On a Mission to Remove Barriers and Promote Equity in Workplaces and Society!

Few experiences test the human spirit like being forced to start over completely. Imagine waking up one day and needing to relearn the basics of life, how to walk, how to talk, how to rebuild your own sense of self. That was Emily Korir’s reality after a life-changing brain injury. What could have been a story of loss became the foundation for a remarkable journey of resilience and purpose.

Emily’s personal struggle gave her a unique perspective on the challenges faced by people with disabilities and those from multicultural communities. She understood what it meant to feel unseen, unheard, and underestimated. Instead of letting these experiences define her limits, she chose to turn them into a mission. Her belief is clear: disability should never be seen as inability, and cultural diversity should never be a barrier to success.

Today, Emily leads BET Group Global Pty Ltd as CEO and guides the BET Foundation as its founder. Her work focuses on creating inclusive workplaces and advocating for equity, ensuring that people from all backgrounds have opportunities to thrive. She uses her platform to amplify voices that are often overlooked, proving that leadership can be both compassionate and impactful.

Emily’s story is an example of how personal hardship can inspire broader change. Through her leadership, writing, and speaking engagements, she shows that resilience, when paired with vision, has the power to transform lives; not just her own, but the lives of countless others. Her journey reminds us that obstacles can become catalysts for growth, and that true success comes from lifting others as we rise.

Emily’s Beginning of Life

Emily’s life began in pain and tragedy. Her mother was only 13 years old when she was assaulted in a small village in Kenya. She was just a child herself, and when the pregnancy was discovered, her family and her clan were filled with shame.

In their tradition, a girl could not give birth to a child unless she was considered a woman. To become a woman, she had to undergo circumcision—FGM. Emily’s mother was circumcised that night. She bled almost to death, and carrying her pregnancy was extremely high risk.

She was offered the chance to give Emily up, but every time, she chose Emily. When Emily was finally born, the shame was too heavy for the village. Her mother and her newborn child were chased away, forced to leave everything behind. They ended up in the slums of Nakuru. That was the beginning of Emily’s life—a story she did not choose to carry.

Yet, even in that brokenness, there was strength. Emily was raised by two powerful women: her mother and her grandmother. Both had lived lives of rejection, unseen and unheard, but they poured into her resilience, dignity, and courage.

Today, Emily has turned that painful beginning into purpose. She is a strong and successful advocate against FGM, a practice that more than 200 million women are still forced to endure. Her story is not one of shame, but of resilience. It is a story of refusing to be defined by circumstances.

Her first book, Against All Odds, tells this intergenerational story—painting a picture of resilience, family joy, and unshakable strength across a landscape of suffering. It is a story of women who refused to be victims, and of a daughter who rose to fight for equality and justice for women and girls

Transforming Adversity into Purposeful Leadership

Emily’s life changed profoundly after surviving a life-threatening stroke and brain injury. At that moment, everything she had built seemed to collapse. She had to relearn how to walk, talk, and care for herself. What could have marked the end of her story became the foundation of her vision for leadership and business purposes.

The experience taught Emily that leadership rests not in titles or power, but in service, empathy, and resilience. It instilled a deep sense of responsibility to create businesses and platforms that are both profitable and purposeful, providing spaces where people, especially women, individuals with disabilities, and multicultural communities, can thrive.

Her stroke became a reminder that life carries fragility, yet adversity can give rise to strength. Today, Emily leads with the conviction that business serves a greater mission: to act as a vehicle for inclusion, dignity, and enduring impact.

Upholding Inclusion and Empowerment Across Borders

Leading multiple enterprises across different countries requires clarity of purpose and consistent values. For Emily, inclusion and empowerment serve as the compass that guides every decision at BET Group Global and through the BET Foundation.

She ensures these values are upheld by embedding them into organizational culture, policies, and partnerships. In countries such as Australia, Kenya, and the UAE, systems are created to prioritize accessibility, celebrate diversity, and open doors for women, people with disabilities, and multicultural communities. Emily invests in training and mentoring, recognizing that values truly come alive when individuals at every level embody them in their daily work.

Most importantly, she leads by example. By sharing her own story of resilience and advocacy, Emily reminds her teams and partners that inclusion serves as a foundation for meaningful impact and sustainable success.

