Meet the Team

Committee Members

Jane Juan Wei

President

The founder and creative designer of a global leading fashion company, Privilege Group, the company has been successfully operating 30 years. It has developed 4 country divisions over the world. The products are very well-received internationally.

Even during Covid pandemic period, her business has not been stopped to grow. But going through 2020, it had helped Jane to find the 2nd lifelong passion, instead focus on growing her business, she felt it is the time for her to give back more to the society we are live in.

Since July 2020, she has served as the executive president. July 2021 elected as president of the Australian Asian Business Professional Women's Association. Jane wishes that her 30 years creativity and business experiences will benefit more people and make our surrounding a better place.

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Kim Wen

Committee Member

Social Entrepreneur and Community Volunteer.

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Sandy Zhang

Vice-President

In 2000, my family and I migrated to Australia and settled in Melbourne. I founded my own clothing company in 2014, specializing in sleepwear and children’s clothing wholesaling.

Before migrating to Australia, I worked & lived in Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore, for many years.

I joined AABWA in 2017, and have been a member of the committee since 2018. In the 2021 AGM, I was elected to be Vice President of the Association.

As a female professional who has lived and worked in many different countries and cities, I especially enjoy and appreciate living in Australia, not only for the natural and living environment, but also the business environment here. My goal is to help immigrant business women better understand, connect with, and integrate into Australian society.

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Christine Wang

Vice-President

Christine has over 29 years of experience working with senior executives and business leaders in China and the Asia Pacific region.

Her experience includes management and leadership, cross-culture communication, business strategies, change management, emotional intelligence, and mindful leadership.

She graduated with an MBA from Australian National University in 1995. She has worked with Monash Mt Eliza Business School, delivering leadership programs to companies like BMW, Huawei, and Siemens. She has been an international speaker at ASTD conferences (2001-2002) and a Master Trainer for Genos Emotional Intelligence Program in China since 2009.

She teaches Management and Leadership for the International MBA program at Zhongshan University and currently consult on leadership development programs in Melbourne.

Shirley Thong

Treasure

Shirley Thong is a registered BAS Agent with the Tax Practitioner Board and is a member of The Institute for Public Accountants. She is currently working full time as an Accountant with a Global Property Developer.

Shirley has also established and runs her own business providing bookkeeping and business consulting services for over 25 years. She has over 35 years of professional and accounting experience in banking, finance, property investments and development, retails, real estate and not for profits.

Shirley is a great communicator and her aim is to bring her connections to assist SME businesses to access wider community organisations. She is also currently running a mentoring program by providing training to undergraduates completing their tertiary education, preparing them for the workforce when graduated.

Shirley has had a long involvement in community services and was the Treasurer and Vice President of the Music Auxiliary, Scotch College and Scotch Arts. She was also the current CAV EXCO and BPC Board member and CAV Treasurer. She is a member of various prestige clubs in Australia and is the current Treasurer of the Australian Asian Business Women’s Associations. With her experience and networks, Shirley looks forward to raising the profile of AABWA and sharing her experience with AABWA members.

Joyce Zhu

Secretary

Director of Norwood Industries Pty Ltd
Non-Executive Director of PPDS (VIC) Pty Ltd

Joyce immigrated to Australia with her husband in 2005, then commenced at Norwood with a Master’s Degree in Information Technology Education. In 2015 Joyce became a qualified CPA which culminated in her appointment as Company Accountant. In 2021, Joyce broke the Glass Ceiling and was appointed to the Board of Directors after achieving a high level of expertise throughout the business, being the first Asian female director of this company with more than 60 years of history.

During the past 19 years in Australia, Joyce has seen her roles vary greatly, but her moral fibre and outstanding work ethic have not. Joyce will continue this spirit and do her best to expand her social responsibilities to a broader community by influencing more people around her.

