Abigail Agyei is a Senior Policy Advisor for the Department of Health and Social Care – implementing improvements to interdisciplinary training & development of the workforce. Recipient of the 2020 Rising Star Award at the Civil Service Awards, Abigail has been at the forefront of the conversation surrounding race, neurodiversity & inclusion. Abigail is now available to hire as a keynote speaker for a wide range of events, delivering talks built upon her 10 year long career in public service.
Having obtained her LLB from Keele University, Abigail joined Elevation Networks as a Campaign Support Officer. Abigail has been an Asylum Caseworker for the Home Office and a Prison & Probation Ombudsman Investigator for the Ministry of Justice before serving as Head of Events and Communication at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. During her tenure, Abigail served as a Management Lead for BAMEnet, an award-winning staff network that catered to empowering Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority staff members. Abigail also served as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Race, Equality and Community Engagement Team. Her role was crucial in ensuring the UK met its commitments surrounding race equality and protection of minority rights.
Named one of the Top 50 Influential Neurodivergent Women in 2022, Abigail often addresses issues surrounding neurodiversity, having been diagnosed with dyspraxia and ADHD herself. Her TEDx talk “Yes, Black Women Have ADHD Too and Need Your Attention!” outlines how ADHD is often undiagnosed amongst women, especially Black women. Abigail’s work as an ADHD and racial equality advocate underlines her passion to highlight intersectional identities and how their lived experiences are shaped in the world. She also publishes the ‘As an ADHDer’ newsletter and LinkedIn series where she interviews people belonging to the racially diverse and neurodiverse communities. Additionally, she was an integral part of the inaugural LinkedIn UK Creator Accelerator Programme, a platform through which she brought more attention to neurodiversity in Black women.
Abigail has been recognised with an MBE title, which she received during the 2022 New Year Honours list. In 2024, she was selected as a UN Women UK delegate for the second time during the CSW68 session. Over the years, Abigail has been invited to speak at several platforms including events for HSBC, PwC, the Disability Inclusion in the Workplace Digital Conference, and BBC Radio to name a few. Abigail Agyei is the perfect example of a DE&I champion and seasoned policy & strategy advisor. If you are looking for someone who has umpteen experience in supporting voluntary and under-served groups, look no further than Abigail Agyei. Enquire now!
How to hire Abigail Agyei
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Abigail Agyei for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do not accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
Abigail Agyei's official speaker topics are listed below:
- Intersectional Approach Towards Equality & Inclusion
- Supporting Neurodivergent Colleagues
- Addressing Intersectional Experiences Through a Neurodiversity Lens
- Neurodiversity & Race
- Leading and Having Impact at Any Level
- Let's Talk About Belonging
- Fostering Staff Networks in the Workplace
- Employee Network - How to Expand Vision & Ambition Over Time
- Inclusive Recruitment Strategies
- Let's Talk About Race
Official Feedback from In-Person & Virtual Events
Feedback from In-Person Events:
"Abby is an absolutely amazing public speaker, passionate about diversity and inclusion, building community integration and inclusive policy making." - Bernadette Thompson OBE, Executive Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
"The following Hillary Clinton quote describes Abigail - “Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. And, when you stumble, keep faith. And, when you’re knocked down, get right back up and never listen to anyone who says you can’t or shouldn’t go on.” She aimed high and so deserved her recent accolade to be called a “rising star”. Her determination and her passion are her strength and I truly believe that this is only the beginning. Her voice, I believe and expect, will continue to empower diverse talent to think differently and share their experiences and perspectives, which for many organisation is a key driver for innovation, development and engagement." Yvonne Brown MBE - Chair of Race Network, Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
"I had the pleasure of working with Abigail at a recent DODS Leadership event where she spoke about leading from the middle..... Abigail’s insights, wisdom and practicable advice were both inspirational and edifying. Thanks Abigail for ALL that you do!!!! Stay well, the world needs you. #InvolveToEvolve" - Rob Neil OBE, Director of Krystal AIliance
"Abigail Aqyei was a superb speaker, with authentic insight and sage advice. It was a tremendous privilege to have her speak on 'Leading from the middle: having impact at any grade' at our BAME into Leadership conference. She also received bundles of excellent delegate feedback, and, was an absolute delight to work with. We look forward to working with Abigail again." - Kiren, Head of Portfolio, Dods D&I, Dods Group Ltd
"The session went really well! My team were really engaged with the content Abigail presented and the session provoked a lot of interest and eagerness for discussion. It was great to hear Abigail’s lived experiences and the ways of working we could approach in our workplace and Abigail answered all questions put to her and presented eloquently and honestly, staying at the end as well to speak one and one with a few colleagues who wanted to speak with her directly. Abigail’s kindly offered to share her slides with our team, I’ve already had a few requests on this from the team! But also how we can continue the discussion further in future team meetings which is great and was one of the aims of having an external guest come in and meet with us." - Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
"Abigail was a great speaker for our event. Her knowledge of the topic was great, and she demonstrated her expertise with follow-up links to TED talks with more comprehensive talks. We found her very approachable and conversational, which is what we were looking for. Furthermore, we received great feedback from the audience on the event, and participants who were only intending to come for half the talk due to work commitments ended up staying for the entire hour. We would definitely recommend Abigail for talks relating to race and neurodiversity." - Vice President, Swiss RE
- 2024 – Conducted a workshop for SAP Business Women’s Network
- 2024 – Invited to speak at an event for BYP Network
- 2024 – Became a UN Women UK delegate
- 2022 – Published the ‘As an ADHDer’ Newsletter
- 2022 – Appointed MBE for her services to the public and community
- 2022 – Named one of the Top 50 Influential Neurodivergent Women by Women Beyond the Box
- 2021 – Senior Policy Advisor, Department of Health and Social Care
- 2020 – Recipient of The Rising Star Award at the Civil Service Awards
- 2020 – Member of the UK Young Academy
- 2018 - Senior Policy Advisor, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
- 2017 – Prison and Probation Ombudsman Investigator, Ministry of Justice UK
- 2014 – Asylum Caseworker, The Home Office
- 2013 – Campaign Support Officer, Elevation Networks
