Austen Peter Brandt is married and has three children. He lives in Duisburg-Walsum working as a Protestant minister. He was born on December 01, 1952 in London, but grew up in Essen where he moved as a two-year-old. Contacts to the Nigerian branch of his family grew closer later on.

His triple citizenship (German, English, Nigerian) and many trips abroad in Europe, Africa and Asia let him experience different cultures as well as various forms of intercultural togetherness and strategies against racism

.In 1979 he started taking part in race awareness workshops in a regular basis. He was coached to be a trainer for Racism Awareness Training and Black Consciousness Training programs by the black British woman Sybil Phoenix. In 1986 the Churches Committee for migrants in Europe asked him and other black Germans to organize such training programs in the Federal Republic of Germany.