Leading With Heart in Business

For Emily, leading with heart means bringing humanity into leadership. It is about recognizing that people are not just employees, clients, or numbers on a balance sheet. They are individuals with stories, challenges, and potential.

In business, leading with heart means making decisions not only based on profit margins but also on the impact of how work uplifts women, people with disabilities, and multicultural communities. It is about creating environments where people feel valued, included, and empowered to contribute their best.

That is why Emily authored her second book, Leading Against All Odds, launching on October 17 on Amazon and her website www.againstallodds.com.au. In it, she discusses her leadership philosophy, which she calls soft leadership. To her, being soft does not mean weakness. It means leading with empathy, compassion, and courage, while still being strong and decisive. She believes that when people thrive, businesses thrive too.

Adversity as a Catalyst for Breakthroughs

One of the most defining moments in Emily’s entrepreneurial journey occurred after she suffered a life-threatening stroke and brain injury. Today, it is referred to as her stroke of luck, yet at the time it marked the most challenging period of her life. Their son was only a few months old and exclusively breastfed, and overnight her husband assumed the role of a single parent without any warning. Such an experience would be unimaginable to wish upon anyone.

That adversity became the catalyst for profound transformation. It compelled Emily to rebuild from the ground up, reshaping her vision for leadership and business. She came to understand that life and business extend beyond survival; they are about creating environments where others can flourish despite the challenges they face.

From this hardship emerged purpose. It led to the founding of BET Group Global and the BET Foundation, both committed to inclusion, empowerment, and meaningful impact for women, people with disabilities, and multicultural communities. Emily’s greatest trial became the foundation for her most significant contribution.

Driving Disability Inclusion at BET Group Global

At BET Group Global, disability inclusion forms a core part of daily operations rather than an afterthought. Emily’s personal journey with disability has given her a profound understanding of the barriers people face. She ensures that the company’s policies, culture, and practices actively remove those barriers while fostering opportunity and equity.

In practice, BET Group Global creates accessible workplaces, designs flexible employment opportunities, and ensures people with disabilities are represented at every level of the organization. The company emphasizes inclusive hiring through Essential Staffing Solutions, provides training and mentorship, and partners with organizations aligned with its vision for equity.

A distinctive aspect of their approach is a culture of gratitude embedded into daily routines. Each meeting and workday begins with team members sharing one thing for which they are grateful, regardless of whether it is work-related. This simple practice has transformed the teams, nurturing care, empathy, and genuine connection. By leading with gratitude, the teams support each other while building a stronger, more inclusive organization where every individual feels seen and valued.

Championing Feminine Leadership in Male-Dominated Fields

Advocating for feminine leadership in sectors traditionally led by middle-aged men presents significant challenges, particularly for women of color. Early in her career, Emily often encountered skepticism and bias in environments where women, and especially women from diverse backgrounds, were underrepresented.

At BET Group Global, she has cultivated a management team where eighty percent are women. This achievement reflects her trust in intuition when hiring and the support of her husband for this approach. The organization emphasizes promoting from within, ensuring that talent and potential are recognized, nurtured, and elevated rather than overlooked.

Through these practices, Emily demonstrates that feminine leadership, grounded in empathy, collaboration, and authenticity, serves as a strategic advantage. By embracing these strengths, she creates environments where women flourish, innovation thrives, and business succeeds.

Mentoring Australia and the Rise of Inclusive Leaders

Emily’s coaching philosophy with Mentoring Australia is grounded in resilience, empathy, and inclusive leadership. She believes that true leadership extends beyond skills or strategy; it is shaped by mindset, confidence, and the ability to navigate challenges while uplifting others.

Through mentoring, workshops, and one-on-one guidance, Emily helps women and emerging entrepreneurs recognize their strengths, overcome limiting beliefs, and develop strategies to thrive in complex environments. A key focus of her approach is fostering inclusive leadership; guiding them to create spaces where diversity is celebrated, every voice is valued, and collaboration drives meaningful impact.

Emily is also working on an upcoming app designed to support women and leaders in discovering their purpose and integrating it with their business. This platform will make mentorship and guidance accessible to a broader audience, enabling growth both personally and professionally while remaining aligned with core values and vision.

