Gloria Tabi knows what it feels like to be unseen.
To be judged before being heard. To navigate systems that were never built for people like her. To carry the weight of exclusion while the world expects you to simply get on with it.
Many people know that feeling. Few do anything about it. Gloria built a movement.
Over two decades, she has worked at the intersection of research, advocacy, leadership, and lived experience. From supporting young people on the autism spectrum into meaningful employment, to advising organisations on workplace inclusion, her work has always come back to one question:
How do we create spaces where people can belong without having to change who they are?
That question became the foundation of Everyday Inclusion, her consultancy. But Gloria’s impact has never been contained by a job title.
She is an author, researcher, keynote speaker, TEDx presenter, and founder of Enable Women Africa, an initiative dedicated to ending hair-based discrimination and empowering Black women and girls to embrace their identity without apology.
What makes Gloria’s work remarkable is her willingness to go where others won’t.
In 2024, her TEDx Talk challenged audiences to confront the deep-rooted origins and consequences of hair discrimination against Black women and girls. It resonated globally not because it was well-researched though it was but because it was true. Personal. It wove lived experience with history, culture, and workplace reality in a way that couldn’t be ignored and then she went further.
Her books Inclusive Teams & Workplaces: Everyone Wins! and ENOUGH: How One Woman’s Truth Became A Roadmap For Change transformed difficult conversations into practical tools. Frameworks that leaders, organisations, and individuals can actually use to create lasting change.
Gloria is proving something the corporate world still struggles to accept:
Inclusion is not a moral obligation to be tolerated.
It is a business imperative to be embraced.
Organisations that get this see stronger engagement, sharper innovation, healthier cultures and unlock the potential that exclusion quietly leaves on the table.
But strategy only tells part of the story.
The real impact is found in the women and girls who finally see themselves represented. The professionals who find the courage to bring their whole selves to work. The young people who realise they don’t have to choose between success and authenticity. The communities discovering that belonging isn’t a privilege for the few it’s a possibility for everyone.
Gloria’s leadership was never built on titles. It was built on courage.
The courage to challenge systems designed to exclude. The courage to tell difficult truths in rooms that would rather not hear them. The courage to turn personal pain into a pathway for others.
That is why Gloria Tabi is our 2025 Novi International Leadership Excellence of the Year Winner.
Because real leadership isn’t about being the loudest voice in the room. It’s about creating space for the voices that have been missing from it and few people have done that more powerfully or more purposefully than Gloria.
✨ Know a woman who is quietly changing the game in her field? The 2026 Novi Awards nominations are closing soon. It is free to nominate and takes less than 5 minutes.
Nominations close 15th June. Don’t wait.
