Although I have only been in Sydney, Australia for two full days, I already know this has been a life alternating experience.
The amount of knowledge that has been jam packed into these past few days have been astounding. Each conversations has been insightful and refreshing, each lecture has helped me narrow my perspective and learn, and each workshop has shaped who I am and how I can create change. It’s been extremely difficult to properly write this blog post simply because I don’t even know where to start. Because of this I am going to split up this post in some initial impressions and will post later about the rest of the workshops, the other amazing delegates, the city of Sydney, some events that deserve their own posting, and the summit itself.
Workshops
On the more technique side the workshops of the first two days have been phenomenal. The CEO of G(irls)20, Farah Mohammed, alongside her innovative team have been able to showcase a diverse variety of career options that work to benefit the world, while also coupling a greater knowledge of ourselves through leadership, networking, communications planning, marketing, etc.
To begin we were welcomed to the Canadian Consulate by Marie-Louise Hannann, the senior trade Commissioner of the Consulate. She was able to instantly capture our attention and settle into the mindset that this was going to work, that we were here to learn, and that these opportunities were once in a life time. It was fantastic. (Also because we sat in alphabetical order of nations you can see me in the picture above on the very end of the table)
Next we were greeted by Karen-Hughes, the Global vice chair of Burson-Marsteller (The company that put me in contact with my mentor Lauren Gann) as well as Sally Haysom, the executive director of PPR (Public Relations Australia). These individuals along wiht their teams perfectly expressed the concept of “Amplifying your Voice through media and effective communications” through a series of speeches, interactive presentations, and Q&As. One of the greatest components of this workshop was their methods of communication’s planning. This was meant to ensure our initiatives and projects after the summit would get the proper branding, funding, or sponsorship, depending on what was exactly needed.
Then we were given the privilege of listening to Senator Michaelia Cash, Prime Minister for Women. We were installed energized by Michaelia’s persona and enthralled by her plans to improve Australia’s child care system, and parental leave. It was an honor to talk to such an energy.
After that we had a fantastic workshop on financial literacy with Julian King, the executive Director at Pottinger. I have to say, it was refreshing to discuss economics in a real world manner as opposed to conceptually.
That evening I recorded my statement for the G(irls)20 message and ate with the other delegates.
The next day, amazingly, was even more insightful. Amazingly we were able to be at the official launch party in the morning for the official launch of the Institute for Global Women Leaders. There we were able to interact with a large variety of women, from UN Women leaders, to entrepreneurs of NGOs to directors of Art Galleries. I will comment on the women I have met here as well as the organization more in a later post.
Our next workshop was with the well known company, Bain & Co, a Global Management Consulting firm, where Gary Turner, Head of Head of Asia Pacific Financial Services Practice,
Kathryn Van der Merwe, Principal of Bain & Co, alongside their team, taught us how to work from a social problem to building a solutions through either a company, NGO, government, initiative, or combinations of the few.
The last event I will mention was a Change through Advocacy Workshop with Erin Wicking, Post 2015 Ambassador & CW58 Policy Coordinator, World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) Samantha Paxton, Youth Engagement Officer & Nayuka Gorrie, Project Coordinator, National Indigenous Youth Leadership Academy. Each of these women have held events across the globe, influenced policy change at the highest level, even at the UN General Assembly, and instituted change at the individual, national, and global level. They also worked to teach us about the indigenous women of Australia alongside the nation’s history.
Editing this two days later, I can’t help remembering how I couldn’t think these workshops could have improved, especially the launch of IGWL, but boy was I wrong. More to come, the workshops with Norton Rose Fulright, GirlUP!, Google, 1 Million Women, and many others. I especially cannot wait for the Summit to begin tomorrow, in the Sydney Opera House.
