Tania Karen de Jong is an Australian soprano,

social entrepreneur Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a wide range of ...

, businesswoman,

motivational speaker A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers ...

, and event producer. She is the Founder of Creative Innovation Global, Creative Universe, Creativity Australia, Dimension5, Music Theatre Australia, Pot-Pourri, and The Song Room, and co-founder of Mind Medicine Australia. De Jong was named as one of the "100 Most Influential People in Psychedelics" globally by Psychedelic Invest in 2021.

Early life

De Jong was born in

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It i ...

, the Netherlands, to her Dutch father and Austrian mother, both of whom escaped

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. Her parents met at the

1961 Maccabiah Games The 6th Maccabiah Games were held in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1961, with 1,100 athletes from 27 countries competing in 18 sports. The Games were officially opened in an Opening Ceremony on August 29, 1961, in Ramat Gan Stadium by Israeli President ...

in Israel. De Jong's mother Eva de Jong-Duldig was a Dutch national tennis champion, a

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: *Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

player for Australia, and a three-time quarter-finalist at the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pl ...

. She also won gold medals at the

1957 Maccabiah Games Twenty-one countries sent 980 athletes to compete in the 1957 5th Maccabiah Games, an international Jewish athletics competition similar to the Olympics. The opening ceremony on September 15, 1957, was held in Ramat Gan Stadium, with athletes parad ...

and the

in Israel. De Jong's maternal grandfather,

Karl Duldig Karl (Karol) Duldig (29 December 1902 – 11 August 1986) was a Jewish modernist sculptor.

, a Polish refugee living in Vienna who escaped

with his family, ultimately landing in Australia, was a Vienna-trained sculptor. Her maternal grandmother,

Slawa Duldig Slawa Duldig née Horowitz (28 November 1901– 16 August 1975) was an inventor, artist, interior designer, and teacher. In 1928, as Slawa Horowitz, she created a design for an improved compact folding umbrella, which she patented in 1929. Slawa w ...

, also trained as a sculptor in Vienna, and invented the world's first modern folding umbrella. Her maternal grandparents’ former home in Melbourne's now operates as a museum named the 'Duldig Studio'. De Jong and her parents moved from the Netherlands to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Australia, when de Jong was one year old.

Academic life

De Jong graduated from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb n ...

with a

Bachelor of Law Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

(Honours). She then graduated from the

Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...

with a Graduate Diploma in Opera and Music Theatre, and a

Postgraduate Diploma A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PG, PDE) is a postgraduate qualification awarded after a university degree, which supplements the original degree and awards them with a graduate diploma. Countries that award pos ...

in Music (Opera and Voice). She also attended college in the United States for a year, on a tennis scholarship.

Career

Soprano

Aged 14, de Jong was advised by a friend not to undertake singing lessons. She nevertheless auditioned for the chorus of her school's performance of ''Oklahoma'' at age 17, and was cast in the lead role. As a soprano, de Jong has performed as a soloist with a number of orchestras at the

Victoria State Opera The Victoria State Opera (VSO), based in Melbourne, Australia, was founded in Melbourne in 1962. The company, founded by Leonard Spira, was a move into grand opera by the then amateur Gilbert and Sullivan-oriented Victorian Light Opera Co. The na ...

, and across 40 countries, including at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century archit ...

Seoul Arts Centre The Seoul Arts Center, also referred to as SAC, is an arts complex in the Seocho-gu district of Seoul, in South Korea. It consists of five main buildings: the Opera House, with three auditoriums; the Music Hall, with two concert halls; the ...

, and Opera under the Stars. De Jong has collaborated with soprano

Antoinette Halloran Antoinette Halloran is an Australian operatic soprano. Education Antoinette Halloran grew up in the Melbourne suburbs of Rosanna and Deer Park.Craig Macdonald, composer and pianist

Joe Chindamo Joe Chindamo (born 1961) is an Australian composer and pianist. Career He recorded an album with violinist Zoë Black in 2012. It was followed by ''Dido's Lament'' and ''The New Goldberg Variations''. In 2014, Chindamo's string quartet Tempe ...

, and concert pianist

Rebecca Chambers is a character in ''Resident Evil'' (''Biohazard'' in Japan), a survival horror video game series created by Japanese company Capcom. She was first introduced as a supporting character in the original ''Resident Evil'' (1996) and became pla ...