Tingting Jia

Committee Member

Tingting was born in Taian, Shandong and raised in a happy family. She came to Melbourne in 2009 as an international student. Tingting has a Bachelor in Financial Management and continued her education into a Master of Management Accounting from The University of Melbourne. This passion carried into her qualifications of Financial Planning, Self-Managed Super Funds specialist and Margin lending advisor.

Tingting is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and she is also a member of a the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA). She is the founder and director of 7 Financial Planning. As an experienced advisor, Tingting has worked closely with her clients to help them achieve their financial goals and overcome any obstacles through her financial journey.

Tingting enjoys travelling with her family. She also likes spending her spare time in painting and reading. Community work brings a lot of fun and fulfilment to her life.

Jun Teng

Committee Member

Jun Teng, associated with IPA Australia, is a registered tax agent, who founded JG Accounting Pty Ltd. JG Accounting services Melbourne SMEs with financial planning, tax reporting, and tax planning for small business companies and family trusts. The company has served small and medium-sized enterprises for more than ten years and has been recognized and praised by its customers and the general public.

Jun is enthusiastic about public welfare, actively participating in the Tai Chi public welfare of the Tai Chi Dong Wu Alliance in Australia and does her best to spread Chinese Tai Chi - a world cultural heritage.

In college, she accepted Maslow's philosophy of realizing one's greatest worth. We have been making continuous efforts to achieve self-improvement and breakthroughs. From an associate professor at a university in China to becoming illiterate overnight after immigrating with zero basic English, and through hard work, she worked as a full-time accountant Clark while studying part-time. After six years of hard work, she completed her bachelor's degree in business study majoring in accounting at Messay University in New Zealand. Moreover, due to her accumulated experience and growth as an individual, Jun has come to accept other philosophies and doctrines such as the Confucian doctrine of the mean, the Buddhist doctrine of boundless tolerance, and the Taoist concept of governance by inaction.

Life is not allowed not to work hard, but allowed to be unsuccessful, thinking that there are many factors for success. The most important thing is to be the best in yourself in any situation

Fiona Zhang

Committee Member

Fiona Zhang possesses over 10 years of experience as a qualified real estate agent. She moved to Melbourne more than 20 years ago from China, where she holds a Bachelors degree with a major in Environmental Engineering from Shanghai University. She also embarked on a Masters degree at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan with a major in Environmental Physics. She has a passion for sharing her business and lifestyle experiences to migrant clients. She enjoys yoga, running, staying fit and is a food lover.

Jade Liu

Committee Member

Jade, who has been living in Melbourne for 14 years, immigrated to Australia for her child's education and growth, but found her dream life in this antiquated land. Australia was the place where she fostered her children's education and her own growth at the same time. She grew to love outdoor sports, pay strong attention to health and consciously continue to exercise and training.

Since 2015, she has completed two 100-kilometer cross-country runs, several cross-country ultra-marathons and road marathons to name a few. She has also participated in a number of public welfare activities, used her passion for exercising to influence friends to participate in sports/health and established AABWA Fitness Club with the support of the Association. She is dedicated and motivated about fitness and health. Through her efforts last year, she obtained the Australian Certified Fitness Instructor Certificate of Level 3 and Level 4.

We look forward to you joining us!

Helen Li

Committee Member

Life is not allowed not to work hard, but allowed to be unsuccessful, thinking that there are many factors for success. The most important thing is to be the best in yourself in any situation

Jenny Wang

Committee Member

Jenny Wang is and been the Managing Director of Berrigan Doube Lawyers for approximately 20 years. Berrigan Doube Lawyers is a national law firm established in 1927 with offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. In addition to overseeing the firm's finances and personnel, Jenny extends her expertise to legal and client matters. Jenny specialises in property law, owner's corporation law, business and commercial law, banking and migration law.

Jenny is also a teacher, having trained students from kindergarten until professionals. She is currently a lead trainer for industry bodies and undertakes CPD training for professionals as well as being a guest lecturer at the University of Melbourne's Masters of Law program.

