Advocating for global, sustainable, intersectional justice.

Youth and Disability Advocate

Speaker - Thought Leader - Facilitator

Charlotte's Story

The cornerstone of all that Charlotte does is her experience as a Eurasian Australian woman with a hearing loss. Charlotte has an special ability to connect deeply with people from all over the world, and she attributes this, at least in part, to her own intersectional background. Charlotte proudly features her own journey in her work, and encourages others’ to incorporate their personal experiences and identities into their professional lives. She has helped found several events and communities to promote disability rights, after working in the nonprofit, and now does so through government service and additionally is working to launch enterprises to promote these ideals.  

In every role she accepts and every challenge she faces, Charlotte maintains a highly personal and relatable style that complements her driving vision: that we are all connected, and we all have value. Charlotte believes strongly that by rejecting assumptions and preconceptions, we create new opportunities for human connection, innovation and social change. She is dedicated to promoting inclusion as a value, and guiding individuals and groups on their journeys toward authentic inclusion.  

Charlotte has a strong academic and professional background. She is studying at the Australian National University for a Double Bachelor’s Degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics/Arts on the Australian National Scholarship. Charlotte has been recognised for her contributions to the greater good in her community through various awards, including being named the 2024 Overall Winner of the Asian Australian Leadership Awards, and as a finalist in the 2024 Young Australian of Year Awards (Victorian chapter), and as a fellow of the prestigious Clinton Global Initiative University programme, of which 10 Australians are chosen for each year.    

Charlotte enjoys spending time with her family and travelling. She is an avid reader, DJ, dancer, and explorer, always looking for the next book to read. And in all of her journeys, Charlotte loves connecting with and learning from new people.

Charlotte’s Legacy

  • Charlotte’s living expertise has been channelled into opportunities that support and advance better outcomes for all people. She has served in leadership and advisory roles, including representing Australia in 2023 in New York as a Youth Representative to the United Nations for the Conference of State Parties to the Convention of Rights for Persons with Disability. During her time in New York, she met directly and spoke with SAIDR Sara Minkara, President Biden’s direct advisor of International Disability Rights. She is an Executive Member of the Global Network of Young People with Disability, whose work has been awarded by MIT Solve.

    She has actively worked with the Australian Government to help inform the Australian Youth Strategy, and the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. She is currently working at the Attorney-General’s Department to develop accessible support services and policy for the reform the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, a key institution upholding Australia’s democratic process - where over 30,000 Australians annually appeal federal decisions made under Commonwealth law, including the NDIS, Migration, and Child Support.

    Additionally, she is an associate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and currently serves as a Board Member at Burgmann College, a world-leading selective residential and academic college at the Australian National University. There, she introduced the Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, introduced the paid role of Diversity Officer, and co-led the Cultural Change Action Plan during 2022 and 2023, which led to promoting moderate drinking culture, addressing mental health stigma, and mitigating risk and encouraging an open dialogue surrounding sexual assault and harassment at University.

  • Charlotte is an engaging and accomplished speaker, connecting with people across the continents. She has addressed audiences of all sizes, from intimate gatherings to large scale platforms like the U.N. in New York. Charlotte has been featured on Australian Media such as ABC National Radio, Channel 10, and the Age, and interviewed on podcasts, recently by Dylan Alcott AO on ListenABLE.

  • Charlotte earned her stripes in advocacy through her 4+ years work creating and delivering the inaugural and subsequent National Youth Disability Summits with Children and Young People with Disability Australia. For her, it was a practical approach to authentic leadership, inclusion and change through individual and collective action. Her vision for the summits were premised on the foundation that every person has value, and that we all benefit when youth are given a seat at the table and listened to.

    Her approach focused participants to directly advocate to Ministers such as Hon. Amanda Rishworth (Minister of Social Services), Hon. Bill Shorten (Minister for the NDIS), and Hon. Anne Aly (Minister for Youth). She believes through intentionality in interpersonal interactions; we can choose to reject the limitations of assumption and bias, instead empowering one another to reach our true potential by living authentically. Alongside the Co-Design Committee, Charlotte created a range of options, including roundtables, training curricula, experiential workshops, self-coaching strategies and related tools, as part of a comprehensive and transformational program for the annual summit.  

  • Charlotte pitched the US-Australia Caring for Country Fellowship in 2022, to Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman, and Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, a policy which aims to foster and promote authentic Indigenous leadership within climate policy through academic exchange, advisory services and strategic solutions for US-Australia Governments.

  • Charlotte founded Hearing for Justice under the Clinton Global Initiative University in 2022 to address the 95% of Indigenous Australians in incarceration with disability by empowering youth and incarcerated individuals to be able to access the NDIS, have equitable medical access and accelerating authentic intersectional inclusion in the disability movement nationally.

  • Charlotte co-established and is the President of the Australian National University’s Auslan Club, to advocate, celebrate and educate Australian Sign Language to everyday Australians. Within one year, the club has achieved an increase in over 6% of Auslan speakers in the state.