Why Every Corporate Diversity Program in Singapore Has an SEA Ambassador Who Went to the Same Three International Schools
When companies need a diverse face for regional leadership, they keep hiring the same type of person.
By Maria Garcia
Singapore's corporate diversity programs love to spotlight their Southeast Asian talent. They put faces on the website, names in the newsletter, quotes about inclusion in the annual report. The problem is they keep hiring the same person.
Not literally the same person. But close enough. International school graduate. English as a first language. Family money visible in the Instagram travel archive. Probably studied abroad. Definitely studied in English. Now back in Singapore representing "the region" in a role that requires zero language skills beyond what they already had at sixteen.
These aren't diversity hires. They're proximity hires. The job is called SEA Regional Lead or ASEAN Community Manager or Diversity Ambassador for Southeast Asia, but the actual requirement is someone who can move between boardrooms and brand activations without making anyone uncomfortable. Someone who sounds like the people making the hiring decision.
It's not their fault. They're qualified. They work hard. They probably believe in the mission. But when you're the face of inclusion and you've never had to switch languages mid-sentence to get your point across, never had to explain why your degree is in Tagalog, never had to budget for a visa run, you're representing a version of Southeast Asia that only exists in expat compounds and co-working spaces with oat milk on tap.
Companies will say they're hiring for skills. That's true. They're hiring for the skills that come from growing up with access. Confidence in English. Comfort in corporate settings. A degree from a university the hiring manager has heard of. A network that includes other people who went to the same three schools.
The actual region, the one that speaks four languages before lunch and takes the MRT instead of Grab, doesn't get the job. They get the audience. They're the "community" these programs are supposed to serve. But the person managing the program didn't grow up in the same neighborhood, didn't go to the same school, didn't have to choose between a master's degree and sending money home.
Diversity programs run by people who don't need them end up looking like branding exercises. They hire one or two faces, take the photos, publish the post, and then wonder why the pipeline still looks the same five years later. Because proximity isn't diversity. It's just a shorter commute to inclusion theater.
If you're hiring for Southeast Asia and everyone on your shortlist went to the same international school network, you're not running a diversity program. You're running a referral system with better lighting.