The Power of Empathy, Intuition, and Collaboration

Empathy, intuition, and collaboration form the foundation of Emily’s leadership style. Empathy enables her to understand the needs, challenges, and potential of the people she works with. Intuition guides her decisions in ways that align with both purpose and people, particularly when data alone offers insufficient insight. Collaboration ensures that every voice is acknowledged, and solutions are developed collectively rather than in isolation.

These qualities often receive limited attention in leadership because many organizations equate strength with authority, control, or a purely results-driven approach. Emily’s experiences—navigating life-threatening adversity and leading diverse teams; have shown that true strength arises from understanding, connecting, and co-creating.

At BET Group Global and the BET Foundation, these principles shape every initiative. From inclusive hiring and mentorship to programs that empower women, people with disabilities, and multicultural communities, Emily leads with heart and purpose. She fosters a culture of gratitude in which every team member and participant feels seen, valued, and supported.

Measuring Impact and Stories of Change

At the BET Foundation, impact is measured not solely in numbers, but in the real, transformative changes in people’s lives. Since 2015, the foundation has rescued over 5,000 girls from FGM and supported more than 200 families in Kenya, primarily single mothers caring for children with disabilities such as cerebral palsy. These figures represent lives transformed, yet the stories of resilience, hope, and empowerment truly capture the essence of the foundation’s work.

One story that stands out is of a single mother who arrived at the foundation in utter despair. She had faced severe exclusion within her community, and because of her child’s disability, those around her claimed she was bewitched. She contemplated ending her own life and that of her child. With the foundation’s support, she gained access to therapy, education, and emotional guidance, rebuilding her confidence and independence. Today, she serves as a disability champion in the Rift Valley, visiting families and supporting new mothers in accepting and caring for children with disabilities.

The foundation is now poised to make history by constructing the first-ever accessible respite centre in Kenya. A generous family in Eldoret donated land for the project, providing crucial support. To fund this transformational initiative, the foundation will host a fundraising dinner on the 17th of October at the Adelaide Convention Centre. The vision is to expand this model across Africa, ensuring that inclusion, support, and dignity serve as the standard rather than the exception.

Aligning Staffing Solutions With Ethics

At Essential Staffing Solutions, aligning staffing solutions with ethical values forms the core of operations. Across sectors such as healthcare, mining, and IT, integrity, fairness, and inclusion guide every recruitment and placement decision.

Emily leads a dedicated team in the UAE that drives this vision daily. Together, they ensure candidates are matched not only to skills and experience but also to organizational cultures that embrace diversity, equity, and respect. Training, mentorship, and guidance are provided to both clients and candidates to uphold ethical standards and foster inclusive workplaces.

By integrating ethical values into all processes, Essential Staffing Solutions delivers staffing solutions that are sustainable, socially responsible, and impactful, benefiting both organizations and the individuals they employ.

Transformative Coaching Journeys

One transformative coaching experience that Emily recalls vividly involved a young woman entrepreneur who struggled to find confidence and purpose in her business. When this mentee first approached Emily for one-to-one mentoring, she doubted her abilities, felt isolated, and hesitated to take risks, despite possessing remarkable potential.

Through a series of coaching sessions, Emily guided her to recognize her strengths, confront limiting beliefs, and align her personal purpose with her business vision. Together, they focused on resilience, a strong leadership mindset, and practical strategies to navigate challenges while remaining true to her authentic self. Over time, her confidence strengthened, her leadership style became more inclusive and empathetic, and she eventually began mentoring other women within her community.

Today, the entrepreneur leads a thriving business and influences with impact, attributing her transformation to the coaching process that revealed leadership as a balance of courage and heart. For Emily, this journey reinforced her belief that mentorship and guidance have the power to change lives in both professional and personal spheres.

Balancing Business Growth With Community Upliftment

Balancing the demands of running multi-million-dollar businesses with the mission of uplifting communities requires clarity, intentionality, and alignment of purpose. For Emily, business success and social impact are inseparable. Each decision is guided by the question of how it will serve both the company and the communities it touches.

