Leadership Lens is a series of Q&As with participants from AKFC’s Global Leadership Program. From artists to philanthropists, finance executives to medical doctors, AKFC’s Global Leaders are all dedicated to strengthening Canada’s role in addressing global and local issues, and building a more prosperous, peaceful, and pluralistic world.
Natasha Lay is the Executive Director of Bow Valley Immigration Partnership. With a background in cross-sector collaboration, community engagement, and inclusive dialogue, Natasha Lay transforms ideas into practical solutions to strengthen communities. Her perspective is shaped by a journey across cultures: growing up in Australia in a Chinese Hakka family with roots in Timor-Leste, and later building her life as a newcomer to Canada. Navigating these layered identities has deepened her understanding of empathy and belonging, guiding her leadership. Natasha is passionate about place-based action, helping communities design solutions that foster resilience and inclusion. Learn more about Natasha on our 2025-2026 Global Leadership Program cohort page.
AKFC: What led you to pursue your current career? Was there a particular moment, person, or social issue that moved you in that direction?
Natasha Lay: I’ve spent most of my life searching for belonging while navigating multiple identities. My parents fled war in Timor-Leste in the early 1980s and started over in south west Sydney, Australia. I look Chinese, but my family identifies as Timorese. I was born in Australia, but that doesn’t automatically make me Australian. Now I’m an immigrant in Canada, figuring out what it means to belong here.
Watching my parents overcome hardships, learn another language, and build a life where they knew no one showed me what courage looks like. It also showed me how unfair it was that where you’re born determines what opportunities you get access to. This constant search for where I fit, combined with seeing that unfairness up close, shaped everything about how I see the world and the work I do.
In high school, I joined a social justice group and suddenly had language for what I’d been feeling all along. That’s when I realized that the postcode you’re born into shouldn’t dictate your future, and I wanted to do something about it. At 15, I started volunteering with my local youth council. That’s where I discovered I could actually bring people together and make things happen. By 17, I was organizing youth forums. I’d secured a grant from Youth Action, to run a mini grants project, empowering other young leaders to launch their own initiatives. One ran climate workshops in her high school. Another organized a band competition fundraiser.
Even then, it was never about me being at the centre. It was always about opening doors so others could walk through. That spirit of empowerment led me to the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, where I took youth delegations to United Nations climate conferences in Copenhagen, Cancun, and Doha, keeping pressure on the Australian government to make better climate decisions.
What drives me hasn’t changed since I was 15: bringing people together, creating fairness so everyone can thrive, and holding onto hope for a better future. My career has been about facilitating empowerment, purpose, and passion in others. I know what it feels like to search for where you fit. That’s why my work focuses on helping others find their power and purpose, especially those still searching for where they belong.
AKFC: What keeps you motivated?
NL: Hope. Possibility. The thrill of seeing what humans can achieve when we focus on what we have in common, and work together on a shared vision.
Attending the UN climate conferences was a turning point. I arrived in Copenhagen in 2009 believing world leaders would deliver bold climate action. Instead, I left realizing that real change comes from people, not politicians. It was disappointing for sure, but it also clarified everything. If we want a better world, we have to build it ourselves.
Fast forward to now. I’m in rural Alberta after moving from Australia in 2019, and I get to bring the most unlikely allies together every day. In my role with Bow Valley Immigration Partnership, I convene municipalities, businesses, health and education sectors, newcomer agencies, residents and more around a shared four-year strategy for a more welcoming and inclusive region. Together, we’re improving outcomes in workplace inclusion, anti-racism, housing, health, civic participation, and more.
In the last five or so years, inclusion has moved from being a difficult conversation to being on every local agenda. Demand for our programs has grown, new and different organizations are interested in working together, and more communities across Canada are asking us to mentor them. In the recent municipal elections, the majority of candidates talked about inclusion. Back in 2021, it barely came up.
I see the short-term wins and the long-term shifts happening simultaneously, and that’s what keeps me going. I want to look back one day and know my actions contributed to something much bigger than myself, even if it was just a small percentage of the whole.
AKFC: What inspired you to apply for the Global Leadership Program?
NL: Everything I’ve achieved has been possible because people opened doors for me. The Global Leadership Program feels like one of those transformative doors, and I’m excited about walking through it.
I’m at a pivot point in my journey. The next steps I take will shape the impact I can have for decades to come. I’m a jack of all trades with skills across organizing, advocacy, programs and projects, communications, and community development. My challenge now is finding direction. I want guidance on how to maximize my impact long term so I can look back on my life and feel genuinely proud. I’m still figuring out what that path looks like.
I’ve done work I’m proud of. I’ve amplified thousands of young Australian voices to the UN. I’ve created space for marginalized groups at the regional level. But I know there’s so much more I can learn and do with the right mentorship and support.
What excites me most is the people. The most valuable part of my work has always been the relationships I’ve built with incredible humans doing good in the world. I would love more intentional connections like that. I’ve seen how innovative solutions emerge when you bring together people with wildly different experiences and perspectives. I want to learn from diverse leaders and be challenged by expert guidance. I’m ready to be uncomfortable, to have my thinking stretched, and to grow in ways I can’t yet imagine.
AKFC: Do you have any questions or curiosities you are excited to explore over the course of the program?
NL: I’m endlessly curious about how we translate “think global, act local” into scalable, long-term solutions. Right now, I work in place-based community development at the micro level. My goal is to see these impacts replicated at the macro level, but I’m still learning how those two scales work together. How do we realistically shift systems when we’re working with limited time, resources, capacity, and willingness? I don’t have those answers yet.
Leadership representation fascinates me. The more diverse our leadership tables are, the better our decisions and outcomes become. But I want to understand what it really takes to shift that system and make equity the norm rather than the exception. What are the practical steps? What am I missing?
I’m also eager to dive into ethical leadership and systems change. How do we stay steady, focused, and impactful while bringing people along for the journey? How do we maintain hope when systems move at a frustratingly slow pace? These are questions I wrestle with regularly.
AKFC: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
NL: Leadership is not about standing alone at the front, it is about the people who believe in you early on and walk with you when the path is still unknown.
Hope and connection keep me moving forward, while fairness is more than a value. It is the bridge that turns “us versus them” into “all of us together.” I am committed to breaking down barriers, opening doors, and making big ideas feel real and accessible in our day-to-day lives.
This program feels like the next step in joining a circle of leaders who are eager to do the work and brave enough to be changed by it. I want to grow bolder and be inspired by the courage around me to take bigger steps. Together, as a network of distributed leaders across Canada, we can bring unique strengths from every community to drive meaningful change.
My vision is to create ripples of positive impact that, together, build into something far greater than any of us could achieve alone. When we look back, I want us to be proud of the legacy we have built — a legacy of hope, connection, and fairness that continues to inspire and uplift future generations.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity
Natasha Lay is part of the 2025-2026 cohort of AKFC’s Global Leadership Program. Learn more about the program here.
