Wesa Chau

Wesa Chau is an experienced manager, board director, speaker, trainer and specialist consultant on cultural diversity.

Wesa is CEO of Cultural Intelligence, a consulting company specialised in raising the understanding of the power of cultural diversity through research, training and consulting. This includes tailored training programs for a range of audiences to understand cultural diversity and its impact on their work. She is an Australian Day Ambassador, speaking to audiences from all walks of life on Australia Day around Victoria since 2011.

Her career started working with international students and has held senior management positions in the community sector, including the appointment on the Multicultural Business Ministerial Council and the Ministerial Council for Womens’ Equality. In research, she explores topics ranging from Asian diaspora in philanthropy, leadership, cultural diplomacy and business, cultural diversity and politics. She worked on a number of ground-breaking research, Asian-Australian Leadership in Australia and Asian-Australian Diaspora in Philanthropy.

Wesa was a fellow of the inaugural Scanlon-Swinburne Intercultural Fellowship, travelling to India and Malaysia working with academics and government officials to better understand diversity and in India and Malaysia and understand what Australia can learn from it. In 2017, Wesa was invited to be a delegate on the Australia-China High Level Dialogue alongside senior political leaders such as Hon Julie Bishop, the former Foreign Minister and Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Australian senior business leaders and diplomats. In addition to that she was a delegate of the Australia-China Youth Dialogue and Australia-India Youth Dialogue in earlier years. She was also a Federal candidate for the electorate of Higgins representing the Australian Labor Party in 2013.

Wesa has received several awards for her contribution in the Multicultural and international students areas. In 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Victorian International Education Internationalisation Award in recognition of her work with international students for more than a decade. In 2013 she was the Australian Leadership Awardee from ADC Forum, named Young Victorian of the Year in 2010 and was an inductee to the Victorian Honour Roll for Women in 2012.

Her tertiary education encompasses Engineering, Marketing, Law, Management and Governance. She is a current PhD candidate researching on the topic of political skills.

She is also a sound meditation practitioner who can provide insights on mindfulness and meditation to leadership.

Sample keynote topics:
* How to influence with authenticity
* Finding authentic power for culturally diverse leaders
* How to apply a culturally diverse lens to leadership, philanthropy and/or international relations
* How to use sound meditation to find clarity and creativity as a leader
* Breaking ceilings in the workplace

Areas of expertise: Leadership, diversity and inclusion (especially cultural diversity), social innovation and creativity, governance, international relations, philanthropy, international education, politics.