Joseph Assaf AO
In 1967, at the age of 22, with no English, no money and no family, Joseph migrated to Australia from Lebanon in someone else’s shoes. Upon arrival, he worked in a factory at night and studied during the day.
In 1977, Joseph pioneered multicultural communication through his company Ethnic Communications, the world's first agency to specialize in multicultural marketing. He also founded Multicultural Marketing News, a free specialist magazine.
In 1988, Joseph founded the Ethnic Business Awards to celebrate and highlight the myriad of benefits that cultural diversity and multiculturalism brings to the nation.
Joseph has worked in the field of market research, marketing, advertising and promotion for many State and Federal Government Departments on many and diverse issues. He has also acted in the same capacity advising many blue chip companies in Australia and Overseas. He has acted as an advisor to several companies on exporting and marketing to overseas countries.
Joseph has served as a member of many councils, boards and committees, including:
The National Multicultural Advisory Council to the Prime Minister
The Australia Foundation for Culture and the Humanities
The Australian Constitutional Centenary Foundation
Advisor to many public and private, national and international, institutions on multicultural communication.
In June 2013, Prime Minister Gillard announced the appointment of Joseph to the Civil Society 20 group – the C20 – as part of our wider engagement process for the G20 meeting in Australia in 2014. Also in 2014 Joseph received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Migration Council Australia for helping to connect new migrants through the establishment of ethnic media publications and for the many decades he has spent raising awareness of the contribution of migrants through the Ethnic Business Awards.
In the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours list Joseph received the appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to multiculturalism, and to business as a supporter of community education projects for people from linguistically diverse backgrounds and to cultural harmony and inclusion.
“Joseph has made a towering contribution to multiculturalism and to the business community. His deep commitment to the values of innovation, tolerance and social equity has become legendary.”
In 2018 the National Archives of Australia produced a documentary on Joseph. This is his story in his own words.
