a graduate of Victorian College of the Arts in opera, music theatre and voice. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in June 2008 for service to the Arts as a performer and entrepreneur and through the establishment and development of music and arts enrichment programs for schools and communities.

Tania’s other awards include Ernst and Young Australian Social Entrepreneur of the Year, the ‘Outstanding Individual Contribution to Australian Culture’, Churchill Fellowship and The Melbourne Award. She was inducted into the AGSE Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame at Swinburne University and named Brainlink Woman of Achievement. Tania was named in the 2016 Impact 25 Awards which honour the social sector’s most influential people for their significant and positive impact in Australia and around the world. Tania was named in the 100 Women of Influence, the 100 Australian Most Influential Entrepreneurs and named as one of the 100 most influential people in psychedelics globally. She was honoured with the Award for Meritorious Service to the Community in the Victorian Multicultural Awards for Excellence.

Major clients have included the leadership teams of Woodside, Department of Defence (DST Group), McKinsey & Company, PwC, Ernst & Young, BCG, AGL, Veolia, Spotlight, David Jones, Perpetual, Telstra, Transurban, Mondelez, ANZ, CBA, NAB, BHP, INSEAD Business School, AON, The Florey Institute, CPA, Rotary, various Governments, Universities and schools. She has been a keynote speaker at many leading innovation, education, entrepreneurship and technology conferences and special events including the International Innovation Symposium in Vienna. Tania writes articles and has been featured and interviewed across major media including Huffington Post, Bloomberg, ABC, AFR BOSS Magazine, The Australian, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, 2UE and many others. She has spoken and performed in over 40 countries.

Tania has released seven albums with her acclaimed singing group Pot-Pourri and has released six solo albums, Soundsations, Heaven on Earth and the new releases Flying Free, Solitary Harmony, The Breezes at Dawn have Secrets to Tell and Awakening for the Peaceful Soul. Shesings in many languages, including English, Spanish, French, Latin, German, Italian, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Yiddish and Hebrew.

Diversity of Topics

Tania has been keynote speaker, MC, panel member, performer, workshop leader and facilitator at a wide range of conferences and special events globally. She builds rapport with diverse groups ranging from Board Members, CEOs and senior executives to those on the shop floor. 

Key topics include:

 Being Human in an Age of Machines – The mental health challenge

“Things are getting better and better and worse and worse, faster and faster, simultaneously.”

• The current mental health statistics and solutions available
• How to raise our consciousness and build a collective future
• How neuroscience can help us change our brains and reconnect to self and others
• Ways to empower people to find their purpose so that they can unleash their true creative potential
• How to include diverse voices and help people to feel a sense of belonging
• Why psychedelic-assisted therapies could be a potential game-changer

 Human Intelligence 2.0 – How to manage change in an era of disruption and build a collective future?

How can organisations develop creative, inclusive, resilient and innovative cultures and develop the agility and Human Intelligence 2.0 skills required to manage and prepare for a rapidly changing world and the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

• Fast-track your thinking about change and the future
• Human Intelligence 2.0 tools to develop agile growth, mindsets and skills, innovation, resilience, performance and leadership
• How to develop more right-brained, creative and collaborative thinking to solve wicked collective problems
• Insights into harnessing diversity and inclusion to build communities that care
• Case studies to inspire action

 Voices of Innovation – The Power of Positive Human Collisions

• How to build a collaborative, purpose-driven and innovative culture
• Insights into harnessing diversity and creating opportunity
• Enhanced creative thinking and how to develop agile growth mindsets
• Tools to develop your resilience, performance and leadership
• Integrating feminine power with masculine wisdom

Thinking outside the box: Leading Innovation and Change

• Develop creative, intuitive, right-brained and agile mindsets and think ‘outside the box’
• Deal with failure and developing resilience
• Build a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship that leads to business growth and success
• Prepare for and manage in times of massive uncertainty, disruption and change
• To understand why diversity will increase your organisation’s productivity and lead to sustainable growth
• Make a difference to the communities where you operate

Creativity and Innovation – how to harness them in your people and organisation?

• We are all creative – building creative confidence and self-belief
• Dealing with failure and developing resilience
• Using neuroscience and your right brain to super-charge your work and life
• Tools to unlock your individual and organisational creative potential
• How to develop a culture where creativity and innovation can flourish
• Entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship within your organisation

From profits to purpose in an era of disruption

• How to build a collaborative, inclusive and innovative culture
• Insights into harnessing diversity and building communities that care
• Enhanced ‘out of the box’ creative thinking and agile growth mindsets
• Tools to develop your resilience, performance and leadership
• Integrating feminine power with masculine wisdom
• Why doing good really matters
• Case studies to inspire action

Reconnecting to ourselves and our communities

Loneliness, depression and social isolation is the global epidemic of our times. We are more connected through technology than ever before. Yet many of us feel increasingly separate, anxious, lost and empty. We talk more to boxes and screens than to one another. We live behind walls when we desperately need to build bridges of connection and become more inclusive.

In this powerful keynote experience, Tania will provide insights, case studies, stories and solutions to help us reconnect to:

• Our selves and the right side of our brain
• Other people to form caring tribes and communities
• Meaningful work and active citizenship
• Joy, creativity and Intuition

Tania will shift our mindsets and show us a different way to view the world. This powerful talk is important, relevant, inspirational and utterly unforgettable. It will change your life! 

Creativity: the strategic tool of the 21st Century

• Why creativity has become our most endangered species, and why it is more important now than ever before
• Using neuroscience and your right brain to super-charge your work and life
• Tools to unlock your individual and organisational creative potential
• How creativity leads to improved wellbeing, social inclusion, innovation, leadership, productivity and transformation
• Unleashing the unique creative voices of your team and your organisation