WATCH ME: International Women’s Day I The Power of Embracing Difference AU & NZ
International Women’s Day Panel: The Power of Embracing Differences (Australia & New Zealand)
This International Women’s Day, we’re going global with two online panel sessions, one for our UK & Ireland members and another for those of you in Australia and New Zealand.
Whether you’ve just started out in the industry on a graduate or apprenticeship scheme, you’re working your way up the ladder as a middle manager, or you’re in a senior leadership position, we know it’s important that every woman feels empowered and embraces their differences and their strengths.
The theme for International Women’s Day is #EmbraceEquity. To celebrate that, we’ve brought together women from across a range of fields in the industry at different stages of their career to talk about the power of embracing differences.
They’ll be sharing their career journey, sharing with you their best advice and we’ll be discussing each panellist’s differences to discover how they’ve helped them succeed
Our Australia & New Zealand panel will be hosted by the fantastic Michelle Redfern:
Panellist’s
About Sirma…
Sirma joined the Meat Industry Association (MIA) as Trade and Economic Manager in March 2015 following a career in the public sector during which she developed a deep knowledge of trade policy and significant trade negotiations experience.
She was appointed as CEO in April 2020.
Prior to joining MIA Sirma was with the Ministry of Primary Industries’ (MPI) trade policy team, where she was involved in progressing the primary sector interests in the negotiations of goods market access and sanitary and phytosanitary provisions in New Zealand’s free trade agreements. Sirma has also worked with the Ministry of Economic Development (now MBIE) in negotiating and implementing New Zealand’s technical barriers to trade obligations.
In addition to a long history of negotiating bilateral and pluri-lateral trade agreements, Sirma has represented New Zealand’s interests at a number of international forums including the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
About Aliette…
Aliette lives in Melbourne with her husband and two adorable, but demanding young boys. Originally from France, she graduated in the UK and worked for a variety of small to very large FMCG retailers and distributors in the UK. She bought everything from wine to furniture before leading the buying efforts for Medicinal and Health and Beauty across the UK for one of their largest supermarkets.
A friend’s wedding precipitated a move to Melbourne 12 years ago where she joined Coles.
Highly commercial and outward looking, Aliette loves building long term relationships with strategic partners. She has had a successful career at Coles where she now leads the BBQ and Value Added categories. Aliette has a passion for looking at the end to end supply chain, looking for transformational opportunities to optimise value for Coles and its supplier partners, and deliver value for customers
About Raige…
Raige is the Finance Manager – Financial Planning & Analysis for JBS Southern Business Unit.
Before joining JBS, she finished her Bachelor of Science major in Accountancy degree in the Philippines and has been a Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA) both in Philippines and Australia. She moved overseas to Dubai as a Management Accountant in multinational companies for 5 years mainly performing financial analysis, financial forecast and month-end closing process.
She joined JBS 7 years ago as an Assistant Accountant in Bordertown and played a key role in streamlining month-end processes and continued improvement within the plant’s finance department. With JBS support, she was given an opportunity to handle her first leadership role as a Management Accountant looking after several sites in the Southern business and providing support to the site Accountants.
Currently, she is now the Finance Manager for FP&A leading a team of 5 diverse women responsible for the BU’s periodic reporting, manage budgeting and forecasting processes for the business. She is very passionate about developing her young team and finding opportunities for them to learn and grow professionally within JBS.
Outside work, she is a Tennis Mum spending 10 hours a week in a tennis court supporting her young girl who wants to be better in the sport that she loves
About Michelle…
Michelle is a globally recognised gender equality, diversity and inclusion consultant. She advises organisations in the business and sporting sectors on DEI strategy development and implementation and works directly with women leaders to advance their careers.
Michelle has been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 100 Women of Influence and won awards for her contribution to women’s advancement. She is passionate about what sets her soul on fire, closing the global leadership gender gap.