Why we need female founders to fuel us.

We know it takes a village and a hell of a lot of hard work to start up your start up, and to keep your head above water as you build it out.

You can't go it alone. So you need a tribe of mentors and backers and way-pavers to bounce off as you hit walls, crest peaks and ride the troughs.

If you're a female founder, you're already up against it (current stats show female-founded startups received just 2.2% of 2017’s total global venture capital funding pot while all-male teams received roughly 79% which equates to about $66.9 billion). We've got a long way to go to get ahead, let alone equal.

It's why we need to keep fuelling ourselves so we can keep going, despite the numbers stacking against us.

And it's why we, at girledworld, are so fortunate to have such an extraordinary community of trailblazing female founders around us, who we learn from, laugh with and who fuel our girledworld mission everyday!

We couldn't do it without them. And would like to seriously, hands on heart hank all those amazing women who have helped us and hoisted us along the way.

A special THANK YOU A THOUSAND TIMES to Jeanette Cheah from The Hacker Exchange, for penning this powerhouse round-up below. (This article was first published on Linkedin for International Women's Day 2018. #pressforprogress )
 

The Hacker Exchange takes students to global startup and innovation hotspots.

BY JEANETTE CHEAH, The Hacker Exchange

Hooray for female empowerment! To quote the almighty Oprah in honour of International Women's Day, “a new day is on the horizon” and women are supporting each other and being heard like never before. 

Riding this exhilarating wave of sisterly solidarity, I thought I’d share some of the fantastic ways that women in the Australian startup and technology space are coming together to build the economy, the internet, and meaningful connections. 

The League of Extraordinary Women

The League of Extraordinary Women

Founded in 2011, the League is led by Sheryl Thai (also of Cupcake Central) and was created by a high-achieving squad including Sarah Riegelhuth of Wealth Enhancers and Liz Atkinson-Volpe of Project Gen Z. Polished, professional, with a dash of sass, the women of the League have conquered the Australian market with nine chapters across the country, plus the runaway success of the future-focussed ‘Run the World, Techformation’ conference. They now have their eyes firmly set on connecting women globally. Look out for their unique networking platform, Find your Five, and events throughout the year. 

Insta-style: Inspirational quotes, pithy life observations that make you feel 'seen', and the occasional #deskgoals snap featuring a donut and Macbook

Quote: “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”.

Must read: Thrive, Arianna Huffington

Likely theme song: Formation, Beyonce

LMBDW

Like-Minded Bitches Drinking Wine

The coolest girl in class who also happens to be a straight-A student, LMBDW was founded by two 30 under 30 (I know, I know) honorees – Jane Lu, CEO of the painfully cool fashion e-retailer Showpo, and Gen George, MD of millennial job-search platform Skilld, and double-sided marketplace platform, tamme.io.

With their combined social media chops and cheeky group name, LMBDW has exploded to over 60,000 members on Facebook, spawning in-person meetups from Melbourne to London, Singapore and even Newcastle. These ladies are all about the hustle, with many members in true start-up phase or balancing their job with entrepreneurial aspirations. Think high-energy, wine-powered business speed dating, ‘sweat session’ group yoga meetups, all Snapped and live-streamed on Facebook.

Insta-style: Stylised group shots, flatlay cocktail spreads, pop-culture references and plenty of fashion inspo.

Quote: "Bitches build empires"

Must read: #GIRLBOSS by Sophie Amoruso

Likely theme song: Work, Bitch, Britney Spears

Girl Geek Academy

Girl Geek Academy

If you’re meeting with CEO, Sarah Moran, get ready for an injection of energy, unabashed femininity and badass-ness. Having learned to code at only 5 years old, Sarah and her team are focussed on increasing the number of women with successful STEM careers - while also showing girls it's cool to be smart.

Girl Geek Academy's co-founders are a fabulous combination of Hustlers, Hipsters and Hackers located globally, and they are to here to help women of all ages build the internet. Their flagship all-women hackathon, #shehacks is complemented by #shemakesgames and #missmakescode for girls aged 5-8 years old, and they firmly believe that hacking can be fuelled by pressed juice and cupcakes, just as it can by beer and pizza. Girl Geek Academy's important work also includes supporting teachers as they educate the next generation of engineers, leaders and technologists.

Insta-style: Cute as a button 7-year-olds with robots, candid, colourful hackathon shots and casually-styled afternoon teas. 

Quote: "If Donald Trump can run a country you can run a startup."

Theme song: "Thank you for being a friend", The Golden Girls theme song

Girledworld

girledworld World of Work Summit - RMIT University, June 16 + June 17 2018. Click to BOOK TIX!

Oh hi, next generation. While the rest of us are pretending to be grown ups, Girledworld is squarely focused on girls aged 12-17, showing them that technology, innovation and entrepreneurship are valid career choices, teaching skills such as human centred design, VR/AR, UX and leadership.

Founded by two Wade Institute alumna, Madeleine Grummett and Edwina Kolomanski, and boasting speakers such as Kelly O’Dwyer, Jess Vovers and more, Girledworld is the new EdTech kid on the block, and plans to stay that way. Check out their World of Work (WOW) Summit in June, to be held at RMIT University. 

Insta-style: Bold black and white, no nonsense call to arms for young girls and female leaders.

Quote: "If you want to change a generation, start with girls."

Must read: I am Malala, Malala Yousef

Likely theme song: Who run the world? (Girls), Beyonce

Code Like A Girl

Code like a Girl

With first-hand experience on the barriers of being a female developer, CEO and co-founder Ally Watson is all about bringing practical tools, support and confidence to young women in technology. Code like a Girl is a social enterprise, running hands-on workshops (build your own chatbot, anyone?) and facilitating internship programs placing young technologists inside real companies to gain experience, form relationships and build confidence.

Insta-style: Lego figurines, nerd-core inside jokes, an unabashed love for maths and code.

Must read: Creative Confidence, David M. Kelley and Tom Kelley

Likely theme song: Confident, Demi Lovato

One Roof Women

One Roof Co-Working

If you're a female entrepreneur in Melbourne, then you've definitely heard about One Roof. Located in Southbank and founded by ex-lawyer, mentor and community beating heart, Sheree Rubinstein, One Roof is a co-working and events space dedicated to women-led businesses.

