Co-founder: Wesa Chau

Wesa Chau is CEO of Cultural Intelligence and a social innovator.

As founder of Australian Federation of International Students (AFIS) in 2002, her advocacy resulted in the establishment of the International Students Care Service (superseded by Study Melbourne), and facilitated key partnerships with many organisations including the Essendon Football Club, Committee for Melbourne and local councils. After working with international students, she dedicated herself to cultural diversity and was employed at Action on Disability within Ethnic Communities (ADEC) where her management skills were quickly recognised and was promoted to a senior management role at the age of 26 reporting to the CEO and managed key services to support people with disability from culturally diverse communities.

She has served on a number of boards over 15 years, including Holmesglen Tafe Foundation and formally Carers Victoria, Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria, and InTouch – Multicultural Center Against Family Violence. Apart from boards, she also served on the Multicultural Business Ministerial Council, Ministerial Council for Women’s Equality and Ministerial Overseas Students Experience Taskforce. She is a current advisory board member of the National Foundation of Australia-China Relations and Melbourne Social Equity Institute.

Her community and professional contributions have been recognised through a number of prestigious awards including the Victoria International Education Award (internationalisation) 2016, Australian Leadership Award 2013, inductee to the Victorian Women Honour Roll 2012, Rising Star Award for Young Alumni (University of Melbourne) 2012, Young Victorian of the Year in 2010, Multicultural Service Delivery Award 2006, Melbourne Award (Youth) 2005.

Co-founder and Head of Psychology: Christine Yeung

Christine Yeung, CEO and Principal Psychologist of Beyond Story. She is an experienced psychologist who spent more than a decade specialising in workplace psychology. Previously as a Head of Psychology at one of the leading psychometric testing companies, she has a decade of experiences in psychology consulting with various organisations including ASX Top 100 professional services firms and government departments. She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in psychometric testing to designing and implementing scientific and evidence-based people solutions, that aim to develop happier, fairer and high performing Australian workplaces.

She has studied and consulted across Europe, Asia and Australia, working with businesses, government departments, NGOs and the United Nations at the intersection of governance and culture. Her career experience ranges from coaching and mentoring migrants, international students through to empowering leaders and organisations to harness the power of diversity and inclusion to strengthen leadership in Australia.

Since 2016, Christine has founded and led a purpose-driven business Beyond Story, which has a mission to enable, inspire and empower every human to become the best version of themselves by optimising their mental, emotional and behavioural capacities for higher functioning and satisfaction at work and in life. Beyond Story is an organisation weaving data-driven and creative approaches to expand our human capacity to thrive in complexity and restore wisdom in our collective reality.

Head Ambassador: Gary Lee

Gary is passionate on making diversity the norm.

Since arriving in Australia as an international student from Malaysia, Gary has demonstrated a strong interest and commitment in issues affecting culturally and linguistically diverse communities, especially international students. He completed a Bachelor of Business and a Graduate Diploma in Business System before being offered a full scholarship to pursue a Master of Arts in Community Development at RMIT University.

In 2008, Gary joined the City of Melbourne and quickly earned a reputation as an affable and versatile collaborator. His leadership role resulted in City of Melbourne’s international student program being awarded the Victorian Multicultural Award for Service Delivery to Multicultural Community in 2010. Gary’s unique blend of creativity, knowledge and ‘out-of-the-box’ approach has seen him work with extraordinary people, causes and organisations.

He is a passionate ambassador for Bully Zero Australia Foundation, the AFL Multicultural Community Program, Melbourne Victory, Welcoming Australia, a member of the Victorian Multicultural Commission Regional Advisory Council and is involved in the steering committee for the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne and the African Music and Cultural Festival. His thinking on multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion have been influential in shaping many programs, projects and discussions across the country, with the strong view that Australia should value, above all else, the principles of fairness, diversity and inclusion in all aspects of life. In 2018, Gary was part of the North Melbourne Football Club’s not-for-profit The Huddle ‘Be Brave, Speak Up’ campaign in a bid to stamp out racism in sport and the wider community.

Gary was recognised by the Australia Day Council as the ‘New Australian of the Year’ in January 2016 for his contributions in empowering and advocating for communities, especially those who are unable to have their voices heard. In 2018, he was the recipient of the prestigious IEAA ‘Distinguished Contribution to International Education’ award.

Ambassadors

Chevron So

Being an International Student of Holmesglen Institute undertaking Building Design & Construction since 2019, I am fortunate to be a part of a multicultural and diverse community of Melbourne.
This breakthrough opportunity has brought an immense enlightening experience in viewing things at a different perspective.
As a movie enthusiast, avid sports supporter and well knowledgeable in Asian history and culture. In my spare time aside from playing basketball and video games, I draw my inspiration from architecture and heritage buildings around CBD and regional towns when the opportunity arises.
I look forward to be enriching my experience living in Melbourne and aspire to be given the opportunity to be able to contribute to the society in the near future.

Wendy Huang

Wendy is an international student from China. She graduated with a Master of Social Work degree from Monash University in 2019. She is passionate about helping people live better lives and fulfill their potential. She has a specific interest in mental health and she’s been an advocate for better mental health support for international students. Through her professional and voluntary work, she wants to help the international students’ community become more informed, connected and empowered.