Sydney Women of Colour Rising Lunch

This is a networking event for women who identify themselves as ethnically diverse and would like to meet and learn from other women of colour, and talk about their leadership challenges and experiences.

As an ethnically diverse woman who has grown up and lived in NZ Aotearoa for the last 20 years, I have come across multiple challenges. Some of these were internal, feeling like my cultural background is not valued and that I need to assimilate to be successful in the corporate world. Other challenges were more external, like answering the question “Where are you really from?” and not seeing myself reflected in media or in leadership positions. In the past, I had often found myself trying twice as hard as everybody else in order to get recognised.

Nowadays I acknowledge that my differences are my strengths, e.g. how I am able to see different perspectives, code switch and empathise with others; and a lot of my challenges are due to the systems not being designed for us. So I would like to bring women of colour together to share stories and learn from each other.

Join us for a networking lunch! The current location is at this relaxed yummy lunch place - Kabul Social, but this may change if they are not able to accommodate this.

Is this event for you?

• Yes, if you identify yourself as an ethnically diverse woman or a woman of colour
• Yes, if you can relate to the internal and external challenges I have outlined above

About the host

Kia ora, Hello and Ni hao, my name is Suki Xiao. I am an ICF credentialed coach (Professional Certified Coach) with 10+ years of coaching experience and the founder of As you (https://asyou.org). I am on a mission to empower women of colour to rise and thrive in the workplace. We are now in our 18th cohort for Accentuated (https://asyou.org/accentuated-women-leaders), which is a leadership programme specifically designed for women of colour to step into their authentic leadership and power.

I have worked across the public, private and social sectors in New Zealand Aotearoa, where I am a recognised coach, mentor and leader. I have also held a number of governance roles and currently is the chair of the Not for Profit Women of Colour Aotearoa. Prior to starting As You, I was an Agile Coach at Xero, Meridian Energy and Datacom (through Nomad8), where I had direct experience coaching, enabling and supporting teams and leaders to adopt Agile practices, gain team alignment and reach high performance. I served on the leadership team of a 200-people department within Xero and have worked with a range of people, from CEOs to early career professionals.
I am in Sydney for the week and would love to connect with more women of colour. Look forward to connecting and you can find me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sukixiao/