Home to over 70 businesses, and playing host to events such as pitch nights, international live streams, F*ckUp Nights and their recent Community Market, it's hard to believe that One Roof was once a pop-up concept trialled in NYC, London, Sydney and LA!

Insta-style: Colourful and bright, just like the space itself, One Roof's Insta is all about celebrating community members.

Quote: “An entrepreneur is someone who will jump off a cliff and assemble an airplane on the way down.” - Reid Hoffman

Must read: Purpose, Lisa Messenger

Business Chicks

The stateswoman of this round-up, Business Chicks has been sparking inspiration since 2005. Founded by powerhouse, Emma Isaacs, the now-global organisation is known for their lavish keynote events, featuring rockstar speakers such as Kate Hudson, Brené Brown, Gloria Steinham and Bob Geldof. It's tailored more towards the career professional, so expect rooms full of ideas, cufflinks and networking for women who prefer not to climb the ladder alone.

Their 9 to Thrive expo is also a cornerstone of any self-respecting female entrepreneur’s calendar. Bring your business cards, and have your elevator pitch down pat. 

Insta-style: Plenty of pink, feminist heroes, and gorgeous event pics.

Quote: "We're stronger when we lift each other up."

Must read: Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg

Likely theme song: Roar, Katie Perry 

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE...

Trialblazing female powerhouses Jeanette Cheah, Ally Watson, Sarah Moran, Sheree Rubinstein and Sheryl Thai.

Female Founders Aus

Less of an organisation and more of a movement, Startup Vic recently started showcasing female founders with a dedicated Instagram account which asks one simple question - What’s your superpower? From Red Ballon founder, Naomi Simpson to recently-funded AgriTech entrepreneur Anastasia Volkolva (and yours truly), this account puts to shame any conference organiser who dares say “but I couldn’t find a female entrepreneur to speak on this panel”. 

Inspiring Rare Birds

Founded by serial entrepreneur, Jo Burston, Rare Birds is all about visibility and motivation for female entrepreneurs. #ifshecanican is the mantra, and with a speakers bureau, mentorship program, published books, podcasts and plenty of publicity, this flock is bringing the spotlight to female entrepreneurs.

The Click List

Created by Vic ICT 4 Women, The Click List gives journalists and event organisers immediate access to qualified and dynamic female speakers and MCs in STEAM. It's free to use and nominate (or self-nominate), and will hopefully help bring greater diversity to conference stages and voices in the media.

Go Girl, go for IT

Another initiative from Vic ICT 4 Women, Go Girl, go for IT is a careers event that aims to excite and engage female secondary school students by introducing them to the diverse world of IT. Check out their upcoming August event at Deakin University.

ELEVACO

Helping women get 'pitch ready' is a major part of the entrepreneurial lifecycle, and ELEVACO is here for it. It's a not-for-profit organisation run by NYC-based investor speaker and entrepreneur Marissa Warren, who reckons that women being only 3% of funded tech entrepreneurs is not really acceptable.

Pep Talk Her

Coming soon, Meggie Palmer's app is fighting to close the #genderpaygap with confidence boosting strategies and career coaching. Jump on the website and be first in line to download this pocket rocket.

Mentor Walks

A monthly series in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, Mentor Walks was created by Michele Garnaut and is a beautiful example of how women are changing the way we interact with leaders, by investing in connection, generosity and relationships.

Have I missed anything?

I've been lucky to work with many of the women in this post, but I'm sure there are more amazing organisations and people creating ways for women to connect. I'd love to hear who else you would add to the list!

(Photo credit - all pics are from the organisations' Instagram. Theme songs, books, etc are just for fun and not official. I'm happy to take suggestions...!)

Deakin SPARK Panel: girledworld, Australia Post, Pitchblak and FYA unpack innovation!

Are you an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur? Do you want to start your own flourishing business, or pioneer innovative product development and marketing within a pre-existing one? 

At SPARK Deakin's first event of 2018, we'll hear from a diverse and incredibly experienced panel about how we can effectively adapt and innovate business today, regardless of whether we're an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur.

This event will be facilitated by Deakin alumni Dean Delia, a social entrepreneur, strategist and storyteller with a passion for connecting our global community through education and inspiring others into action. A talented trainer, program developer and strategist, Dean has led national and international organisations such as ME to WE, Free the Children Australia and High Resolves and is currently GM of Programs and Events at the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA). He has founded several start ups and built relationships and partnerships across the corporate, private, and philanthropic sectors.

Allow us to proudly introduce our speakers:

Simon Hann, CEO of DeakinCo.
Simon Hann is the CEO of DeakinCo. and has extensive experience in the online education sector. Building on the success of his own start up in the Ed-Tech space, he is focused on the innovation and commercialisation of new approaches to learning, credentialing and associated technology and is passionate about helping organisations effectively navigate the challenges of the future of work. 

Madeleine Grummet, Telstra Innovation Ecosystem Lead & CEO GirledWorld
Madeleine is a serial entrepreneur, gender advocate, keynote speaker and innovation and design thinking specialist with Telstra Labs. Co-Founder & CEO of Edtech startup GirledWorld, Founder Do Re Me Creative, Founder of Wise Women Project and with 15+ years in media and SME omnichannel strategic communications, Madeleine holds a BA (Hons), Master of Social Investment & Philanthropy, IDEO Design Thinking Certification, and recently completed a Master of Entrepreneurship. She's passionate about startups, closing the gender gap, shaking status quo and the commercialisation of innovation, providing business mentorship to female founders at the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA), 3 Day Startup, YGAP, Everwise(Atlassian & Zendesk) and more.

Mathew Galt, Co-Founder and CEO, Fulfilio (Australia Post) 
Mathew is Co-Founder and CEO of Fulfilio the logistics tech startup seeking to shape the future of ecommerce, and part of the Australia Post Accelerator. Mathew started his career as an electrical engineer, working in Germany and Asia Pacific in renewable energy, infrastructure and mining, and has previously held roles as Head of Corporate Strategy at Australia Post and Management Consultant at Booz&Company. He is passionate about how technology and strategy can help great ideas create economic value and positive societal impact, mentoring and serving on advisory boards for a range of startups and social impact ventures. 

