In this episode, Sadhana and I sit down with someone who has been in this fight long before diversity and inclusion became a corporate buzzword — and who is very much still in it.

Malini Raj grew up as one of the only culturally diverse kids in her school, she longed for swapping her curry for a veggie-mite sandwhich and she watched her father change his name just to get a job in Australia. Malini went onto spend two decades in financial services — often the only woman of colour in the room. But instead of leaving, she started noticing. Noticing who wasn’t at the table. Noticing which voices weren’t being heard. And then doing something about it.

Today, Malini is the Executive Director of the Australian Multicultural Women’s Alliance — a national initiative making sure multicultural women are not just part of the conversation, but central to the decisions that shape Australia’s future.

In this episode, we get into the $9 billion productivity problem hiding in our skills recognition system, why opening your network is not enough, and what it really takes to keep pushing for change over decades — including the story of a corporate hijab that started with one colleague and ended up shifting multiple workforces.

She’s also our Business in Colour Award exemplar winner — and honestly, after this conversation, you’ll understand exactly why.