Overview
Hear inspiring women of colour leaders who are championing for change, navigating personal challenges and embracing their individuality and cultural identity to become leaders in their own right. The first National Public Sector Women of Colour Leadership & Allyship Summit 2023 will bring together inspirational stories of leadership from women of colour across the public sector and highlight the need for a broader cultural diversity agenda that addresses the issues and barriers faced by women of colour that hinders their progress.
Who will attend
Group Discounts
Benefits of attending
- Hear first hand accounts of resilience and authenticity from women of colour in public sector leadership
- Gain real, candid advice from WoC allies and diversity experts on levelling the leadership playing field and championing a diverse, equitable and inclusive work environment
- Tackle career and leadership challenges head on and actively seek opportunities for growth
- Learn about the challenges the women of colour community is facing in the public sector context and what can be done to overcome them
- Be inspired by the lived experiences of trailblazing and motivational women of colour
Agenda Highlights
Day 1
Key Speakers
Transformation Thought Leader & Author
Yemi Penn is an inspiration. As a single mother who went from homelessness to leading a successful international engineering consultancy, authoring bestselling books and now engaging in keynote speaking and transformation coaching, she has truly seen it all. In this engaging and inspiring keynote, Yemi will take you through her journey from realising she was the absolute minority in her degree to the trials of single motherhood as an engineer and the lessons she learned on her path to global success. Spanning topics from how we need to reframe resilience, to the power of vulnerability and how work life balance is a trap, this exclusive keynote will leave you empowered and refreshed.
Author, Shattering Identity Bias
Captain Mona Shindy, CSC is a retired Naval officer with over 30 years of military and business experience. Drawing upon strong academic credentials and the lessons and skills gained throughout a truly inspiring career, Captain Shindy now imparts knowledge to others as an international keynote speaker and strategic leadership and management consultant.
With degree qualifications in Engineering, Commerce (Advanced Major in Organisation and Management Studies) and Arts (Masters in Politics and Policy), Mona has been a trailblazer in male dominated environments, consistently delivering outstanding organisational outcomes.
Her story is one of forging new paths never before traversed, courage, integrity, resilience and grit. Through measured risk taking, systems thinking and a reliance on strong emotional intelligence, Mona has been a highly successful, project director, change agent and organisational leader.
She has championed significant cultural and organisational reforms relating to the adoption of innovative best practice supporting a healthy work-life balance and many initiatives promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
In 2015 she was recognised as the National Telstra Business Woman of the Year and was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross in the Australia Day honours list for outstanding service as a strategic intercultural advisor.
CAPT Shindy is now a highly sought after author, speaker and strategic business, leadership and management consultant.
Victorian Commissioner for LGBTIQ+ Communities
Dr Todd Fernando is a descendant of the Kalarie peoples of the Wiradjuri nation and identifies as queer with pronouns he/him. Todd is the Victorian Commissioner for LGBTIQ+ Communities – the second person to fill this ground-breaking position. In this role, Todd provides high-level strategic advice to the Victorian Government on the development and implementation of policies, services, and programs to meet the needs of LGBTIQ+ communities. Todd completed his PhD in Medical Anthropology with the University of Melbourne and is a leading expert in reforming social policy and cultural safety frameworks in public and private sectors across Australia. Todd is recognised as a strategic thought leader, with a commitment to improving outcomes and opportunities for all Australians.
NSW Public Service Commission
Kathrina was appointed Public Service Commissioner in April 2020 after previously working as Deputy Secretary for the Department of Communities and Justice.
Kathrina has extensive public sector experience with both state and federal governments. She has held senior executive roles in the Department of Justice, NSW Audit Office and NSW Information and Privacy Commission. Kathrina is on the board of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government and is a member of Chief Executive Women.
Kathrina has qualifications in law and economics. She is passionate about working in the public interest, and is a champion for diversity and inclusion.
As Public Service Commissioner, Kathrina leads workforce strategy and reform, and delivers key workforce programs for the NSW public sector. The sector is Australia’s largest workforce with over 430,000 employees.
Supported By
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Victorian Public Sector (VPS) Women of Colour Network (WoCN)
The Victorian Public Sector Women of Colour Network (WoCN) is a staff-led collective run by and for self-identifying women of colour across the Victorian public sector.
