Dr Elaine Laforteza is the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Lead from the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion. Her specific remit is to oversee cultural diversity and anti-racism initiatives, programs, and projects across UTS. Her key role is to co-cordinate the design, delivery and evaluation of the UTS Cultural Diversity and Anti-Racism (CDAR) Action Plan.

Elaine has a PhD in Cultural Studies from Macquarie University. She has held academic positions at Macquarie University, Charles Sturt University, and most recently in the School of Communication and Transdisciplinary Innovation at UTS. Her book, The Somatechnics of Whiteness and Race: Colonialism and Mestiza Privilege is available through Routledge. She has published in academic journals on the topics of colonialism, everyday racism, pedagogy, cuteness and Filipino-Australian relations. For merging academic research with community activism, she received the 'Distinguished Service, Young Alumni' award from Macquarie University. 

She is the host of the SBS multi-award winning podcast, My Bilingual Family. She has also recently published My Language My Country, an Impact Studios' podcast that celebrates multilingualism as a super-power, and as a force for connection between migrants and First Nations people. She also co-established, and hosted, the Sydney iteration of monthly storytelling shows called Generation Women, which invites one woman in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s plus to share an original story based on a theme. Further, she is an emerging playwright with her plays produced for Sydney festivals. Her play, 'Thought You'd Never Ask' featured in UTS Backstage's first double bill production in June 2019. She sold her play to a production company called Fae Pictures, which aims to decolonise Hollywood.

Elaine is also a committee member of the UTS Multicultural Women's Network and key member of the Disability At Work Group. She also sits on the City of Sydney's Multicultural Advisory Panel and is a part of the NSW Anti-Racism Working Group.