Kim Teo, Co-founder and Head of Ventures, Pitchblak
Kim is the Co-founder and Head of Ventures (previously COO) at Pitchblak, a startup education and advisory business. Previously she co-founded Neighbour Flavour, an app that allows users to buy home cooked meals from those around us. She says it was a rollercoaster ride, from Channel 7 news to raising 500k and pulling out before taking the money. She's passionate about people finding their jam whether that's by becoming the linchpin in a company or by starting a new business.

Please join us Thursday March 22 to unlock your appetite for innovation, cultivate entrepreneurial skills and explore the role of the intrapreneur and entrepreneur in the innovation ecosystem.

We look forward to seeing you there!

MG 

girledworld WOW Summit 2018 at RMIT. Tickets On-Sale Today!!

We are pumped to announce that tickets for the girledworld WOW (World of Work) 🌏Summit 2018 are on sale today (as in right now, right here, get 'em before they're gone!) 🙌🏽

This year's Summit has been developed and designed with RMIT Melbourne (where the event will be held) and will feature two days of immersive, real-world, hands-on learning for girls in Australian Secondary Schools (Year 9 - Year 12) so they can radically upskill, powerfully goal-set and get ready to thrive in the Future of Work. 

Across one extraordinary, transformational weekend, the @girledworld WOW 🌏Summit will bring together top speakers, industry experts and amazing career mentors to explore the new world of work and emerging areas of technology and STEM. This interactive, highly curated, Australian curriculum aligned event will empower, educate and equip all attendees with the mindsets, skillsets and toolkits they'll need to make informed choices about their future career pathways. 

We promise. This is not your average careers event. ⚡️🚀

CLICK HERE for TICKETS and more INFO.

Last year’s @girledworld Summit at the University of Melbourne was a sellout!

Get in quick for this one!

Group bookings available for schools and community groups. Please see here. 

#girledworldsummit #girledworld #melbourne #rmituniversity #rmit #worldofwork #futureofwork #internationalwomensday #createyourfuturecareer 💡

girledworld get behind International Women's Day 2018!

It's a big week, this one, for women the world over as International Women's Day comes around again - Thursday March 8, 2018.

This year's theme? #pressforprogress

We'll be doing our bit travelling around the country speaking at events, on panels and on podcasts connecting with extraordinary audiences of women and girls, learning from each other and having the conversations we need to have about standing up, stepping up and starting up, so we can progress society as a whole.

Please join us as we #pressforprogress in 2018.

And join in the conversation this week in your school, university, home, business, boardroom and social circles so, together, we can move toward a future that is brighter, fairer and bolder for all.

#girledworld #grittynotpretty #girlscantbewhattheycantsee #equality #parity #humanitywins

New School Rules – Driving Innovation in Education PauseFest 2018

Pause Fest Panel: New School Rules
Driving Innovation in Education

Article by Hannah O'Brien for Girl Geek Academy Blog, February 7 2018.

New School Rules Panelists:

• Sarah Moran, Co-founder and CEO of Girl Geek Academy

• Daizy Maan, Program Manager of SPARK Deakin

• Madeleine Grummet, Co-founder and CEO of Girledworld

• Hosted by Jeanette Cheah, Co-founder & CSO of Hacker Exchange

How can education keep up with ever-changing technology? 
How can technology improve education delivery? 
Where is it helping, and where is it harming?

Here’s the highlights from each of these amazing educators.

The new generation is predicted to have 17 jobs over their lifetime – how can we encourage & guide them to make the right education decisions when they are young?

Daizy: Teach soft skills much earlier – skills like resilience, a curiosity to learn. These are what employers look for, because the tech skills can be taught.

Madeleine: Be more open to role models, because they are so powerful. You can’t be what you can’t see. Also stretching outside of thinking ‘I’m only good at one thing’ to avoid tunnel vision with your goals.

Sarah: Teaching our school career counsellors to keep connected to industry, and teaching kids to be comfortable with transition and change – if you work in tech your job description can change every 12 months, so we all need to get used to constant change.

What are some trends that you see in education?

Sarah: Micro-credentialing – we know the standard formal pathways, but there’s also value in the extracurricular activities and outside events (like meetups) that provide less formal education as well as social skills.  Also keeping primary & secondary teachers up to speed with what kids need before they hit uni.  It’s important to keep teachers open and upskilled – open up their world so they can open it up for their kids.  After the age of 9 most kids start to cement their idea of what they want to be when they grow up, so we want them to experience a variety of skills before that age.

Daizy: work integrated learning is an important trend, so the students are immersed in work before they graduate.

Madeleine: How much are students driving learning? They want immediacy, impact and immersion in education. Kids want to solve big problems.

Automation & AI is predicted to disrupt 800 million jobs – how does education play a part with robots joining our workforce?

Sarah: Personally I welcome our robot overlords.

Madeleine: Robots are only as smart as we train them to be, so they will never completely replace us. It will just evolve the workplace, like computers did.

Daizy: If robots make repetitive tasks obsolete & free us up for more creative work it’s a good thing!

Where are the Aussie kids at with education?

Sarah: The Digital Technologies curriculum is announced, but there’s a lag – now the question is how do we teach the teachers & keep their current to what’s going on in the industry?  Really we are asking teachers to learn what we are learning right now in the industry – adults & kids are in the same situation.  Drones are a great example – an 8 year old and a 33 year old are learning about them at the same time.

Is traditional education dead?

Madeleine: No, but traditional education providers need to learn to redefine their value – like looking at human centred design.

Daizy: Deakin’s cloud campus is bigger than real life campus, but the cloud students still like using the physical facilities. So there is a place for both.

Sarah: When we teach kids at #MissMakesCode they want to know – why should I learn this?  They’re not interested in learning something just because they are told to.  Having something that is ‘cool’ is as important as what we are teaching to keep kids engaged.

