Today on Better Student Leaders, Josh Farr reconnects with Irina Wong, President of UNSW Hall and the Inter-Residential Council, exactly one year after she attended leadership training. Together, they explore what happens after the workshop, when the theory meets reality.

Irina reflects on the challenges of leading friends, balancing multiple roles, and learning to set boundaries while staying true to herself. She shares how she turned anxiety into action, why transparency became her greatest leadership strength, and how “trust the process” became her mantra through it all.

This conversation is proof that leadership growth doesn’t end with training, it begins there.

KEY QUOTES

• “If I could, I’d get this tattooed on my head — trust the process.”
• "When you're honest with the team, and you tell them your concerns. They respect you a lot more."
• "There was a segment of the training where we had to go outside and her (another College President) and I were talking about our worries for the year ahead, and we really connected in that way, and I remember it to this day. It was really helpful!"
• "Your own lived experience might be able to change the system, in a better way. Just being open-minded about different leaders and the way they do things is really important."