Wesa Chau

BCom (2004), BE Hons (2004)

Wesa Chau's lifelong commitment to enhancing multicultural diversity in Australia is reshaping corporate and political landscapes, proving that understanding diverse communities is crucial for success.

Wesa Chau has spent her life committed to improving multicultural diversity in Australia.

With a strong business and marketing mind, she is helping boards, corporations and political parties understand that a diverse community and workforce is beneficial not just for cohesion, but also for helping their product reach as many people as possible.

Finding a group of fellow students with that she shared a cultural connection with set Wesa Chau on a path to advocate for Australians from every racial background.

After high school, Chau chose Commerce and Engineering at the University of Melbourne, wanting to keep her options open.

Wesa Chau

She was unclear about what her career might be, but was endeared by the strong presence of the University’s Chinese cultural societies.

Chau had moved to Melbourne from Hong Kong as a seven-year-old.

While her family weren’t overly involved in the migrant community, she’d been inspired after hearing people speaking Cantonese on ethnic community radio station 3ZZZ.

Building a community

Over her time as a student, Chau developed a strong community of like-minded classmates, most of whom had travelled from around the world to study in Australia.

Chau realised that while she fitted in with her friends who were international students on a cultural level, she was privileged to have strong English skills and a family nearby.

“Helping them became second nature. If they were looking for something… it became easier for me to just guide them through that process,” she said.

By this stage, the Chinese culture society started to evolve. While it had been limited in its membership and scope, Chau and the group started to feel an urge to branch out.

“The more we kind of worked in that space, we realised there's a lot more to their needs, there are people who needed support.”

Giving everyone a voice

At this time (in the 2000s), many international students were facing similar challenges to today – difficulty with their housing, visas or their mental health.

Her eyes were opened to people who weren’t just of Chinese heritage or born in Australia.

“It was actually really good for me," she said.

"I began to connect with people from other ethnic communities."

Chau and her friends started the Australian Federation for International Students (AFIS), with the aim to change how society saw international students.

Chau continued at the helm of the group until after her graduation, in 2010, when she was recognised as Young Victorian of the Year.

Wesa Chau

Broadening her impact

Since then, she’s worked in several roles across the private sector and not-for-profits. Until recently, she ran her own business, Cultural Intelligence, which advised businesses on diversity.

Chau says that while she’s seen progress in Australia’s conception of the importance of cultural understanding in the workplace, it’s still early days.

“You hear people talk a lot more, ... recognising that there needs to be diversity and representation,” she said.

“But I don't really believe people understand why.”

The benefits of employing people from a range of backgrounds goes further than just the ‘feel-good’, Chau says, and can help a company’s bottom line.

“Sometimes I say to businesses, if you want to restrict your clientele to just Anglo-Australians, fine. But, you're basically going to miss out on half the population,” she said.

“So in order to maintain the clientele and the market, you need to understand cultural diversity.”

Beyond the corporate world

Chau has also stood up for what she believes in outside of the boardroom as well.

An alum of the University of Melbourne’s Pathways to Politics for Women project, she stood for election in the seat of Prahran in 2022 as a member of the Labor party.

While she was unsuccessful, the motivation is still within her.

Since then, she’s become the Managing Director of the Multicultural Leadership Initiative, which looks to encourage climate change advocacy within culturally diverse communities.

Like businesses, political campaigns often lack an understanding of how to communicate with a range of people, Chau says.

For Chau, helping society accept those from other backgrounds comes down to messaging, marketing and communications.

“I see businesses, especially large businesses, as a community. So they do have a responsibility to reflect the people that they’re serving,” she said.

“There is still lots more that needs to be done.”

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