Shweta Aggarwal

Shweta Aggarwal is an anti-colourism activist with a colourful life. A computer science engineer by way of background, her passion is dance and writing. After moving to London in 2000, she ran a Bollywood dance company, Threebee (Bold, Beautiful and very Bollywood), alongside working at UBS in their IT department. As the creative director of the company for 10 years, some proud moments include her troupe featuring as a semi-finalist in Britain’s Got Talent 2010 and being invited by the London Olympics team to audition for the closing ceremony in 2012.

A new passion emerged when she wrapped up the dance company to prioritise family life. The lack of representation in children’s books inspired Shweta to launch the Dev and Ollie series of picture books based on festivals in India. The books are popular in schools and libraries all over the world. Shweta was awarded the Asian Women of Achievement Award for Arts & Culture in 2016 and invited by the late Her Majesty the Queen to Buckingham Palace for the UK-India Year of Culture in 2017.

Her awakening during the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 led her to pen her raw and honest memoir, The Black Rose. Released in December 2022, the book has resonated globally, earning recognition in publications such as Psychology Today (US), She The People TV (India), and Brown Girl Magazine (UK). It also resulted in nine speaking engagements in 2023, all of which organically stemmed from readers recommending her to their respective schools and organisations.

She has had the privilege of addressing diverse audiences, ranging from large corporate firms to community organisations and schools. Engagements at events like Capital Group's International Women’s Day, South Asian Heritage Month at Linklaters, and Man Group’s Festival of Lights, to name a few, reflect the breadth of her impact. Her voice has also reached various BBC radio channels, solidifying her position as a prominent anti-colourism activist in the UK. Shweta's social media handle is @unlearnwithshweta and is most active on Instagram.