Young Executive Challenges Workplace Racism and Bias
Legal professional Angelina Lau shares her journey overcoming systemic discrimination in Australian corporate environments.
1Professional Identity Struggles
Legal executive Angelina Lau, born in Australia to Vietnamese and Malaysian parents, has faced persistent racism throughout her career. She frequently felt pressured to emphasize her Australian accent to prove her local identity. Colleagues often made inappropriate cultural assumptions, such as bowing or speaking Chinese, despite her not being of Chinese descent.
2Intersecting Workplace Barriers
As Lau climbed the corporate ladder, she encountered a toxic combination of misogyny and racial prejudice. These dual challenges hindered her ability to gain the same level of professional respect afforded to her peers. She eventually realized that asserting her worth was necessary to ensure her voice was heard in senior meetings.
3Current Leadership Role
Now serving as the head of growth for the legal tech firm Sprintlaw, Lau holds both law and engineering degrees. Her professional achievements were recently recognized at the 2026 Asian-Australian Leadership Awards, where she was named a Rising Star. She currently leverages this platform to mentor others navigating similar professional obstacles.
4Empowering Future Generations
Lau chairs the Dual Identity Leadership Program, an initiative dedicated to empowering second-generation Vietnamese Australians aged 18 to 35. She believes the community's resilience, forged through historical hardships and the rise of anti-Asian sentiment during the pandemic, serves as a foundation for building stronger, more inclusive professional networks for future leaders.
5Broader Societal Context
A Scanlan Institute study of 10,000 adults indicates that Australia’s multicultural society is becoming increasingly divided in 2026. The research highlights that immigrants from Asia and Africa face significantly more negative attitudes compared to those from European or North American backgrounds, reflecting deep-seated biases that persist within the broader national landscape.
6Systemic Workplace Inequality
Diversity Council Australia CEO Catherine Fitzpatrick notes that racism remains a critical issue in Australian workplaces. Culturally and racially marginalized women often face compounded barriers where racism and sexism intersect. This combination limits career opportunities and creates exclusionary environments, necessitating a shift in how organizations approach talent management and employee support systems.
7The RISE Project Framework
The Diversity Council Australia is currently implementing a four-year initiative known as the RISE Project to dismantle these systemic barriers. Preliminary findings suggest that progress is most effective when workplaces prioritize racial literacy and actively center the voices of marginalized women in high-level decision-making processes to ensure genuine organizational change.
8Actionable Corporate Strategy
To combat exclusion, organizations must move beyond addressing individual incidents and focus on structural leadership practices. Fitzpatrick emphasizes that companies should strengthen data collection, improve access to influential networks, and listen to employee experiences without defensiveness. True progress requires a commitment to understanding how racism manifests within daily corporate talent processes.
Original article: PerthNow — Young Executive Challenges Workplace Racism and Bias