ABOUT POTENTIAL Q
Built from lived experience. Shaped by evidence. Designed for change.
Our team combines executive leadership experience, professional coaching, racial equity research and organisational practice to help leaders strengthen their influence and advance their career while helping organisations create fairer leadership pathways.
WHY POTENTIAL Q EXISTS
From Lived Experience to Lasting Change
Growing up in Malaysia and later building a life in Australia, Koon, founder of Potential Q, experienced both overt and covert forms of racism and sexism. As she progressed to senior executive at one of the world’s largest consulting firms, she saw that many culturally diverse leaders faced the similar barriers to recognition, opportunity and progression.
She left her corporate life and create Potential Q to help culturally diverse leaders realise their potential while supporting organisations to build more equitable leadership pathways.
That mission is strengthened by a team with complementary expertise. Ida Huang brings global experience, coaching depth and care. Dr Virginia Mapedzahama brings academic rigour and intersectionality expertise. Caroline Tjoa brings extensive experience turning inclusion strategy into organisational practice.
Together, we combine lived experience, coaching, research and implementation to create lasting change.
Our purpose
The change we are here to create
We want to see workplaces where culturally diverse leaders are recognised for the full breadth of their capability, experience and leadership potential.
That requires more than developing individuals - it requires organisations to understand how leadership norms, informal networks, sponsorship, access to stretch opportunities and selection practices quietly shape who gets seen and who gets promoted.
Potential Q works at both levels so that leadership development contributes to stronger leaders and more equitable systems.
HOW WE UNDERSTAND LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL
Our view of potential
Potential is contextual
Leadership potential can be overlooked when it does not match dominant norms. Context matters when assessing how capability is expressed.
Potential should not require assimilation
Culturally diverse leaders should not have to minimise their identity or imitate a narrow leadership style to be seen as credible.
Potential grows when systems respond
The strongest outcomes occur when leaders are supported to develop and organisations create fairer conditions for recognition and progression.
A team built for complex leadership challenges
Potential Q brings together specialists in executive coaching, culturally responsive leadership expertise, racial equity research and organisational change implementation.
Koon
Founder, Executive Coach and Facilitator
Koon is a former PwC Director who led large, multicultural teams across Australia, India and the Philippines. She brings deep experience in leading at scale and across cultures. Known affectionately as “Care Bear Koon”, she brings warmth, courage and compassion to conversations about culture, leadership and systemic bias. Her thought leadership has attracted a LinkedIn community of more than 34,000 followers.
She strongly believes that each of us has a role to play in creating a more equitable, particularly for those who experience greater barriers and disadvantages.
Ida Huang
Executive Coach and Facilitator
Calm, thoughtful and practical, Ida helps leaders build confidence, trust and clarity in times of change. She brings deep experience in leadership and organisational development, including experience as Head of Learning and Development for BASF Asia Pacific.
Having lived and worked across six countries, Ida brings a strong cross-cultural lens to her work. At the heart of Ida’s work is a belief that meaningful change begins with small, intentional choices that strengthen relationships, broaden opportunity, and create lasting impact.
Dr Virginia Mapedzahama
Researcher, Consultant and Facilitator
Dr Virginia Mapedzahama brings deep research expertise in race, ethnicity, migration and cultural identity. She was the Project Director at the Diversity Council Australia, leading in partnership with SSI and CEW, of the RISE program where she worked closely with 25 organisations to identify systemic barriers and solutions to the leadership progression of culturally and racially marginalised women.
She has the distinctive ability to translate research into practical solutions. She believes that meaningful change begins with understanding how systems, identities and everyday experiences shape people’s opportunities and sense of belonging.
Caroline Tjoa
Consultant and Facilitator
Caroline brings deep expertise in strategic implementation and organisational change to create inclusive workplace practice. Through her work with the Champions of Change Coalition, she partnered directly with CEOs and senior leaders to turn gender equality commitments into practical organisational actions.
She has also led the Australian Human Rights Commission’s IncludeAbility project with organisations like Woolworths and Kmart, supporting more inclusive employment practices for people with disability.
She now brings that same expertise to building culturally responsive leadership pathways at Potential Q.
Bring the right expertise to your leadership priorities
Whether you are a leader ready to grow, or an organisation developing culturally diverse talent and building more equitable pathways to senior roles, Potential Q will shape an approach around your needs.