Nontombi Naomi Tutu
Daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Educator, Author & Human Rights Activist
Nontombi Naomi Tutu
Daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Educator, Author & Human Rights Activist
Biography
The challenges of growing up Black and female in apartheid South Africa have shaped the Rev. Nontombi Naomi Tutu’s lifelong commitment to justice, reconciliation, and human dignity. Those experiences taught her that the entire human family suffers when systems of oppression are allowed to persist, and that the teaching and preaching of hate and division ultimately harms us all. Rooted in the belief that people can confront difficult truths and still build stronger communities together, Rev. Tutu has devoted her life to helping individuals and institutions examine the forces that divide us and the courage required to overcome them.
Her professional experience spans work as an economist and development consultant in West Africa as well as leadership roles in higher education and social justice initiatives. She served as program coordinator for Race and Gender and Gender-Based Violence in Education at the African Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town. Rev. Tutu has also taught at the University of Hartford, the University of Connecticut, and Brevard College in North Carolina. She served as Program Coordinator for the historic Race Relations Institute at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, and was part of the Institute’s delegation to the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa.
Growing up as the daughter of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu offered Naomi both extraordinary opportunities and profound challenges. Determined to build a life defined by her own convictions and calling, she pursued a path that blended scholarship, activism, and service. One calling she long resisted, however, was the ministry. For years she joked, “I have my father’s nose, I do not want his job.” Yet the call to preach and serve never faded. In her 50s she answered that calling, attending seminary and becoming an ordained Episcopal priest. She most recently served as Associate Rector at All Saints, Beverly Hills, and now lives in Atlanta where she serves as a priest associate at All Saints’ Episcopal.
Rev. Tutu’s journey as a public voice began while she was a student at Berea College in Kentucky in the 1970s, when she was first invited to speak at churches, community groups, and colleges about her experiences growing up under apartheid. Over time, those early invitations grew into a global platform where she has addressed audiences ranging from universities and civic organizations to business associations, professional conferences, and elected leaders. Through her speaking and teaching, she challenges audiences to confront injustice honestly while recognizing the shared humanity that connects us all.
In addition to her work in ministry and education, Rev. Tutu founded Nozizwe Consulting, an initiative dedicated to helping communities and organizations navigate difference with honesty, courage, and respect. Through this work she has facilitated Truth and Reconciliation workshops for groups working through conflict and division. She is the recipient of four honorary doctorates from universities and colleges in the United States and Nigeria and has served in numerous leadership roles within the Episcopal Church, including as a Canon Missioner for Racial and Economic Equity and as Canon Missioner for Kairos West Community Center at the Cathedral of All Souls in Asheville, North Carolina.
Drawing on a lifetime of activism, ministry, and global leadership, Rev. Tutu brings a powerful voice to audiences seeking deeper conversations about justice, reconciliation, and our shared humanity. She speaks with universities, faith communities, nonprofits, civic organizations, and corporate leaders about confronting injustice, building bridges across difference, and strengthening the moral courage needed to create more equitable societies. Rev. Nontombi Naomi Tutu works in partnership with APB Speakers for speaking engagements worldwide.
Rev. Tutu is also a devoted mother of two daughters and a son, and her personal experiences continue to shape her belief that meaningful change begins with empathy, humility, and the willingness to listen across differences.
Speaker Videos
Being Fully Human
The Truth Will Always Be Victorious
Free from Fear
Remembering MLK to Find Modern-Day Leaders
Belonging
Empowering the Next Generation of Audacious Leaders
Meet Rev. Nontombi Naomi Tutu
Staying Positive through Apartheid
Courageous Compassion
Speech Topics
Striving for Justice: Searching for Common Ground
After the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple conflicts and wars happening, and the most controversial election in history, communities in the US and around the world are more polarized and divided than ever before. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, says the Rev. Naomi Tutu. The Human Rights Activist and daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu says it gives us the chance to create a brighter future, where everyone can thrive. In this keynote, Naomi shares the challenges she faced growing up Black and female in apartheid South Africa and the lessons we can learn from it. You’ll also learn how our differences are just opportunities and how the foundation for a just society is where we accept others and recognize the potential for greatness in each of us. Whether in the workplace, university or school or just your community, these are tools we can all use to help build a just world.
Naomi customizes her content for specific audiences, including:
- Business: Gain valuable insights on how to drive success by creating a culture of belonging and inclusion--leading to gains in revenue, innovation, productivity and a place where everyone is at their best.
- Educators: Foster an environment where students learn to build a just world by being academically prepared, as well as socially and emotionally conscious.
- Students: Learn how a path to justice begins by recognizing and accepting that our differences are not a reason to hate but an opportunity to learn.
- Healthcare: Discover how medical professionals can integrate lessons on striving for justice and seeking common ground into practice and policies.
- Non-profits: Inspiration, information and guidance for nonprofits striving to make a lasting and positive impact on the world.
Truth & Reconciliation: Healing Wounds
Whether in our personal lives or the larger society, we have wounds that block our ability to be the wonderful gifts that we are meant to be in the world. We, too, have inflicted wounds on others, and all these wounds can be healed. However, it takes courage and the willingness to speak and hear the truth. That first step to healing is so often the hardest. We are afraid to speak our truth for fear of judgment, rejection and anger. We are also afraid to hear truths that might question our images of ourselves. Yet the pain is only the first step. What comes after that is healing and wholeness. Using South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a starting place and model in this presentation, the Rev. Naomi Tutu, a Human Rights Activist and daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, talks about how we can heal as individuals and as a society.
Our Shared Humanity: Creating Understanding Through the Principles of MLK
In this empowering keynote speech, the Rev. Naomi Tutu, a Human Rights Activist and daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, combines Dr. King's dream of the "Beloved Community" with the teachings of a South African proverb, speaking to the need to understand how our actions–or inactions–affect all with whom we come in contact and ourselves. Rather than focus on what separates us, Naomi encourages us to focus on our shared humanity to build a just world. Both the "Beloved Community" and the proverb share an underlying theme: The importance of not dehumanizing those with whom we are in conflict, but rather concentrating on what we have the power to change.
Building Coalitions Across Differences
What happens when you accept oppression, division or hate? Everyone suffers, says the Rev. Naomi Tutu. In this empowering keynote, Naomi, a Human Rights Activist and daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, explains how we can create a brighter future for everyone with an intersectional approach in the fight for the rights of women, especially those of color, and others marginalized by listening to each other and our stories, cultivating strong coalitions and creating allyship across differences. When we hear each other and get to know those who are not like us, the healing begins.
One Body, One Family, One World
Growing up during apartheid in South Africa, the Rev. Naomi Tutu had firsthand experience of how the prayers and support of the worldwide church are a real means of encouragement for struggling and suffering people. Churches throughout the world offered support to the people of South Africa as they sought to change their country from one built on the separation of people based on race to one that celebrated the different gifts and cultures that their country has been blessed with. Churches sent letters of support to political prisoners and their families, sponsored communities in the Bantustans, and wrote letters to government and business leaders calling on them to live the Gospel imperative to “love your neighbor as yourself.”
This experience of being part of a worldwide community that sought the best for all God’s people became the basis of this talk, which speaks to the connections that exist between the many parts of the One Body. Naomi explores the requirements and benefits of living as people who are connected, one to one another, and the whole of creation through God’s grace to create a more harmonious world.
Testimonials
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