2023 Annual Gala Awards were held on 19^th October, with VIP guest and keynote speaker, Lady Cherie Blair CBE KC. 

Winners in Award Categories were

• Qun Yang - Contribution to Business or a Profession (eg: accountancy or law)
• Flora Man - Contribution to the Community
• Professor Xiaolan Fu - Contribution to Science, Technology or Engineering
• Xiaolu Guo - Contribution to the Arts, Culture or Sport
• Jing Wang -Contribution to Education
• Yintong Betser - Unsung Heroine

Highly Commended were: 

• Ting Zhang and Sally Maier-Yip  - Contribution to Business,
• Susan Fang, Contribution to Education and
• Helena Zeng- Unsung Heroine

For more information on nominating a woman of Chinese heritage in 2024 email: [email protected]

Meisim Lai OBE DL

Earlier this year our long-standing friend and Chair of Mulan, Meisim Lai OBE DL, decided to step down from this operational role, after more than a decade of unstinting service, leading Mulan from a fledgling charity to an organisation with wide connections and a worthy profile. Meisim has long been a staunch supporter of young women as they progress in their careers, and has helped many of them with numerous networking and learning opportunities at Mulan events. We are all so grateful to her for her leadership. Happily,  Mulan will continue to benefit from her continued support, as she has kindly agreed to take on the position of Honorary President. 

Sonny Leong CBE

Co-Founder of Mulan Foundation Network, and long time Trustee, Sonny Leong CBE, also stepped away from an executive role on the Mulan Board late last year, as he was elevated to the House of Lords, as a Labour Peer and now Frontbench spokesperson. Now time poor for all his former community and voluntary roles, it is natural that he must concentrate on his new and exciting work. However, we are honoured that he has kindly agreed to accept the position of Mulan Patron, which demonstrates his support for our mission to encourage and celebrate women of Chinese heritage, and inspire others in the British Chinese diaspora to reach similar heights in public service.

New Co-Chairs

We are delighted that Mulan Co-Founder, Lady Katy Blair MBE, and long-standing Mulan Trustee, Luise Schafer OBE have agreed to take on joint responsibility for the executive leadership of the charity, as Co-Chairs. With the support of the Board of Trustees, they are looking forward to building on earlier work, and taking Mulan in new and dynamic directions, with a number of projects currently being developed which will help women of Chinese heritage reach their full potential in the UK.

The Mulan Foundation Network very successfully celebrated International Woman’s Day on 9 March 2023 with a networking drinks and canapés reception and a talk/discussion, on how to be both a successful career woman, either for a global corporate or by running your own business, as well as being a mother.

Our speakers were banker, Lin Yue, and luxury PR specialist, Sally Maier-Yip.

The talk was chaired by Mulan’s new honorary President, MeiSim Lai.

The event was sponsored by Marks & Clerk, International Intellectual Property firm.

The networking was exceptional and the talks, not just insightful but also stimulating and encouraging.

This talk was the first in our series of ‘Aspire, Achieve, and Advance’ events.