When Belinda Cheng was approached about taking on a bigger role her reaction is one we’ve heard before.
“Someone suggested I go for the role and my first thought was ‘I’m not sure I have the skills’,” Cheng explains. “But then I just thought bugger it, I’m going for it. How often do these opportunities present themselves?”
She went for it and once she accepted she was determined to nail it so she approached the global head for some advice. Her words of wisdom were simple: just do the job.
Cheng obviously did the job well because she was recently promoted to the Oceania Markets Operations Manager role at EY. Her professional contributions were also recognised when she received the organisation’s Lynne Sutherland Future Leader Award. The prestigious accolade is one of only two awards given out each year in honour of EY’s first female partner Lynne Sutherland. It is awarded to an individual who demonstrates commitment to retaining, developing and advancing women at the firm.
“I certainly didn’t expect to win,” Cheng says. “I was stoked that someone would even nominate me to be honest.”
She understands the role she played in supporting her team through a particularly tough round of redundancies “It’s never easy and I had to support my team around that. It was a stressful time and I guess someone thought I did that in a way to be acknowledged.”
Cheng was born in Canberra and as the daughter of Chinese immigrants – and the granddaughter of a poverty-stricken, widowed mother of seven – she feels a powerful sense of duty to make the most of a good education and the opportunities that life in Australia brings.
“I feel very proud to be their daughter. In many ways, they taught me the value of hard work. They came to Australia in the 1970s when there weren’t many immigrants around. The value of education was so important to them. They saw it as a way of getting out of poverty,” says Cheng.
“When you’re the child of immigrants there is a legacy there. You have seen how hard they worked and how much you have been the recipient of that. You want to continue that legacy they have created for you.”
Cheng’s work ethic, academic aptitude and commitment to education secured her a scholarship to study commerce at Melbourne University. Once there she continued to work harder than most, using her breaks to test the waters in a variety of companies.
“I was very keen to use my holidays to get workplace experience and once I finished university I was offered a number of jobs,” Cheng explains.
She accepted a graduate position in Sydney in middle market advisory and later went on to spend a year working for Colonial First State Property. She missed the professional services environment however so then moved to EY to work in corporate finance.
Her career changed tack slightly after a period of illness which required some time off to recuperate. With the support and understanding of her managers Cheng returned to work gradually. As part of that process she ended up moving away from a client-facing role into the operations and management side of the business.
“I didn’t expect to be where I am. A lot of my early career experience was moving me towards a career in investment banking or mergers and acquisitions,” she says. “But it is always important to keep an open mind. Different opportunities present themselves.”
Working in operations has proved to be a natural fit for Cheng who is progressing from strength to strength and loving the work along the way.
“When I was working in a client facing role, for example, it was a very hierarchical structure,” she says. “It’s really nice to now have the opportunity to work in a flatter structure, alongside senior management. I work with really smart, intelligent and caring people in a really collaborative atmosphere.”