How do games & eSports fit into education?

Madeleine: Gaming does require critical thinking, creativity, teamwork – it’s not all bad. But moderation is key.

Sarah: We can’t ignore the social skills developed in multiplayer games as well – kids are developing entire social networks online, and for those who may be isolated in real life that can be a huge benefit and worth encouraging.

If you don’t have tech skills can you still be an entrepreneur?

Sarah: Absolutely! We have our Hacker Hipster Hustler guidelines, which align with the curriculum pillars of algorithmic thinking, design thinking and systems thinking.

Madeleine: Entrepreneurs just find a good problem to solve. The best entrepreneurs are incurably curious, and can always hire in the tech help they need.

Jeanette: It’s better to do what you’re great at rather than working hard to be better at your weaker skills.

Final advice from the panelists

Sarah: Be brave. You’re going to screw it up – we’re all learning, if you’re not failing you’re not learning.

Daizy: Educators need to keep learning new methods of educating, be open to feedback and show enthusiasm to keep students interested.

Madeleine: Keep sharing stories, keep talking in human ways, and remember real world learning happens in the real world – so if you can’t learn it in a classroom, get out into the real world and learn it there.

Thanks to all the panelists for a great discussion!

The Imagination Economy: Creativity as Currency

This article was originally published on Singularity Hub.
By Raya Bidshahri

We’ve all read the headlines: the robots are coming, and they will take our jobs. In fact, up to 45 percent of tasks workers perform can be automated using current technology, let alone future forecasts.

However, there is a side of this story that is often overlooked: while emerging technologies will destroy many jobs, they will also create many new ones. In fact, over half of the jobs current middle school students will be doing in the future do not even exist today. Widespread innovation is continuing to give birth to exciting new industries, all of which are sources of new jobs.

More often than not, we have used our imaginations to envision dystopian futures where we submit to robots that leave us feeling jobless and purposeless. But we can also imagine an exciting parallel future in which technology has created even more opportunities for the workforce.

So, what are some of the most exciting emerging jobs and industries?

The Imagination and Creativity Sector

Technological trends are giving rise to what many thought leaders refer to as the “imagination economy.” This is defined as “an economy where intuitive and creative thinking create economic value, after logical and rational thinking have been outsourced to other economies.” Unsurprisingly, humans continue to outdo machines when it comes to innovating and pushing intellectual, imaginative, and creative boundaries, making jobs involving these skills the hardest to automate.

Examples of roles in the creativity sector of the near future include 3D printing fashion designer, VR experience designer, organ designers, and augmented reality architects. These jobs will be driven by the rise of novel creative tools such as 3D printing and virtual reality, among existing digital tools.

What is notable about such roles is that at their very core, they are multidisciplinary. Many of them are examples of STEAM skills in which the ‘A’ stands for the arts, in its broadest definition (including liberal and fine arts along with humanities). For instance, a VR experience designer will have to combine expertise from both the arts and technology to create immersive VR worlds. Hence, it is also a strong case for bringing more STEAM learning into traditional education.

Neuroscience, Enhancement, and Bioengineering

As our capacity for genetic engineering and neuro-engineering advances, demand for jobs in the sector will grow. The latest season of Black Mirrorexplored a world where people have the power to upload their consciousness onto machines, merge their minds with other minds, record others’ memories, and even track what others are thinking, feeling, and doing.

Many innovators and researchers are pushing to make such capabilities possible.

Early last year, Elon Musk unveiled Neuralink, a company whose goal is to merge the human mind with AI through a “neural lace.” We’ve already connected two brains via the internet, allowing one brain to communicate with another. Various research teams have been able to develop mechanisms for “reading minds” or reconstructing memories of individuals via devices. We’re also seeing continuous advancements in gene therapy and genetic engineering. The list goes on.

Examples of roles in this sector include thought hacker, neuro-implant technician, neuro-augmentation specialists, and neuro-robotic engineers.

Technology Ethics, Philosophy, and Policy

Technology is an immensely powerful tool, and one that gives rise to a myriad of novel social, ethical, and moral issues. By itself, technology is not inherently good or evil; it all comes down to how we choose to use it as a society.

As we see the emergence of increasingly immersive tech, such as virtual reality, brain-machine implants, and the Internet of Things, there will be a growing demand for professionals who can ask the right questions about these new tools and set appropriate ethical guidelines for a wide range of complex scenarios. This can occur at a company level, government level, or even at a personal level, such as by providing guidance to individuals looking for ethical consultation.

Examples of roles under this emerging area include cognitive enhancement consultant, genetic modification ethicist, digital detective, privacy guardian, technology law-maker, and much more. This is an area that will be of utmost importance to our species if we are to ensure that we optimize the benefits of technology and minimize its harm.

Sustainable Future and Renewable Energy

Some of the biggest challenges in today’s world also serve as the biggest market opportunities. As climate change becomes a growing threat to our species, we are faced with significant decisions. Many cities are integrating multiple solutions that involve sustainable infrastructure, cleaner transportation, and renewable energy sources.

As a result, the growing demand for renewable energy and clean solutions has already created many jobs, with more to come. For instance, the solar and wind industries were the primary engines of job creation (PDF) in the US renewable energy sector, which employed around 777,000 people in 2016.

Examples of roles to come include smart city planner, clean grid architect, zero-consumption home designer, energy-use consultant, and many more.

Future of Transportation

Many fear that the rise of autonomous vehicles will put millions of people out of jobs, and this is a fair concern. Yet, while innovation in the transportation sector will displace many jobs, the rise of innovative vehicles such as self-driving cars, electrics cars, drones, and hyperloop are representative of new sectors with demand for many novel positions.

Examples of roles in this area include construction teams, hyperloop common center operations, traffic flow analyzers, and driverless operating system engineers.

Forecasting even further into the future, another exciting demand will be in the area of interplanetary space pilots. Just recently, Virgin Galactic’s passenger-carrying spaceship VSS Unity completed its seventh unpowered glider test flight. SpaceX has also announced an Interplanetary Transport System. In fact, as humanity strives to become an interplanetary—and possibly an intergalactic species—this opens up a world of exciting jobs and opportunities that we’ve only ever seen in science fiction.

