Celebrating incredible women who #ChooseToChallenge
Throughout March, as my personal celebration of International Women’s Day, I’m sharing the achievements of strong women across the world who embody the call #ChooseToChallenge.
When Jacinda Ardern took the office of Prime Minister in New Zealand in 2017, she made history on so many levels. She was the youngest ever leader of New Zealand’s Labour party, the world’s youngest female head of government and New Zealand’s youngest Prime Minister in 150 years. She also became only the second elected prime minister in the world to have a baby while in office.
But Jacinda has not stopped setting records and changing perceptions. Her empathetic, considered leadership has been praised globally, as New Zealand weathered many storms including the Christchurch mosque shooting in 2019 and most recently, swift and decisive handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thank you Jacinda has making us stop, think and reconsider leadership and our capacity for compassion and community.
Tanya Hosch is one of this country’s most pre-eminent Indigenous leaders, committed to pursuing constitutional recognition of Australia’s First Nations people.
Tanya is the first Indigenous person and second woman appointed to the AFL executive, has held leadership roles in sport, the arts, culture, social justice and public policy and was recently named 2021 South Australian of the Year.
She is transforming the AFL, having championed the first Indigenous player statue of Nicky Winmar, instigating a review of anti-vilification policy within the code, helping secure an apology for Adam Goodes and delivering a new industry framework to help prevent racist treatment of players.
Thank you Tanya for your determination for strong leadership and determination to create change for the entire community by advancing women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and gender-diverse Australians.
Moana Hope is an incredible athlete who is an inspiration for women and girls everywhere.
Moana played cricket and football at both state and national levels before choosing to concentrate on football and was one of two marquee Collingwood players for the inaugural 2017 AFLW.
Her skill and love of the game has inspired countless players. Moana’s amazing sporting achievements include 74 goals in 2006, 67 goals in 2007, 71 goals in 2008, 40 goals in 2012, 87 goals in 2014, 68 goals in 2015, before kicking a record breaking 100 goals in 2016.
On a personal level, Moana has shown incredible strength, coping with the loss of her dad at a young age and taking on the role of full-time carer for her sister, Vinny. She has become a spokesperson and brand ambassador for many leading Australian and international brands, has written an autobiography and runs a successful business. In 2019 she married her partner, Isabelle Carlstrom and the couple now has a beautiful baby daughter together.
Thank you Moana for showing strength in so many facets of your life, paving the way for women in sport and never giving up on your dreams.
Melanie Perkins is an Australian technology entrepreneur, CEO and co-founder of Canva. Perkins is one of the youngest female CEOs of a tech start-up valued over A$1 billion.
As a private tutor for graphic design students, Melanie noticed the difficulties students had in learning design programs and thought there was a business opportunity in making the design process easier; a platform where no technical experience was required.
Created in 2013, Canva now helps anyone, anywhere create and publish beautiful, professional materials. With Melanie at the helm, Canva has raised more than $140 million, is valued at $2.5 billion, and has 15 million active monthly users around the globe. The number of female CEOs of venture-backed companies start up founders is still very small – just 1% - so Melanie is truly leading the way.
“We’ve done less than 1 percent of what we think is possible — we’ve got .56 percent of the world’s population on the platform, but we want to empower the entire world,” said Melanie.
Thank you Melanie for believing in yourself and showing the world how a simple idea and determination can be transformational.
Ronni Kahn AO is the founder and CEO of OzHarvest. After more than 20 years in the hospitality industry, Ronni decided it was time to make a change – one that would allow her to make a difference in people’s lives and give greater purpose to her own.
As Ronni was continually stunned by the amount of food wasted by the hospitality industry, she decided to do something about it. Inspired by AmericaHarvest, a charity that had been operating successfully for over 20 years in New York, Ronni brought the food-rescue model back to Sydney.
Since its inception, OzHarvest has delivered over 17 million meals to women, children and men in need and diverted more than 5 million tonnes of waste from landfill since the company’s inception.
Thank you Ronni for all you do to to make a contribution to society – for supporting those in need and your incredible impact in raising the profile of food wastage and its impact on the environment.
“Be brave and courageous because all you have is now. We have no idea what’s around the corner. Life is too short not to live a purposeful, meaningful, joyous, enriched life.” Ronnie Kahn
International Women’s Day
#ChooseToChallenge