'Not Aussie enough': how young exec fought work racism

Detailed summary

A young female executive has shared her experiences with workplace racism and being undermined while working in senior roles.

Legal executive Angelina Lau has experienced racism throughout her career, which led to her playing up her Australian accent to fit in.

"I recall somebody bowing down to me and saying 'xiexie' - 'thank you' in Chinese. I'm not even Chinese," she told AAP.

"I felt like I needed to assimilate better or I needed to speak with a stronger Australian accent so people knew that I was from here and I wasn't foreign."

Despite being born in Australia, to a Vietnamese mother and Malaysian father, Ms Lau said throughout her career she had felt as if she "wasn't Australian enough".

As she rose through the ranks, Ms Lau faced both misogyny and racism as she struggled to get the same respect as others in senior positions.

She said she had to learn to stand up for herself to be heard and recognised.

"Just because I'm not white Australian doesn't make me any less worthy," she said.

Now head of growth for legal tech company Sprintlaw after completing law and engineering degrees, Ms Lau has turned her experiences into helping others.

She was named Rising Star at the 2026 Asian-Australian Leadership Awards on Thursday evening.

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