Talyn Rahman-Figueroa; (born 8 May 1985) is a British diplomatic consultant and chief executive officer and founder of

Grassroot Diplomat Grassroot Diplomat is a global non-profit, non-political, diplomatic consultancy established in 2013. The consultancy specialises in digital diplomacy and public diplomacy working with foreign governments and citizen diplomats to help build positi ...

. Talyn Rahman-Figueroa, United Kingdom Rahman-Figueroa was born and brought up in London, England.

Education

Rahman-Figueroa received her BA in Japanese and management from

SOAS SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

, which included further language training at the

Kyoto University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = National university, Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 1000000000 (number), billion USD) , faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff) , administrative_staff ...

of Foreign Studies in Kyoto, Japan. She completed an MA in diplomatic studies from the University of Westminster as part of the Diplomatic Academy of London with additional training at the United Nations and the European Union. She later gained a Diploma in Middle Eastern and North African Politics from Université Al-Akhawayn in Morocco and a Human Rights Fellowship at McGill University in Canada. After her studies, Rahman-Figueroa completed supplementary diplomatic training at the House of Commons, the European Union Commission, and the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Early career

Rahman-Figueroa spent two years completing her diplomatic training at various governmental institutions. Rahman-Figueroa joined the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) to engage in issues of gender and women's rights operated by the United Nations. She was nominated on to the executive board where she influenced national campaigns and introduced initiatives to attract younger members. She also served on the executive team of Action for UN Renewal, an organisation that educates the public about the work of the UN, focusing on communications and media campaigns. She spent much of her time engaging in issues including: women's rights, corporate social responsibility, nuclear disarmament, climate change, and UN reform. Rahman-Figueroa's work in relation to such issues have been published in foreign policy magazines, including ''American Diplomacy'', ''Diplomatic Insight'', ''Political Insight'' and many others. Her work in these organisations plus many more led her to a career in diplomacy. Rahman-Figueroa has participated in several international summits such as the Millennium Development Goals Conference, United Nations Climate Change conference and

Global Humanitarian Forum The Global Humanitarian Forum was a non-profit foundation in Geneva, Switzerland, active from 2007 to 2010. Presided over by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, its secretariat was established by Meinrad Studer, assigned by the SDC ...

and used this opportunity to network with government officials who were already serving their country on the world stage. During this time, she completed her first book Women in Diplomacy that assessed the role of British women in the diplomatic service. She is on the board of several institutions and consults independently for various foreign governments.

Grassroot Diplomat

Rahman-Figueroa has been described as a 'change-maker' by the diplomatic corps, putting the interest of the people first, before and beyond political and national interest. In 2011, Rahman-Figueroa established

, a not-for-profit diplomatic consultancy that makes diplomacy inclusive for everyone. Grassroot Diplomat engages with both official diplomats and citizen diplomats to help build positive impressions of their country that serve at the level of all people, no matter what their nationality. Ultimately, the consultancy works on projects related to

digital diplomacy Digital diplomacy, also referred to as Digiplomacy and eDiplomacy (see below), has been defined as the use of the Internet and new information communication technologies to help achieve diplomatic objectives. However, other definitions have also ...

and

public diplomacy In international relations, public diplomacy or people's diplomacy, broadly speaking, is any of the various government-sponsored efforts aimed at communicating directly with foreign publics to establish a dialogue designed to inform and influen ...

to ensure that diplomats and embassies remain relevant in a modern world. Over the years, Rahman-Figueroa has specialised in strategic communications, personal branding, and grassroots diplomacy having worked with

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter, and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Rock music in Ireland, Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved ...

, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus and former U.S. governor

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

. In 2013, Rahman-Figueroa hosted the inaugural Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Award, an award that recognises politicians and diplomats representing civilian interests at the highest level. In 2018, Rahman-Figueroa published the

Diplomatic Planner Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents: especially, historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, p ...

- a 12-month career development toolkit for international relations practitioners. She has developed a range of products and services to provide global diplomats on building brands for their cause, mission and country. She provides coaching to diplomats around the world in modernising their public communications, creating personal branding, and engaging in more effective community campaigns that breaks negative stereotypes and national misconceptions.

Awards

In April 2012, Rahman-Figueroa won the

Channel S Channel S is a UK-based, free-to-air television channel targeting the British Bangladeshi community. The channel was established on 16 December 2004 by Mahee Ferdous Jalil, a Bangladeshi businessman in London. On Sky it at first had a timesha ...

Award for Graduate Excellence.

References

External links