Through BET Group Global, Essential Staffing Solutions, and the BET Foundation, she leads teams who share her vision and enable her to focus on strategic priorities. Social responsibility, inclusion, and empowerment are embedded in every layer of their operations and programs. From ethical hiring practices to mentorship, and from supporting families to empowering individuals with disabilities, each effort ensures that growth translates into meaningful change.

Her approach is centered on leading with heart and purpose. By aligning profit, impact, and philanthropy, Emily demonstrates how sustainable businesses can uplift communities, drive innovation, and inspire others to pursue the same path of purposeful leadership.

Writing Against All Odds and Its Message

Emily was inspired to write Against All Odds to share her journey of resilience, survival, and leadership. Her story includes overcoming a life-threatening stroke, living with disability, and building businesses that bring meaningful impact.

One of the central lessons she conveys is the importance of refusing to let anyone else’s perception define personal reality. After her stroke, doctors declared that she would never walk, talk, read, or write again. She chose to defy those predictions and prove otherwise.

The message she wishes readers to take away is that every challenge, no matter how overwhelming, holds the potential to be transformed into an opportunity for growth, leadership, and purpose. Through the book, she also challenges traditional definitions of strength in leadership. She highlights that empathy, intuition, and what she describes as soft leadership are powerful forces that create impact, inclusion, and sustainable success.

At its heart, Against All Odds seeks to inspire individuals, especially women and emerging leaders, to recognize their potential and lead with heart, courage, and resilience.

Empowering Migrants and Women to Rise Globally

Cultivating leadership and entrepreneurship in migrants and women requires the creation of opportunities, consistent guidance, and the building of confidence. Many of them face systemic barriers, cultural bias, or limited access to resources. To address this, Emily focuses on mentorship, structured training, and platforms that enable both personal and professional growth.

Through initiatives such as BET Group Global, Essential Staffing Solutions, Mentoring Australia, and the BET Foundation, she works to provide practical skills, meaningful networking, and exposure to global markets. A strong emphasis is also placed on mindset development, helping migrants and women understand their value, rise above limiting beliefs, and recognize their unique perspectives as powerful strengths in business and leadership.

For Emily, empowerment is achieved by equipping individuals with the right tools, consistent support, and belief in their own potential. By investing in migrants and women, she enables them to rise on a global scale, contribute with purpose, and lead with lasting impact.

Defining Leadership Lessons for Aspiring Leaders

Looking back, the defining leadership lesson that emerged from Emily’s journey is that true leadership rests on resilience, empathy, and purpose. According to her, titles or positions do not create a leader. It is the ability to rise above adversity, connect with people authentically, and create an impact that endures.

She witnessed firsthand that challenges, whether personal, professional, or systemic, can either limit or refine an individual. Emily believes that choosing to lead with courage, compassion, and integrity allows obstacles to transform into opportunities and inspires others in the process.

For her, every aspiring leader should understand that strength extends far beyond authority or control. It lies in the heart, in humility, and in the willingness to uplift others while remaining true to one’s mission. She holds the view that leadership is ultimately measured by the positive change one creates, the people one empowers, and the legacy one leaves behind.

A Life Shaped by Service, Leadership, and Family

Emily wished to highlight aspects that reflect both her identity and the work she leads. BET Group Global and the BET Foundation stand as award-winning organizations, and her leadership has earned her recognition as a Global CEO Winner. While awards were never the goal, she believes that when integrity, purpose, and meaningful impact guide the work, acknowledgment follows naturally.

Among the most defining moments of her life was the recognition by King Charles, when she received the Order of Australia for her service to people with disability and multicultural communities. She describes it as one of the finest days of her life and considers it a true honor to be acknowledged among remarkable Australians who are creating change.

Emily’s journey is also deeply personal. As a mother raising two accomplished children, both professional tennis players, she places great value on work-life balance. Her daughter pursues her education at the University of Miami, while her son continues his studies in Adelaide. Despite the demands of her professional and philanthropic commitments, she prioritizes being present and supportive for her family. She views this balance as essential to authentic leadership, where personal and professional worlds reinforce each other.

These experiences, woven through business, social impact, and family, continue to form Emily’s leadership philosophy. She leads with heart, integrity, and purpose, and remains committed to inspiring others to follow the same path.

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