Moving Towards Jobs With Purpose and Meaning

The broad examples outlined above are among many emerging jobs and industries. Now more than ever, we need to equip our young minds with the 21st-century survival skills that will prepare them for such roles in an ever-changing workforce.

One of the most powerful implications of current trends is that “work” will become more meaningful as we are left to perform jobs requiring more creativity, intellectual pursuits, and human interaction, potentially leading many of us happier than we are today.

A recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute found that the hardest activities to automate in the short term are those involving expertise in decision-making, planning, human interaction, or creative work. Unsurprisingly, humans continue to outdo machines when it comes to innovating and pushing intellectual and creative boundaries. These kinds of roles also tend to be more exciting and fulfilling.

Ultimately, our goal should be to create a society where work is motivated by passion, creativity, and a desire to contribute to the future of our species.

It is exciting that most of these predicted jobs of the future align with this goal. After all, the purpose of “work” should be to contribute to ongoing personal or human progress, whether technological, intellectual, or creative.

girledworld joins Pause Fest 2018 to chat The New School Rules: Driving Innovation in Education

Join girledworld at Pause Fest 2018 chatting The New School Rules: Driving Innovation in Education with girledworld, Girl Geek Academy, The Hacker Exchange and Deakin Spark.

How can traditional education institutions prepare students to thrive in our fast-moving world?

Real students and education innovators will gather to debate and discuss their views on education trends and what skills students really need, and want, in today’s evolving market with Sarah Moran, Co-Founder and CEO Girl Geek Academy, Madeleine Grummet, Co-Founder and CEO girledworld, Jeanetter Cheah, Co-Founder and CSO The Hacker Exchange, and Daizy Mann, Program Manager SPARK Deakin.

ABOUT PAUSE FEST

Pause is Australasia's premier creative, tech and business event.

A catalyst for change, a uniter of all industries, and a platform for the future, Pause brings the world’s foremost thought leaders like Airbnb, NASA, Netflix, Hyperloop, Fast Company, Girls in Tech, This American Life, SXSW, Pixar and Lucasfilm together with local heroes, for one unforgettably action-packed event.

Book your tickets here and join us to 'Network like a pro, Upskill like a boss, Marvel like a kid, and Future like you want! @PauseFest @FedSquare #Pause2018. 

Youthquake: 15 FYA Future Chasers Set To Shake Up 2017!

This article can be accessed on the FYA Website here.
By Jan Owen AM, CEO Foundation For Young Australians

We seem to get a buzz from calling young people lazy, entitled and self-obsessed. The frenzy around them spending too much money on smashed avo and too much time taking selfies is nothing new - but somehow we still seem to think this generation is the worst, most disinterested bunch.

This generation has experienced perhaps the most rapid, dramatic shifts of societal standards than any other generation before them. Overwhelmingly this has resulted in a generation more driven toward progressing constant social change.

The Oxford Dictionary word of 2017 was ‘youthquake’, meaning a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people.

With two major elections, first in the UK and second in New Zealand, usage of ‘youthquake’ spiked fivefold in 2017 compared to the previous year, describing a massive surge of young people making their political voices heard.

Of the over 100,000 new votes to join the electoral roll ahead of the Australian ‘yes’ marriage equality survey, an overwhelming 65% were young people. And in the results – 78% of young people (aged 18-19) voted yes.

On the back of a year of immense and vivid change across the globe, we need new, unrestrained ideas and new thinking to create a strong future. We need to amplify the ‘youthquake’ and ensure that young people’s creativity, fearlessness and unfettered thinking is unleashed.

In 2018 FYA is working to put these young people at the centre, to ensure they are not just getting a seat at the table, but they’re actively engaged in the conversation and given licence to take the wheel.

Here are 15 young Future Chasers ready to send ‘youthquakes’ through 2018:

Adam Jahnke

A 27 year old technology and public health professional from Melbourne, in 2016, Adam Jahnke founded Umps Health after his grandpa was hospitalised due to a fall at home. Umps Health uses machine learning enabled power plugs and lighting to empower the elderly to live safe and independent lives at home.

Ally Watson

Ally Watson runs, Code Like a Girl, a small initiative with big ambitions to inspire females into careers in coding and leadership roles within the tech industry. Code Like a Girl has an online community of women and hosts free events around Melbourne with a focus on celebrating women in the local tech-industry.

Andy Barley

Andy Barley is re-imagining science. His project, Sci-Ground, is a modern, colourful, fascinating science playground which turns public spaces into STEM exploration spaces. The physical experience is augmented by an immersive app connecting the community with the ways STEM is improving our lives. Sci-Ground provides kids with a captivating opportunity to get outside and discover science handson.

Chris Varney

An advocate for children’s rights, Chris Varney is the founder and CEO of the I CAN Network.  I CAN Network is driving a rethink of Autism so that young Australians on the spectrum think ‘I CAN’, not ‘I Can’t’, in response to their challenges and opportunities. Chris was inspired to start I CAN from the exemplary support his family and friends provided in helping him channel his Asperger’s.

Jordan O’Reilly

Jordan O’Reilly is the co-founder of Fighting Chance and hireup, an online platform revolutionising the way Australians with disability find, hire and manage their own home care and support workers. From the age of 16 Jordan has dedicated his life to working with people with disabilities ensuring they gain access to work opportunities and their choice of quality care. Jordan has led disruptive innovation in the disability care sector, working within the newly minted NDIS. 

Hunter Johnson / Jamin Heppell

HeadQuarters Australia is a preventative mental health and emotional intelligence organisation co-founded by Hunter Johnson and Jamin Heppell. Heading up initiatives including The Man Cave, the duo are working to empower a generation of young people with the social and emotional skills to lead a life of connection, purpose and positive impact.

Paige Burton

The 2017 UN Youth Representative, Paige Burton previously served as the National Education Director and Chair of the Board for United Nations Youth Australia. Paige helped develop the UN Youth Australia’s national curriculum, founded the first national advocacy-oriented public speaking competition (Voice), and facilitated educational tours of Timor-Leste and the Middle East for high school students.

