Introvert to WEF Global Shaper: Reese Wong on Community Building & Social Impact
"What I tried to do every break was basically, myself and a group of friends, we would get to all the resources and all the toys ahead of time. We'd set up a trading station, a little hut, like a booth, and we would organise the trade of these toys."
"Once I landed in London by 2022, I already had a head start because I already had a habit of being challenged, being in uncomfortable new spaces, being the youngest person in a room, being the only Asian person in a room."
"Instead of going to events, you could take the step to organise your own. It allows you to set the terms of how you're going to engage with other people. And also it's a great excuse to reach out to other people."
"I traced back a lot of the things I do today and I was like, what would be the original source of a lot of these opportunities? And it was exactly that step I took at 16 to start this nonprofit."
Reese Wong, a Hong Kong–raised LSE student and World Economic Forum Global Shaper, traces how setting up an inter-school nonprofit at 16 gave him a head start on building communities in London, how introversion can be reframed as a leadership superpower, and why creating your own spaces is often the best networking strategy for those who find large events overwhelming.
What you'll learn
- An inclination to organise, visible even in primary school trading-station games, can be an early signal of entrepreneurial capability worth cultivating rather than suppressing.
- The Diana Award took three applications over several years before it was awarded, persistence across rejection cycles is a prerequisite for recognition at the highest levels.
- Putting yourself in an event organiser role rather than an attendee role gives an introvert control over the agenda and a legitimate reason to approach others.
- Building reps of discomfort early, being the youngest or the only person of a certain background in a room repeatedly, compounds into resilience that feels natural by the time you need it most.
- A magazine is a simple idea, but executed as an inter-school publication it becomes a compelling value exchange that brings schools in as promoters rather than passive recipients.
- Not every organisation needs to scale into a commercial enterprise; the volunteer-led nature of ISSIA HK was part of its power, not a structural flaw to be fixed.
- Setting an internal locus of control, focusing energy only on what you can influence, is a learnable skill built through repeated exposure to rejection and setbacks.
Key moments from the conversation
The primary school trading station
Before any strategy or direction existed, Reese was organising toy-trading huts in the school playground at breaktime. Looking back, he sees this as an early expression of an inclination to lead and organise that would later manifest in ISSIA HK and his community-building work in London.
From a mental health internship to a nonprofit
A grade-10 internship at a Hong Kong mental health charity gave Reese his first taste of learning by doing, seeing a real, tangible problem and contributing to it directly. The satisfaction of that experience drove him to start ISSIA HK and pursue project-based social impact as his main mode of work.
ISSIA HK: the magazine pivot that built scale
When a loose student network failed to sustain engagement, Reese introduced an inter-school magazine as a concrete deliverable that gave schools a reason to promote the organisation to their students. The model grew from five schools to sixty, turning writers and editors into long-term volunteers across the organisation.
Three Diana Award applications, one win
Reese applied for the Princess Diana Award in 2020, 2022, and finally won in 2024. Rather than framing the earlier applications as failures, he sees the three-application arc as a natural reflection of how much his work and his own development had evolved across those years.
Introversion as an organising advantage
Rather than forcing himself to socialise in large, unstructured settings, Reese built a system of outbound reach (organising events and using them as an excuse to invite people) and inbound magnets (publishing work that gives people a reason to reach out). Both strategies put him in control of his engagement on his own terms.
Frequently asked questions
What is ISSIA HK and what does it do?
ISSIA HK is a youth-led inter-school social entrepreneurship organisation founded by Reese Wong in Hong Kong. It grew to over 500 volunteers delivering more than 30 projects aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, using a peer-to-peer, project-based learning model.
How does Reese Wong recommend introverts build professional networks?
He recommends two strategies: first, organising your own events so you control the terms of engagement; and second, sharing your work publicly to create inbound interest, magnets that give people a reason to reach out to you rather than forcing you to approach them cold.
What is the World Economic Forum Global Shapers community?
The Global Shapers community is a WEF initiative comprising young people under 30 who are driving change in their communities. Reese is a Global Shaper and the President Curator of the Second London Hub.
What personal sacrifices did Reese make pursuing social entrepreneurship at university?
He described his time balance as significantly skewed away from a conventional student experience, with academics and social life both compressed to fit the volume of projects, talks, and community-building roles he was running simultaneously.
Who is Reese Wong?
Reese Wong
Founder & World Economic Forum Global Shaper · ISSIA HK
Reese Wong is an award-winning social entrepreneur, community-builder and public speaker. He is the Founder of ISSIA HK, a youth-led nonprofit that champions global citizenship education through peer-to-peer and project-based learning. Since 2019, ISSIA has involved 500+ volunteer staff, launching 30+ projects on the SDGs, earning recognition on Nasdaq. More recently, Reese is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and Curator (President) at London II Hub. He also champions entrepreneurial culture, leading LSE Entrepreneurs, Stanford ASES London, Next Chapter, the Potentia Fellowship and more. As an international speaker, Reese has delivered 100+ talks to 5000+ attendees on social entrepreneurship and personal branding. He has also been recognized as a 2024 Diana Award Recipient, Aspen UK Rising Leader, Future Minds 25 Under 25, PMI UK Scholar, Young Fellows Advisory Board Member at the Royal Society of Arts and Trustee at LSE's Student Union. Reese previously worked as a Communications Consultant for Ashoka, the world's leading community of social entrepreneurs. He was also a Community Manager at the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. He has experience across the UK Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, U.S. Department of State, Linklaters, McKinsey and more.
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