Sathya Bala is a highly sought-after racial equality speaker and a passionate advocate for inclusion, whose work is deeply rooted in her own lived experiences as a woman of colour navigating corporate environments. She is the Founder and CEO of True Change, an organisation focused on embedding racial equity and inclusion into the heart of business culture. Sathya uses her platform to challenge systemic inequities and help organisations create more inclusive and equitable spaces. Her personal journey fuels her speaking engagements, where she addresses powerful topics such as Gender Equity; Embracing Culture and Ethnicity; Activating the Ally in Each of Us; Intersectionality Made Simple, and Identity as a Superpower; among others. Her ability to connect her own story to broader structural issues gives her voice both authenticity and impact.
Sathya’s corporate career spans nearly two decades, beginning in 2005 as Senior Auditor of Risk Services at Deloitte Australia, before moving on to roles at Barclays, Sainsbury’s, and HSBC, where she specialised in data governance and risk management. Her expertise led her to Deutsche Bank as a Data Governance Manager, and later to Chanel, where she became Head of Global Data Governance in 2020. It was during her time in high-level corporate data roles that Sathya recognised the pressing need for representation and equity in leadership and organisational structures. This realisation drove her to establish My Skin My Story in 2020—an initiative dedicated to empowering women of colour—and later, True Change, which focuses on sustainable, data-driven inclusion strategies.
Sathya’s work has earned her numerous accolades, including being named among the Top 100 Ethnic Minority Executives. She serves as a Board Trustee for Young Lives vs Cancer and Company of Others, and in 2024, she was appointed to the DEIB Expert Advisory Panel at Merck Group, further cementing her role as a thought leader in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Her leadership is not only visible through her professional achievements but also in her ability to drive policy change, mentor diverse talent, and advise organisations at the highest level.
Sathya is hired for her deep subject matter expertise, powerful storytelling, and ability to bridge lived experience with actionable strategy. Her speaking topics range from confronting unconscious bias to using data and innovation to build inclusive cultures. With a focus on racial equality that permeates all her work, Sathya challenges audiences to consider identity, intersectionality, and allyship through a lens of empathy and change. She helps organisations move beyond performative inclusion towards real transformation, making her a compelling and credible speaker for events seeking lasting impact.
