The Diversity Trust is excited to announce a new partnership with Asian Leadership Collective.

Asian Leadership Collective supports East and Southeast Asian people in challenging the harmful perceptions of this community in the workplaces in the UK.

The Diversity Trust provides consultancy, training and research to various companies, organisations and groups locally, nationally and internationally. Both organisations share similar values and goals, so partnerships like these are crucial to better representation and longer-term integration.

Berkeley Wilde, Founder and Executive Director / CEO of the Diversity Trust, has worked as an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion consultant, researcher, speaker and trainer for three decades. Berkeley said of the new partnership:

“We are delighted to be working in partnership with Asian Leadership Collective. Partnership and collaborative working is at the core and essence of everything the Diversity Trust does.

We know from our work in hate crime and discrimination that communities are significantly impacted and that the ripple effects of hate and discrimination can have lifelong and far-reaching consequences on individuals, but also more widely on families and communities.

For us raising and amplifying our key messages of equality, diversity, equity and inclusion across communities, as well as across workplaces, is vital. As we celebrate our 10-year anniversary this year we are really proud of the partners we work with. I welcome Asian Leadership Collective and I look forward to what the partnership brings.”

According to data compiled by End Violence and Racism Against East and Southeast Asian Communities (EVR), East and South East Asian hate crime has been rising since 2018 in the UK, whilst US estimates suggest a 300% rise during the Covid pandemic.

According to data from 30 out of 46 police forces in the UK, EVR (2022) found that reported hate crimes have risen by nearly 50% from 2018 (n=1492) to 2020 (n=2212).

The other one-third of police forces either did not disclose relevant data or did not hold clear data about hate crimes against East and Southeast Asian people. Also, some police forces still label East and Southeast Asian people with the “Oriental” classifier for hate crime records in their reporting systems.

Anti-Asian hate crime isn’t the only problem, according to Diversity Trust Consultant Colse Leung, who was born to parents who came to the UK from Hong Kong:

“Prejudice is always a mix of reactions overt and above the surface, as well as things covert and below. There’s a lack of cultural awareness.

I was told once by a random stranger to return to Korea. The thing is, I’m British-Chinese, and I was born in Wales!

Individual Asian communities are often homogenised, there are issues around the ‘Model Minority Myth’ and of course the lack of general diversity in higher-level decision-making leadership.”

It’s this lack of leadership representation that both organisations seek to influence and change and why the partnership is vital in the UK.

Anna Chan, Founder and Director of Asian Leadership Collective, said of the issue:

“There are a number of challenges and barriers as to why there is a lack of East and Southeast Asian representation at leadership levels in the UK, particularly executive and C- suite levels.

One major issue is the data collection and identifiers used to currently view diversity and inclusion measures in the workplace. The moniker of ‘Asian’ is used to represent not only those who are East and Southeast Asian (ESEA), but also those of South Asian heritage.

Reducing these rich communities to a single monolith in turn contributes to the view that this is a “well represented” group. This view often restricts access to essential resources important for personal and professional development for these groups.

There is a need to dive deeper into the intersectionality of our workforces, including ESEA people as part of this, creating a culture of awareness of specific challenges and of lived experiences, to then drive the actions and investments made from a business level.

This is especially important as the make-up of the ESEA community includes the intersects of British-born generations of families, those of mixed heritage, as well as those immigrating from ESEA countries. Workplaces are missing out on the talent and skills which contribute to business success in omitting ESEA people from their DEI approaches.

Asian Leadership Collective are excited to partner with the Diversity Trust, working with Berkeley and the team in influencing social change, honing in on the intersectional lens of the ESEA experience and supporting organisations in actioning change to achieve a fairer society. The Diversity Trust are a well-known and respected organisation with a strong client & partner base.

We’d invite organisations to strongly consider getting involved with the amazing training and services on offer; we look forward to working with you all.”

Asian Leadership Collective are hosting the annual #ESEAEats celebrations in November, an 11k+ strong community showcasing East and Southeast Asian storytelling through food. Media coverage of the grassroots movement originating on Instagram, include Eater London, Huffington Post and Gal-Dem. Find out more here.

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Asian Leadership Collective, Founder and Director

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