. In May 2022, de Jong produced a musical named ''Driftwood'', based on her mother's memoir of her family. It premiered in Melbourne.

Business career

De Jong is the Founder of Creative Innovation Global, Creative Universe (transformational leadership programs to inspire people to find their voice, and to bring greater wellbeing, engagement, and innovation into organisations), Creativity Australia, Dimension5, Music Theatre Australia, Pot-Pourri, and The Song Room (which has provided access to creative learning for 250,000 disadvantaged Australian children), and co-founder of Mind Medicine Australia. De Jong is known to encourage creative innovation whilst highlighting the interests of marginalised and disadvantaged Australians through her various enterprises.

Event producer

As an event producer, de Jong has hosted nine events focused on "Creative Innovation" in Melbourne, Australia. She is known for advocating for policy change and unity across the business, education, industry, community, and creative sectors during times of anticipated social disruption and change known otherwise as

disruptive innovation In business theory, disruptive innovation is innovation that creates a new market and value network or enters at the bottom of an existing market and eventually displaces established market-leading firms, products, and alliances. The concept w ...

Discography

*1995: ''Rhythm of Life'' – Pot-Pourri *1997: ''Something Familiar!, Something Peculiar'' – Pot-Pourri *1999: ''This is the Moment'' – Pot-Pourri *2001: ''Friends for Life'' – Pot-Pourri *2003: ''Chanson d'Amour'' – Pot-Pourri *2004: ''Soundsations'' – Dorje and Diva (Tania de Jong & Chris Walker) *2006: ''Nella Fantasia'' – Pot-Pourri *2012: ''Silver'' – Pot-Pourri *2015: ''Heaven on Earth'' – Tania de Jong *2017: ''Flying Free'' – Tania de Jong *2019: ''The Breezes at Dawn Have Secrets to Tell'' – Tania de Jong *2020: ''Solitary Harmony'' – Tania de Jong and Anthony Barnhill

Achievements and awards

De Jong was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian ...

in 2008 for service to the arts as a performer and entrepreneur and through the establishment and development of music and arts enrichment programs for schools and communities. She was named in ''

The Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New S ...

'' 100 Women of Influence awards in the Arts, Culture and Sport category in 2018. She was also named in Richtopia's list of Top 100 Most Influential Australian Entrepreneurs.

Awards

* 1996:

Churchill Fellowship Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, ...

* 1998: "Outstanding Individual Contribution to Australian Culture" award * 2000: Inducted into the AGSE Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame at

Swinburne University Swinburne University of Technology (often simply called Swinburne) is a public research university based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1908 as the Eastern Suburbs Technical College by George Swinburne to serve those without access ...

* 2001:

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX ...

Business Women's Awards * 2005: Accessibility Award in The Melbourne Awards * 2006:

Ernst and Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewater ...

Australian Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award * 2007:

* 2009: Brainlink Woman of Achievement 2009. * 2012: Top Social Innovators * 2013: Top Social Innovators ''Creativity Australia'' * 2013–2016: Anthill Top Social Innovations 'Creativity Australia and the ''With One Voice'' program * 2016 Melbourne Award for contribution to the community – Creativity Australia * 2016'':'' Impact 25 Awards for the social sector's most influential people and positive impact * 2017: Ethical Enterprise Award 2017 * 2018: Finalist, '' Third Sector Awards'' Social Entrepreneur of the Year * 2018: Number 33 of the Top Most Influential Australian Entrepreneurs * 2019: Named in the 100 Most Influential Women in Australia * 2019: Award For Meritorious Service to the Community by The Hon Linda Dessau AC at the Victorian Multicultural Awards For Excellence *2021: "100 Most Influential People in Psychedelics" globally by Psychedelic Invest in 2021.

References

External links

Tania De Jong
– Official home page
Driftwood Musical home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Jong, Tania Living people 21st-century Australian businesspeople Australian people of Austrian-Jewish descent Australian people of Dutch-Jewish descent Australian people of Polish-Jewish descent Australian sopranos Dutch emigrants to Australia Dutch people of Austrian descent Dutch people of Polish-Jewish descent Melbourne Law School alumni People from Arnhem Victorian College of the Arts alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Singers from Melbourne Businesspeople from Melbourne