Beyond her legal career, Jenny is a successful entrepreneur with diverse interests. She owns and manages several ventures focused on children's industries and education. Notably, she is a co-founder and owner of 1thekids Education Group, which covers a range of activities such as performing arts, martial arts and marketing and branding. Jenny advocates the nurturing and development of each child's talents, providing inspiration, growth and motivation to our future stars.

Community service is also a core passion for Jenny, who actively supports startups and community organisations and contributes regularly to nonprofit initiatives focused on children She is a founding member of Interactive Playschool, which allows children to perform on stage, and AKMA (Australia Korean Masters Association), which holds tournaments in Australia.

On top of her legal, entrepreneurial, educational and community service pursuits, Jenny's family background in medicine has equipped her with knowledge in medical and allied health matters, both from a professional perspective as well as a business entrepreneur.

Ying Wang

Committee Member

My story began like any other Chinese overseas student in Australia. I obtained my Australian permanent residency status in 2009. While I was hunting for a job in the Engineering industry, I also quickly realised that my strength in English language proficiency could open another pathway for me, the pathway I have been on since 2012.

In my 12 years of career as a NAATI Certified English and Chinese translator and interpreter, I have been deeply involved in all aspects of community life in Australia, from legal to medical, commercial to tourism, education to migration as well as in diplomatic settings. I provide language services to people from all walks of life, including various departments of the Victorian government and Federal Government.

I am also an educator for fair work, work ethic and leadership while I train junior translators and interpreters. Many of my students have gone on to become successful community translators and interpreters in Australia. I taught them to use the power of English language proficiency to help new Chinese migrants understand the way of life in Australia, bridge cultural differences between local Australian businesses and Chinese businesses, as well as promote our role as a cultural mediator and ambassador.

As for someone like me, society tends to give me a lot of labels such as a mother of two, Chinese migrant, female etc. The lack of Asian voices in the Australian parliarment, the COVID, and even the recent cases of violence against women have reminded me again and again that we, Asians, can only become stronger when we are united, and I am happy to be the voice and the bridge in making the Asian, especially the Chinese community, stronger and prosperous in Australia.

Deborah Sim

Committee Member

Deborah graduated from Monash University and has practised exclusively in family law since. In 2021, she was accredited by the Law Institute of Victoria as a Family Law Specialist. She is currently a Partner at Pearsons Family Lawyers.

Her practice covers all areas of family law including property disputes, parenting matters, family violence and intervention orders, binding financial agreements and cross-jurisdictional disputes.

June Anderson

Advisor / Former president

I migrated to Australia over 30 years ago and called Australia home. Educated in Australia and majored in Asia Economic Analysis. Having worked in the Banking and Finance sector for over 22 years, I have noticed there are many professional and business enterprise women with cultural diversity and linguistic backgrounds, who have many challenging issues . In the last 12 years I have been focused on those migrant Asian women's issues. As the founder of the AABWA and past President, my main aim is to create a platform for multicultural background business and professional women, to learn and to share in their successes. I am an advocate for the rights for multicultural communities through community consultation, research, education, mentoring and training, and community / social networking. I will continue to strive to build bridges within our community to support a harmonious society and generate peaceful social cohesion.

AABWA founder and past President
Member of Victoria Multicultural Commission
Eastern Region Council Advisor
Committee member of National Council of Women in Victoria
Advisor of Chinese Community Council of Victoria
Board member of Afri Aus Care
Member of United Nation Women of Australia

Guosheng Yang Chen

Advisor

Guosheng Chen is a renowned leader of 46-year professional life with the past 38 years in Australia. She has dedicated her leadership and management expertise to broad education and has made an outstanding contribution to multiculturalism in Victoria through her work in higher education, community engagement, and various strategic advisory groups within government and community organisations, applying her leadership and expertise to the development and implementation of multilingual and multicultural policies, government leadership, business and community development at local and international levels..

