Her own grandmother, she said, taught her the value of hard work and not to wait for people in life who will enable you to succeed. Rather, look for who’s going to stop you.
Flavia encouraged delegates to look for the value in the experiences of those around them, and to foster the next generation of women emerging in technology. Lean into your own personal genome, she said, and you might just find your role model right there.
Vanesa Doake and Ally Watson, co founders of Code Like A Girl, talked about the obstacles they’ve faced in trying to redress the gender imbalance within the industry.
A glimpse into the future – sans 40 per cent of today’s jobs and where workers can expect 17 roles and five career changes – illustrates just how important that’s becoming.
Anita Beveridge, head of humanitarian engagement at conference sponsor Palantir, spoke about delivering aid to Syria. The organisation uses software platforms to integrate all their data into one central location, making the distribution of resources safer and easier.
A panel discussion addressed the benefits of a diverse workforce, and featured Salesforce’s Ray Moukaddem; Xero’s Yasmine Sefouane; Stephen Scheeler, formerly of Facebook; Canva’s Shipra Mahindra; Fiona Habermehl of Ernst and Young, and moderated by Ralf Finchett of KPMG.
Why do women say no to new opportunities? Kerrie-Anne Turner, head of general business and channels at VMware gave insights into her experiences at the Telstra Business Awards – which she initially rejected. She urged the audience to step up and stand out, to say yes to accolades, not just for yourself, but also to influence others.
Mentorship progams and gamified learning experiences were strategies for News Corp’s program manager, training and diversity, Pratibha Gannavarapu. Tasked with creating a learning culture in an organisation on a shoestring, she believes promoting excitement and fun in teams is key to encouraging them to create something better.
Bias in the recruitment process breeds bias in the workplace was the topic for a second panel, with Jacky Carter of Hays; Gavin White of Deloitte, Lina Patel from Code for Australia, SEEK’s Kendra Vant; and Swati Singh of Mirivac and moderated by Jessica Symes.
Day two of the conference included Gumtree’s chief technology officer Roisin Parkes, Sydney University’s manager of digital innovation Sonya Cororan and Katrina Johnson, associate general counsel and head of APAC legal at Uber.
A panel moderated by FreightExchange’s CEO Cate Hull discussed championing women in technology initiatives, and general and tech specific workshops operated over both days.
Microsoft's Vajira Weerasekera believes in the value of fostering a growth mindset.
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