Oona King – Baroness King of Bow

Oona King is You Tube’s Global Director of Diversity.

A member of the House of Lords (appointed Baroness King of Bow in 2011) currently on a leave of absence, Oona was previously Diversity Executive at Channel 4 and was previously Senior Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister on Equalities and Diversity (2007-09) at 10 Downing Street.

Oona was the first mixed-race woman elected to Parliament, and served as the MP for Bethnal Green & Bow from 1997-2005.

Oona founded the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Genocide Prevention in the House of Commons, and received a commendation from the UN Security Council’s Expert Panel for her group’s work on peacekeeping. Other roles have included PPS to the Secretary of State for Trade & Industry, Vice-Chair of the British Council, Chair of the All-Party Group on Business Services, Vice-Chair of London Labour MPs, and Treasurer of Friends of Islam.

During her time in the Commons, Oona King changed the law in five areas, including housing policy and equalities policy. In 2011 Oona was nominated for ‘Campaigning Peer of the Year’. In 2010 she ran for Mayor of London in the Labour Party selection process against Ken Livingstone.

“Oona was incredible and the feedback was extremely positive. Funny, real, hard hitting and just perfect to help shape the morning”
Women in Tech

Before becoming an MP at the age of 29, Oona was a Trade Union organiser representing low-paid workers, and spent five years as a researcher at the European Parliament. She gained a first class politics degree from York University (1990) and a scholarship to Berkeley, California (1988-89).

Oona’s work for Channel 4 focused on diversity in the media, and she previously chaired the steering committee of the Creative Diversity Network (an organisation representing Britain’s major broadcasters including the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and Sky).

Oona also chaired the Broadcasting and Creative Industries Disability Network (BCIDN) and sits on Select Committees in the House of Lords such as the post-legislative Select Committee on Adoption, and the Olympic & Paralympic Legacy Committee. In 2013 Oona became founding chair of a think tank (All About Talent) to help business leverage commercial benefits from a diverse workforce.

Outside politics Oona King has worked as a television presenter for Channel 4, BBC, Sky, Five and ITV.

Her political diary of her time in the House of Commons, House Music, was published by Bloomsbury in 2007 and nominated for ‘Political Book of the Year‘ in the Channel 4 political awards.

Oona King is acknowledged as a great communicator and inspiring leader as broadcaster, writer and political campaigner.

Oona can present entertaining after-dinner speeches or conference keynotes, covering topics such:

• Diversity & Equality
• Politics
• Young People
• Women in Politics
• How to Bring about Change
• Housing
• Adoption
• Africa
• Voting Systems / Representative Democracy
• Sport / the Olympics / the Olympic Legacy