Guosheng Chen established the Australia-China Studies Forum at RMIT University in 1998, a platform which enables the university to engage with Chinese communities at home and abroad.

She currently holds position of Director of the Forum and is the life Honorary University Fellow of RMIT University. Prior to it she had been Head of Language Discipline at RMIT for 23 years leading the team that offers ten languages. Through her work she has established broad relationship with over a dozen diplomatic posts, and multilingual, multicultural ethnic communities in Victoria and Australia that include Arabic, Chinese, Chilean, French, Greek, German, Indian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Vietnamese and Ukraine.

For more than three decades she has been the committee member of various language strategic development and advisory groups under Victoria Department of Education and Training, and holds over a dozen advisory roles in professional, business and community organisations in Victoria, Australia and China.

Over past 30 years she has been delivering speeches at conferences, seminars and major events in Australia and overseas, and receiving interviews by mainstream and community media including ABC, SBS, community radios and TV stations. Her speeches /interviews cover broad topics on politics, global and national security, education, citizenship, health, international affairs, cross-ethnic community collaborations for sustainable Australian multicultural society and woman related matters. She has been the chair and/or member of organisation committees of a number of major local and international cultural and education events that bring together local and international professional groups.

Guosheng gives special attention to younger generation, encouraging them to take challenges, guide them to develop and play leadership capabilities, and help them to achieve their potential. She is the advisor to AABWA and enjoys high reputation amongst local and international communities for having been successfully bringing up a new generation of young leaders to local and global professional areas.

Dr Pamela Williams OAM

Advisor

Pamela had a long career in Education - beginning as a Home Economics Teacher and ending as a Lecturer in Health and Human Behaviour at Deakin University. After taking early retirement following a diagnosis of breast cancer she devoted herself to helping new comers to Australia to learn English and the Australian ways of living. She increased her interests in Women’s concerns and held various positions in the National Council of Women Victoria/ Australia, the League of Women Voters and the United Nations Status of Women Victoria group.

She has also been involved in women and breast cancer concerns acting as a buddy to a researcher at Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and joining the consumer group at Melbourne Genomics. Her other interests include Glen Iris Book Group, mt Waverley Probus Club, theatre, travel and children and grandchildren and being a mentor to the Australian/Asian Business Women’s Association.

Susan Gin

Advisor

Susan is honored to be on the AABWA Advisory Board and values the opportunity to make a constructive contribution.

She was instrumental in drawing up a new constitution and name change for AABWA in 2015.

With degrees in Law, Susan practiced in corporate law at Australia's largest listed mining and petroleum companies in her career.

She has been appointed to the Board of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Skilled Migration by the Federal Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism.

She has an established track record of community engagement, having served as President of Chinese Association of Victoria, is a Foundation Member and was made an Honorary Fellow.

She is a keen advocate for our migrant community. In 2015 she established Executive Wealth Circle, a platform to build community among business migrants, facilitate engagement with Government and support integration into the wider Australian Community. She is currently its Chairperson.

Karyn Sobels

Patron

Karyn is an Independent Director and Board Chair with experience in senior executive corporate roles across a number of industry sectors including banking, retail and telecommunications, as well as currently owning small businesses in Australia and New Zealand.

Karyn is a board member and past president of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry – the first woman to hold that role in 171 years. Karyn is also a board member of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry where she chairs the Workplace Relations Committee.

With a passion for promoting small business as the backbone of the Australian economy, Karyn is a judge for the City of Melbourne Small Business Award and also Chairs the City of Melbourne’s Melburnian of the Year award.

As a founding director of the Australian Business Growth Fund, Karyn is proud to have helped establish this private equity venture between the major banks and the Australian government to support and elevate successful Australian small businesses and help them to grow.

Karyn currently spends a deal of time encouraging more women to participate in public life. As a mentor and an advocate for women, she is determined to see more women in leadership roles.