Lisa Rapley

A 28 year old Gumbaynggirr woman from Brisbane, in 2016 Lisa Rapley co-founded Yuludarla Karulbo, an organistation with two important goals. The first is to engage Indigenous people in sharing culture in our wider communties, and the second is to empower Indigenous youth to achieve their dreams. Yuludarla Karulbo has delivered cultural workshops to over 1200 school children, and is in the process of creating a space to empower Indigenous youth on their leadership journey.

Mikhara Ramsing  

Mikhara is a 27 year old social entrepreneur from regional NSW. In 2017 she founded ‘Ethnic LGBT+’, a free online community resource intended to provide support, education and mentorship for individuals who identify at the intersection of sexual and gender diversity and cultural and linguistic diversity. Ethnic LGBT+ has reached 100s of individuals around Australia and is based on the strong belief that stories save lives.

Natasha Ritchie

Natasha is a 23 year old social entrepreneur from Melbourne. She is the Managing Director of Tijimbat (Teachabout Inc.) which facilitates community programs in remote Northern Territory during the school holidays. Tijimbat provides paid employment for community Program Leaders who, along with voluntary Activity Leaders, facilitate cultural, vocational and academic based activities for kids aged from 0 to 15. If not working or completing her studies in Law and International Relations, Natasha can be found in the dance studio.

Nayuka Gorrie

Nayuka Gorrie is an Aboriginal activist and writer, primarily concerned with the topics black politics and feminism. She’s written on topics including her ever-changing stance on constitutional recognition, recited her work at Melbourne literary salon Women of Letters and works in the youth not-for-profit sector as a program manager. An author, social commentator and comedian, Nayuka is passionate about self-determination and culture.

Nkosana Mafico

The Founder and CEO of the Council for Young Africans Living Abroad, Nkosana empowers young Africans to find work, to develop into borderless thinkers and future leaders and to change how African youth are perceived by some in Australia. Passionate about advancing humanity through business,  Nkosana was part of the 2017 Young Social Pioneers cohort.

Taj Pabari

At just 15 Taj Pabari was the youngest ever Young Social Pioneer to take out the prize money in 2015. An inventor, entrepreneur and educational pioneer with a passion for inspiring children in today’s emerging 21st Century Digital Economy discover the great world of entrepreneurship through technology and innovation, Taj is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fiftysix. Fiftysix is an exciting and interactive way for children to immerse themselves in innovative technology through continuous creation and entertaining education.

Usman Iftikhar

Usman is the co-founder of Catalysr, a startup incubator working with exceptional individuals from migrant and refugee backgrounds, by supporting them to break down barriers to employment and starting their own businesses. They’ve orke it ntrepreneur ro igrant/refuge ackgroun thei irs ear, whic a e e usinesses. hes usinesse av reate ve $300,00 evenue, n ull-tim ob n r ontinuin row. Catalysr’ isio reat “igrapreneuria” evolutio ustralia. t issio reat 0,00 ob ustrali h ex ears.

Vanessa Marian  

In 2016 Vanessa Marian founded Groove Therapy, aimed at making dance accessible to all walks of life. The program has brought dance to at-risk youth, Indigenous communities, dementia sufferers, refugee girls and the every-day person, using the political and healing foundations that these street dance styles are built upon and mindfully appropriating it in new communities to help spark global conversation and cultural understanding.

WHY GENDER NEEDS TO STAY ON THE AGENDA.

At events recently, several successful males have said the following to me: 'I wish women would just stop with all this female founder and leadership and gender stuff and just get on with doing big things and building great businesses.'

They, clearly, completely miss the point.

Some women ARE out there building businesses and doing big things - but nowhere near the rate that males are. 

Some women ARE leading organisations, engaging in public life, policy shaping, and creating the architecture of the new economy.

But nowhere near the participation rate of men. 

And you don't have to look far to see that in the media, in business, in politics, in boardrooms, in startups, in tech and in STEM, women continue to be underrepresented, underpaid, under-voiced, undervalued and under-done - across industries, and across the world.

On top of that, women are predominantly carrying the invisible burden of care, for which there is no trading currency.

So we can choose to shut down the conversations or sugar up the stats, but the facts remain... the scales aren't balancing fast enough.

The gender gap is real.

Bias is entrenched.

And shifting legacy fixed mindsets is going to take multi-generational momentum.
 
Equality? Parity? We're nowhere near there yet. 

So we need to keep gender on the agenda, have the hard conversations, and then as a whole society create action to find a positive, workable solution to bring up the numbers and get the whole of humanity participating in the problem-solving of our age.

We need to get women and the girls after them to step up, lead, succeed, shape, design, learn, listen, speak, start, quest, wonder, run, code, write and win. Alongside men.

The conversations will only go away when the problem is solved, the gap has closed and we can ALL get on with doing big things and building TOGETHER.

@girledworld Building the next generation of female founders and leaders, one girl at a time. ✖️✖️

Talented women and what sponsorship is really all about: NAB Connecting Women

This article was written by David Gall, Group Chief Risk Officer, National Australia Bank, and first published on Linkedin November 23, 2017.

"Last week I was delighted to host a panel discussion with three inspirational business leaders, to hear their take on leadership and how they have driven bold change.

Two of the leaders – Tracey Fellows, CEO of REA Group, and Lee Hatton, CEO Ubank - mentioned how earlier in their careers they had both been offered great roles which they initially declined but ultimately accepted following some encouragement from their people leaders and mentors – and made huge successes of the role.

Speaking at NAB’s Connecting Women lunch in Melbourne, Tracey said when she was first approached about the job as CEO of Microsoft Australia she had turned it down because she doubted she could do it. She said she was fortunate that her leader had more confidence in her than she did, and strongly encouraged her. If he had taken a different approach “my career would have taken a very different path and I would have comfortably taken not the top job…but a safer number 2”, she said.

Similarly, Lee said on a number of times she had responded “surely not” to opportunities that were put in front of her – and it was only through the guidance of someone she trusted that that she took each opportunity. 

Lee said she now played that forward as a leader herself.