The network was established in January 2019 by a group of passionate women in Department of Premier and Cabinet’s Multicultural Affairs and Social Cohesion Division.
It is our vision that in due course, it is expected that a People of Colour Network will be established, within which the WoCN will form one section. We strive to create a safe and inclusive space that allows us to:
• contribute our policy, community and lived experience to inform the development of policies and programs that better meet the needs of communities
• advocate for our professional and personal development
• improve diversity and inclusion practices across the VPS including through recruitment, retention, and progression of diverse talents. -
Diversity Council Australia (DCA) is the independent not-for-profit peak body leading diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We provide unique research, inspiring events and programs, curated resources and expert advice across all diversity dimensions to a community of member organisations.
Our belief, vision and mission
- Our belief is that diversity and inclusion is good for people and business
- Our vision is to create a more diverse and inclusive Australia.
- Our mission is to encourage and enable Australian organisations to create diverse and inclusive workplaces.
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Multicultural Hub Canberra is a leading provider of services for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers and is part of a network of Multicultural Centres in Canberra and across SE NSW including Queanbeyan, Goulburn, Cooma and Bega.
Our passionate team of staff work closely with our clients across a broad range of programs, including support for newly-arrived migrants and refugees, youth services, employment, women’s services, counselling services and more.
More information can be found at www.mhub.org.au
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AFRICAN WOMEN AUSTRALIA (AWAU)
African Women Australia’s (AWAU) mission is to ensure that the voices and lived experiences of continental African women and their descendants are centred and heard. It seeks to ensure that the needs of African women and their communities are addressed through our diverse community engagement, development, and empowerment initiatives. AWAU’s purpose is to strengthen national intellectual capacity on African Women in Australia by being the hub for comprehensive, up-to-date and Afrocentric information about African women in Australia. AWAU does this by seeking first to understand African women and their communities and then developing programs and initiatives that directly respond to their needs.
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The ASIAN AUSTRALIAN ALLIANCE (AAA) is an advocacy network that empowers, advocates and creates a platform for change for ALL Asian Australians by creating projects, workshops, campaigns and public awareness.
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EVERYDAY INCLUSION is unique because our team have firsthand lived experience of barriers and exclusion in the workplace. Gloria is a Black woman who historically, is impacted by intergenerational disadvantage as a result of exclusion and marginalisation. Craig, the business partner of a white European man, is typically the most advantageous when it comes to navigating the world. These two powerful individuals as a team ensure that businesses understand the problem first before trying to implement solutions to an undefined problem. Using research in business risk management, effective identification and utilisation of workforce strengths, inclusiveness, and performance they create workplace Inclusion Strategies to achieve a diverse competitive edge.
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As Executive Coaches, our approach is firmly based on the philosophy that YOU are the expert on you. We will draw upon our own Executive Leadership experience to help you:
- Discover emotionally intelligent ways to break through challenges to achieve success.
- Catalyse new insights and reframe your thinking.
- Tap into your inherent wisdom to find your own answers that allow you to excel in ways that align with your values
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Winitha is Australia’s first and foremost Thought Leader in the advancement of People of Colour and in building anti-fragile cultures of inclusion and allyship.
In 2021 she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her extensive work in diversity and inclusion.
With over 22 years of experience in executive roles and launching several businesses, she has provided an incredible amount of unique insights, experiences and expertise to help People of Colour become leaders and successful entrepreneurs. Her expertise in Diversity and Inclusion advances support leaders and businesses in creating inclusive, connected, antifragile and engaged organisations and communities with half the resources and time and double the impact. In addition to this she helps leaders and businesses to create anti-racist cultures to drive equity and equality for People of Colour.
Winitha also helps Women and People of Colour get unstuck, get traction and experience freedom in being who they always knew they were meant to be. In 2019, she launched #ColourFULL, Australia’s first leadership and entrepreneurship conference and awards night by women of colour for women of colour and allies as well as many other firsts for Women of Colour in the area of entrepreneurship/business and leadership.
Through her programs, she aims to provide a safe environment, support, accountability, training and the mentorship you need to achieve your desired outcomes.