77. Embrace Your Bilingual Superpower with Ella Zhang

The Quiet Warrior Podcast with Serena Low

In this episode, we’re joined by Ella Zhang, an organisational development consultant and executive coach who shares how she has navigated multiple cultures and languages and embraced her bilingual identity to build confidence and communicate effectively.

Ella takes us through her story of migrating from China to Australia, overcoming challenges as a non-native English speaker, and how she transformed her accent from a barrier into a strength. This conversation offers powerful insights for bilingual, non-native English speakers and introverts who want to improve their communication skills, take responsibility for their personal growth, and use their unique cultural perspectives as an advantage.

Key Takeaways:

• Owning Your Bilingual Identity: How Ella embraced her accent as a unique superpower rather than something to hide, and how others can shift their mindset around language barriers.
  
• Self-Acceptance and Growth: The importance of accepting all parts of ourselves, including the parts we find uncomfortable, as a pathway to personal and professional growth.
  
• Feedback as a Tool for Growth: How asking for feedback, especially from those who are willing to give you constructive criticism, can accelerate your development and improve your communication skills.
  
• Self-Responsibility in Career Development: Why taking responsibility for your own growth is crucial, and how to use resources around you—books, mentors, and feedback—to continue evolving.
  
• Bicultural and Bilingual Advantage: Ella highlights how being bilingual and bicultural allows you to draw on the best from different cultural perspectives, giving you a unique advantage in communication and leadership.
  
  

Ella also shares insights from her upcoming book Upgrade, which explores the four internal operating systems that shape our personal and professional lives: mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical. This book is a guide to understanding how to keep these systems updated to maximize performance, especially for young professionals navigating cultural and language differences.

Resources Mentioned:

• Check out Ella Zhang’s book Upgrade
• Connect with Ella on LinkedIn to learn more about her work and leadership development strategies.
  
  
  

If you found this episode insightful, please rate and review The Quiet Warrior Podcast to help us reach more introverts and quiet achievers around the world.

This episode was edited by Aura House Productions

Chapters

1. Introducing the Quiet Warrior (00:00:00)

2. Embracing Your Accent as Strength (00:07:43)

3. Self-Acceptance and Triggering Reflections (00:14:28)

4. Building Workplace Confidence Through Feedback (00:21:37)

5. Separating Identity from Professional Work (00:32:11)

6. The Four Internal Operating Systems (00:39:10)

7. Thriving Between Two Cultures (00:46:15)