“Every single person you meet is different. Some will need a nudge of confidence. Others will need a new skill. It’s my role as a leader to find what that thing is so that they can grow,” Lee said.

These comments really resonated with me.

I have had the privilege of being a sponsor to more than a dozen talented up-and-coming leaders at NAB. Many are women and I’ve experienced the enormous value they bring to the bank and to our customers.

I’ve seen it as part of my role to encourage these leaders to be ambitious and to truly back themselves – just as sponsors have done for me in my career. Sponsorship also involves backing a talented person with others, to open up career opportunities.

And sponsorship extends beyond that. To have a successful career, everyone needs a support network around them to help set them up to succeed and flourish – particularly when pursuing those “stretch” opportunities.

A clear message from all the panelists at our Connecting Women lunch was the need to change the conversation in order to achieve equality. To create the opportunity for women to speak up in business - and understand and address the reasons why often they do not.

Tracey rose up through the IT industry and she challenged male leaders to try to put themselves in the position many women find themselves – where they are the only person of their gender on a team - and see what that feels like.

Madeleine Grummet, Co-Founder of Girledworld and serial entrepreneur, suggested that male leaders, in their next face to face meeting, wait ten seconds after speaking, to allow a female into the conversation – “and watch the magic happen”.

This month my daughter Annabelle finished university. Now she and her friends face the hugely exciting and daunting prospect of entering the workforce.

I believe that everyone in business, including me, has a role to play in ensuring that this diverse, sometimes challenging and capable, next generation has equal opportunities at work and can thrive, no matter what their gender or background."

Is the mother juggle really worth it? Flexible work and redesigning the future.

Self-confessed serial entrepreneur, former journalist and communications strategist Madeleine Grummet was part of the first cohort of students to take on the Master of Entrepreneurship at the University of Melbourne’s Wade Institute in 2016. During her Masters year, Madeleine co-founded GirledWorld – an education tech company building the next generation of female leaders, entrepreneurs and STEMM champions.

Can you tell us about GirledWorld and why you’re so passionate about this business?

My background is in journalism and media. Throughout a decade I had jobs in television, newspapers and magazines, and from there I started a creative agency, Do Re Me, which designed brand strategies, consumer activations and creative workshops, which I have since sold.

I was already working on a project called ‘World Wise Women’ when I started the Masters, which was the result of many interviews I did with high profile women all around Australia about glass ceilings, the ‘juggle’ and ‘the trouble with having it all’. This was a problem I was trying to understand and solve for myself.

Throughout my year at the Wade Institute, I realised the problem was in the pipeline, and that the continued gender skills gap was caused by attrition of women out of the workforce, out of the boardrooms and out of businesses and leadership positions across Australia as a result of unconscious bias and entrenched systems in our social, political and economic structures.

The solution became Girledworld – an early pipeline intervention to equip, educate and empower girls with entrepreneurship, leadership and enterprise mindsets, STEM skillsets and the role models they need to light the way so they not only participate in, but drive the new knowledge economy.

We need to build a new generation of girls who will step into the future of work ready to lead, succeed and create the businesses that will drive Australia into a new age of entrepreneurship and innovation.

STEM PHD student, girledworld role model and Science Gallery Advocate Jess Vovers ignited the audience at the inaugural girledworld Summit in June 2017.

So what has girledworld set out to do?

Girledworld works with schools, industry, government and start-ups to give secondary school girls access to skills, role models, planning tools and pathways for their future careers.

We believe girls can’t be what they can’t see.

So as part of our immersion model, we hold an annual Big Ideas Leadership Summit in Melbourne, this year endorsed by the Federal and State governments, which brings extraordinary women from across the world together with teenage girls to inspire and teach them how to stand up, step up and start up. Next year it will held in partnership with RMIT in June.

I’m deeply passionate about this issue because our gender equality and parity numbers aren’t moving quickly enough. The World Economic Forum’s recent report showed the gap between men and women across health, education, technology, politics and economics has widened for the first time since records began in 2006. And it’s estimated that it will take 100 years before women achieve equality globally.

In Australia alone, where we are dropping on the innovation index and actually need to innovate to create the value and jobs of the future, we know STEMM will drive 75% of the fastest growing industries. And yet we still see only 1 in 10 engineering graduates are female, only 1 in 4 IT graduates, and only 20 per of startup founders are female. Couple that with corporate Australian statistics substantiating that females account for only 8 per cent of ASX 200 CEO’s, and only 1 in 5 ASX 200 board members are female, and it’s time we action change, build STEMM skills for all, make the business case for diversity and create a critical intervention to bring these numbers into balance.

This will be a huge challenge requiring collaboration between government, industry and education to disrupt the current model.

Girledworld has always been bigger than my story, but as a mother of four daughters myself, I am deeply vested in contributing to actioning that critical change. Because I have lived the problem - I get the pain points.

I’ve seen and felt first-hand how our current economic, cultural, societal and political systems do not accommodate women staying engaged in the workforce, especially during and post family-raising years, and how policy and power-shapers, and now the internet and innovations of our age, are systems predominantly built by men.

This is a critical issue, and at its core fundamentally does not make sense. There needs to be a radical shift. This starts with conversation, bringing together key stakeholders and working to solve together, for the issues of our times. But we need real action. With women, and men, working side by side building the future together, for the betterment of all.

Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship, University of Melbourne, home to the Master of Entrepreneurship

What made you want to take on the Master of Entrepreneurship at the University of Melbourne, and how was your experience?

I had been running my own business for a while and wanted to take it to the next level to solve on a bigger scale. I could see all these opportunities and was turning over ideas all the time, and I was originally looking at doing an MBA, but when I heard about the Master of Entrepreneurship, I knew that was the course for me. It would let me study and build at the same time.

It’s basically a new age MBA, which gives you a future-facing set of business skills across the startup and innovation suite (Design Thinking, Lean Startup, Agile and scalable Business Models). I chose the Masters because it has extraordinary academic rigour, offered a rich set of research and internship opportunities and was an incredibly hands-on learning environment where you could build your startup with a huge support structure behind you.

