Nina Blackwell

Bachelor of Laws, 2003

Nina Blackwell is Executive Director of the Firelight Foundation, a charity organisation that supports the health, resilience, and education of children and families in Africa affected by poverty, HIV, and AIDS.

Prior to this, Blackwell was the Senior Strategic Advisor and Head of External Affairs for Humanity United, a US-based human rights foundation, where she played a key role in shaping the future of Humanity United, "dedicated to building world peace, ending genocide and modern-day slavery, and advancing the causes of human freedom".

Blackwell's previous positions included a Senior Director of Yahoo! Inc. and Press Secretary and Special Advisor to Senator Hillary Clinton. During the three years she worked for Yahoo! Inc, Blackwell was responsible for the website giant's global public affairs and for communications strategies across all the company's business units in the US, Canada and Latin America.

In 1996, Blackwell served as national campaign manager for the Australian Republican Movement.

She looks back at her time at UTS as "an extraordinary life experience", relishing "the merger of experience and ideas" that came from studying with other committed professionals from a diverse range of careers.

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.