Equality Talks WORK180

Equality Talks Season Two has been absolutely amazing to be part of and I cannot believe the calibre of women that I've had the chance to speak to. I have learnt so much from the wonderful women this season.
The theme that really came to me when I was reflecting on the season is generosity. I was blown away by the amount of generosity all our guests showed with their time, their wealth of information, and their true desire to see other women succeed.
Have a listen to recap this season's episodes. 

Sangeeta Venkatesan took her 25 years of banking and financial experience and founded FairVine Super, where they want to empower women to take control of their finances and future. In this episode we discussed Sangeeta’s impressive career history, the crossroads she reached on several occasions where she had to decide what was really important to her, and managing working with very small children. Sangeeta raised the superannuation gap, and what FairVine are doing to address financial inequality and increase financial literacy and independence of Australian women. With practical advice on networking and believing in yourself, Sangeeta supports women advocating for themselves and asking for what they are worth.

Camille Wilson experienced severe mental health issues from a young age, and truly understands what that can impose onto an individual’s life. She founded social enterprise Grow Together Now, with the mission to change the way we see mental health in Australian workplaces and schools, based on three core skills: being aware, being courageous and being real. We talked about her mental health journey, the gap in wellness and mental health management programs that ignores people who aren’t either thriving or in crisis, managing emotions in response to stress and the importance of leadership buy in for changing workplace cultures. Camille shared the three ‘moments that matter’ in relation to mental health, and activities that can help you move from blah to thriving.

Somoud El Masri is the Women’s Network Global Co-chair at Jacobs Engineering Company, and sits on the Inclusion & Diversity Council. She shared a number of fascinating (and shocking) stories of inequality from earlier in her career, that were the catalyst for the work she does now. With amazing insight into improving gender equality, pay equity, the importance of leadership in creating change and the value of women supporting each other, this conversation is a really fun chat covering many aspects of diversity and inclusion.

Samantha Payne has her own personal story of pregnancy loss that led to her co-founding Pink Elephants support network. They are on a mission to ensure no woman walks the journey of early pregnancy loss alone. They have built an amazing community of support groups, and impact 2.500 women and their partners per month. They support hospitals across Australia, as well as providing free resources on their 'virtual hug' of a website. Samantha also shared the story of growing their national charity from just an idea to a nationwide movement, impacting policy, legislation, workplaces and individuals.

Shivani Gopal is the Founder and CEO of The Remarkable Woman and Co-Founder and CEO of Upstreet, a Fintech start-up. She is a dedicated advocate for gender equality and closing the wealth gap for everyday Australians. Her work impacts women and girls from school age through to executive directors and her goal is to help 1 million women.
Shivani discussed the link between systemic influences and individual empowerment to create change, the role of unconscious bias in slowing transformation and why men need to be part of the journey. She shared some amazing success stories from women learning to speak up and advocate for themselves, and the value of networks.
Shivani’s life motto of, “Dream big, and do the work,” is how she keeps moving with such energy towards her goals and ambitions.