May Hu

May Hu is a pioneer in Melbourne's Chinese community who has devoted her life to the multicultural communities of Victoria. May is a regular host on SBS radio where she has been section head, executive producer, senior broadcaster and journalist for the past 17 years.

Under her leadership, SBS's Mandarin program has become the station's largest language group program, airing seven times a week. In an Australian first in 2008, May organised two radio forums in English and Chinese for a submission to the Review on Australian Public Broadcasters.

Through both her radio series and extensive research and publications, May has informed, educated and mentored Australia's Chinese community in history, culture, ethics, their rights and responsibilities and the workings of our political and democratic system. May's articles on these topics have appeared in various Chinese media, local papers and in magazines like the Women's Friend available in China and Australia.

May was the first Australian Chinese to win a mainstream media award for her Love Across Borders radio program.

Her conversations with immigration officials on regular talkback programs have guided thousands of Chinese students and she continues to convey important consumer affairs and tax information and serve as a voice for settlement issues, domestic violence, and social welfare.

May also links Victoria's many different ethnic communities through leadership positions on the Advisory Committee of the Centre for China Studies at La Trobe University and as a founder and national secretary of the National Liaison Council of Australian Chinese.

Despite English being her second language, May has four tertiary qualifications, the latest being a Masters at Monash University on the history of SBS radio.

"I am very happy so many Chinese women have followed me into a tertiary education and the chance for a profession, rather than working with sewing machines or in milk bars," she says.