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Ashanti Omkar is a broadcaster, full BAFTA member, three times BAFTA film juror, Critics’ Choice member, long-time BRITs awards voter, and a film, TV, streaming, and culture critic with over a decade of experience working with the UK’s top media outlets.
She was the first-ever global majority woman invited into the UK Film and Music sections of the Critics’ Circle, a Hollywood Critics’ Choice voter, and she sits on the Superhero and Action Cinema committees.
Ashanti is now a highly sought-after keynote speaker, with the ability to inspire live and virtual audiences with her stories, as well as her 75,000+ strong social media following.
Contact Great British Speakers today to book Ashanti Omkar for your next corporate event. Call +44 1753 439289
Before entering the world of film and media, Ashanti Omkar was a management consultant for a range of corporate companies, including Oracle, the Hilton Group, and PepsiCo. She also holds consultancy experience with the London Indian Film Festival, Spice PR, The O2, Wembley Arena, Harrods, Westfield, Fortnum and Mason, and a range of sold out music events.
Ashanti is a popular TV broadcaster and contributor primarily working for the BBC, where she has spent the last 17 years, a stint which included seven years as the host of an eponymous radio show. Whilst working for the BBC, she has appeared on BBC News Channel, BBC World TV, BBC Radio London, BBC Sounds, Radio 2, Radio 3, and Radio 4. She has interviewed everyone from singer will.i.am, actors Idris Elba, Dev Patel, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and directors Jacques Audiard and Gurinder Chadra.
She can also be heard on Times Radio, and Monocle Radio, and has worked in a freelance capacity for Channel 4, ITV News, Channel 4, and Sky News. She has written about cinema and media, as well as representation and inclusion for Digital Spy, ANOKHI LIFE, Cineworld Cinemas, The Metro, The Guardian, The Independent, The Big Issue, and Total Film Magazine.
She has closely worked with LIFF Festival as a strategist, working alongside venues including Picturehouse, Cineworld Cinemas, The Barbican, V&A, Tate Modern, and the Science Museum.
Alongside her broadcasting and consultancy work, Ashanti is a visiting lecturer for various schools and universities. She teaches at London Film Academy. at New York University and Florida State University’s London campuses on Interview Techniques and Media Production; and lectures on Careers, Shifting Careers, and Transferable Skills at the Royal Holloway University of London, City University, Greenwich University, Kings College London, and the London School of Economics.

Ashanti’s expertise in the field of film, television, and media has seen her sit on a number of jury boards, voting for the likes of the British Association for Screen Entertainment, SERIES MANIA, Raindance Film Festival, the BRIT Awards, and BAFTA – where she sits as a full member voter for film, television, and games.
Ashanti as a wealth of experience in corporate settings, from facilitating talks with director Ramin Bahrani and collaborator Paul Laverty for Netflix and BAFTA, to hosting Q&As for BAFTA and BFI.
She has featured on several film panels for the British Film Institute (BFI), and given talks to educational institutions such as Royal Holloway University of London, King’s College, City University, and the University of Greenwich.
Ashanti has hosted on-stage and online interviews for Disney, Marvel, National Geographic, Universal Pictures, Prime Video, Netflix, Channel 4, ITV, BAFTA Guru Live, Dogwoof, Raindance Film Festival, Vertigo, Women in Film and TV, and several AMAPAS Oscars Showcases.
