In-house lawyer Lily Wong has worked as a consultant for KPMG, as Corporate Counsel for BAI communications, and gained experience in legal recruitment. She is now the acting General Counsel at PepsiCo ANZ and an advocate for diversity, mentorship and continuous learning.
For Wong, her commitment to diversity stems from her own background.
“My parents fled Vietnam when I was one. We left on a rickety boat and arrived in Malaysia after two days and nights on the high seas. Pretty incredible to think back,” she says.
“What would that scenario have had to be like, to leave everything including family, and sail on a rickety boat into the ocean with a one year old?”
The first lawyer in her family, Wong was also the first to attend university. She recalls how impressed her parents were when she started working at KPMG, “in an office block”.
“My career has been bold, because I’ve rolled the dice a bit and followed my gut,” she says.