In an increasingly digital era, modern businesses need to rewrite the script on how they communicate with customers and explain their goods and services, argues storyteller and journalist Dai Le.
“Businesses moving into the future have to change the way we tell our stories. It's not just about coming and doing business with me, this is a great product, this is a great service. It’s about why am I doing business with you? What's so special about you that I want to buy the service or the product from you,” Le told TradeSquare’s Catherine van der Muelen in a podcast you can enjoy here.
“As a result of Covid, everybody's spending more time online, so they're looking for that authenticity, and that genuine voice that they can actually relate to.”
Le believes with so many user-generated communities, and user-generated content online, authentic content is so important and will become more so moving forward.
A self-described storyteller and culturepreneur, Le founded Dawn Media Productions, a social enterprise that aims to shine a light on diverse stories, perspectives, and experiences. Its mission is to become Australia’s leading hub for inclusion and diversity by showcasing and engaging the diverse voices within the community. Her online podcast, 'DAWNCast' provides diverse thought leaders and entrepreneurs a platform to share their stories.
A mission of inclusion
Le’s mission is grounded in personal experience as an outsider seeking inclusion and fearing she did not belong. A refugee from war-torn Vietnam in the 1970s, Le settled in Australia with her mother and two sisters after her father was killed in battle. Landing a job as a journalist allowed her to explore stories from people with similar experiences to her own.
“I live and breathe brief diversity and inclusion. I really believe that inclusion is the key. While I champion for diversity, I want perspectives, faces and cultures to be represented across our mainstream institutions, but what is even more important is the inclusive mindset – that no matter how different your perspectives are to mine, I want to be able to create a space safe enough so that we can coexist.”
Dawn Media grew out of a not-for-profit – Diverse Australasian Women’s Network – which was running workshops advocating diversity and inclusion prior to Covid.
“I was going into the corporate sector to really talk about the lack of diverse representations at the leadership level across our mainstream institutions,” she recalls. “I was so driven by that because I looked around and I couldn't see anybody who paved the way for people like me for whom English is not their first language.
“I learned English when I came to Australia. You always have that fear, ‘Will I fit in? Am I good enough to be taking a leadership role? And it never occurred to me that I could play a role at that decision-making level. I ran those cultural workshops for a few years until Covid hit us last year. Like many, I thought ‘I can't run workshops anymore. So what can I do?’”
So Le turned to the online medium of vodcasting on YouTube. “It's a platform for diverse voices and perspectives to be shared, without triggering fear or hatred.
“I started an empowering and inspirational conversation to look at current issues from a different perspective. At the end of last year, after Covid started to ease, I thought about how to create a business out of this.”
A like-minded group of women in business encouraged Le to use the podcasts as a doorway to impact the world, ‘one conversation at a time, in one bite size at a time’ and so Dawn Media Productions was born.
Business advice to immigrant communities
Le founded another advisory venture based in Fairfield in Sydney’s western suburbs, the home of a largely immigrant community, including many refugees resettled in Australia. It aims to help local people develop and grow their businesses.
“A lot of them run small businesses, in particular, food businesses, restaurants and cafes. I saw that they weren't networking or coming together to get the best information on how to build their business. I started this group at the end of 2019, to bring them together, to give them the opportunity to collaborate, and to find ways to improve the way they do business."
"A lot of them are still running their businesses the way they used to back in the 70s and 80s, when they first arrived in Australia. They just set up a business, not knowing how to do it properly. A lot of businesses, after 12 or 24 months, get shut down and others get passed onto the next generation and then it's still run in an ad hoc way. There isn't a plan to grow.”
Le brings together experienced business people to mentor and guide local businesses through forums and help them find ways to expand their sales outside their immediate community.
You can listen to the full podcast interview with Dai Le here here.
Leave Comment