Tolulope (Tolu) Akinbiyi (she/her)

Tolulope (Tolu) Akinbiyi
Tolulope (Tolu) Akinbiyi

Tolu is a Bachelor of Commerce student and an inaugural student representative of the FBE/MBSL Joint D&I Committee. Having joined SAMM – the Students’ Association of Management and Marketing – in her first semester, she serves as a member of its executive committee.

Tolu is also actively involved in the university community beyond the FBE, as a member of UMSU’s Bla(c)k Collective and the German Club Executive Committee.

Tolu has worked to increase diversity and inclusion since the Year 11, when she joined an organisation called the Melbourne Youth Alliance (MYA), headed by North Melbourne Football Club’s “The Huddle” & the City of Melbourne. She continues her active involvement in the MYA, a community group of young African Australians dedicated to improving the lives of people across Melbourne. She sees her involvement in the group as a way of helping to create positive change for her local community: “As an African Australian, I personally have faced discrimination, which was challenging for me to navigate and learn to overcome. However, having experience dealing with it all has allowed me to see the world through so many different perspectives, which I use to power myself through my work. My negative experiences have helped me to try that much harder creating positive ones for others.”

I pride myself on being able to connect with anybody and everybody.

Tolu is looking forward to continuing to promote diversity and inclusion both in the Commerce program and throughout the university: “I am privileged to have friends in Commerce and throughout the university who have different ethnicities, cultures, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. I pride myself on being able to connect with anybody and everybody.  As the FBE/MBSL Joint D&I Committee’s inaugural student representative, I will continue to connect with different types of people and use their stories, ideas, and contributions to fuel my decisions and contributions. I recognise this role is not for my personal benefit, it is to make a meaningful change for us all.”