I could see the Masters would also allow me to tap the rich resources across FBE, School of Engineering, and Melbourne Business School at the University of Melbourne, as well as opportunity to be taught by and have access to some of the biggest players in the start-up eco-system within Australia, and overseas.

Throughout the Masters I launched two startups - girledworld and a sharing economy platform lloci which we pitched to Airbnb in 2016. I also completed business internships on social investment with with Y-Gap, omni-channel brand strategy with Emma and Tom’s and concepted and designed a Design Thinking Ideation Card Game with global creative agency The Royals.

I was also lucky enough to travel to Silicon Valley at the end of last year on an innovation study tour to visit Google, Twitter, IDEO, Box, Airbnb, Google Ventures and VCs across the valley to see startups at scale, and explore their culture creation and value architecture.

I was also lucky enough to be selected into a Graduate Leadership Program led by the extraordinary Professor Rufus Black, ethicist, educator, Rhodes Scholar, philosopher, Master of Ormond College, Co-Founder of Wade Institute, Chair of Museum Victoria, and soon to be Vice Chancellor of the University of Tasmania, whose mandate to us was that we should aim to “step out and make a disproportionate difference to the world”. Professor Black certainly has, and I feel privileged to have learned from and witnessed his intellect, vision and thought leadership as he continues to shape this country’s future generations.

Given all I jammed into it, my Masters year was intense. I have four kids, was interning, building startups and running my business at the same time. But the whole point of the Masters is to push yourself, explore the limits, and to embed the learnings into your business as quickly as you can to give it the best chance of growing.

For one year, I had to commit to the course at full pelt, but it far exceeded my expectations and I was fuelled by curiosity and this desire to build something that will put a dint in the universe. And it has really consolidated my business skillset, innovation toolkit and made me passionate about the future of startups and entrepreneurship in this country.

From what I have seen and compared to other offerings, The University of Melbourne is well ahead of the curve when it comes to entrepreneurship education in Australia – I have been nothing but thrilled with my experience, and continue to stay engaged with the startup scene here.

girledworld will hold the next Big Ideas Leadership Summit at RMIT Melbourne June 16/17 2018.

So, what’s next on your radar?

Girledworld is now full steam ahead. I have recently been travelling around Australia, doing lots of speaking at events and on panels to ignite the conversations we need to have about the future of work and the gender gap.

We are also busy designing our 2018 GirledWorld Summit, which we are hosting in partnership with RMIT the weekend of June 16/17 2018.

This will be delivered across the core themes of World Shaping, Future Facing, Work Ready and will enable secondary school girls to hear from STEM, startup and leadership mentors, work with them to develop solutions to real-world problems, and explore maker labs, exponential technologies and the future of work so they can better shape their own careers.

We held our first girledworld Summit this year at the Wade Institute where we saw 50 schools across Victoria and NSW and 500 girls aged 13-17 join us to hear from local and global leaders and speakers and immerse in UX, Design Thinking, StartUp and Leadership workshops, and it was a huge success. We’re looking forward to doing that at scale to enable more girls to join us in 2018.

We’re also in early stage build of a digital platform, which will allow girls all over Australia (and eventually around the world) to access career pathway advice, psychometric testing and New World of Work diagnostics, plus other mapping tools to plan their futures.

It will include a content-rich gateway to the future of work, and give girls ways to identify their core strengths, access amazing industry, STEM and startup female role models and build a connected community online.

The platform is especially aimed at those students in years 8 to 10 who are making those critical life choices about what subjects to study, and what tertiary or alternate pathways they might take as they navigate an uncertain future in a disrupted workscape.

Of course girledworld is my absolute passion, and I will always have this engine for social change driving me.

But cultivation of the broader startup ecosystem and innovation capability building is also critical to Australia’s ongoing economic viability and industry reinvention in the knowledge age. Corporate Australia needs to keep apace, and there is great work going on in innovation hubs across industries to test and prototype solutions.

In 2018 I will be starting a part-time innovation role with Telstra Labs, a dynamic space to experiment with new ideas and which includes Australia’s first publically-accessible Open IoT Lab, and the muru-D accelerator. I’m excited about the role, and will be bringing much of what I learnt on my Masters to the role along with recent qualifications in IDEO Design Thinking and Innovation Facilitation with Inventium.

I’m also a big believer in paying it forward and do try and give back where and when I can. I currently provide mentorship to Young Social Pioneers at the Foundation for Young Australians, business and leadership mentorship via Everwise (Atlassian and Zendesk) and a number of social enterprises, and hold Board Advisory and Directorships with NewCo, Human Rights Arts & Film Festival and Cool Australia Education.

Image courtesy Herald Sun

You clearly have a busy schedule! What do you do to relax and unwind?

We get away, get perspective, and have lots of family time. Sunday is our lock down day, when we hang out with the kids, garden, afternoon nap, and hang about.

My family and I recently went off-line for three weeks up north to the Kimberley, which was fantastic for the kids to explore and immerse in the real Australia, and contemplate what a shared narrative and history really mean. We plan to take them to the Garma Festival next year. 

Of course I am busy, but when you’re working on a business you love, it doesn’t feel like work. Startup doesn’t stop, but if you love it, you don’t even stop to think about the hours you’re putting in. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said: ‘Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.’ And as I say: “Don’t dream it, do it!”

What advice do you have for people thinking about becoming entrepreneurs or starting their own business?

Get gritty! Be prepared to work hard, and be resourceful. You can’t build a business alone, you need to harness the talents of many, because you can’t do everything. And keep learning. Curiosity, and a willingness to find a way to solve the wicked problems of the world, is what will keep you questing.

Your work is going to take the great share of your days.
So do what you love with the days you have.
As Annie Dillard said: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

UPCOMING EVENTS - girledworld NOVEMBER

Madeleine is speaking at The Influencers – Women in STEMM event Thursday 16 November at One Roof from 6.00-8.30pm in support of the Homeward Bound Project.

girledworld will ignite Melbourne as a host company for NewCo and welcome special guests Sally-Ann Williams of Google, Ralph Ashton of the Australian Futures Project and Nick Crocker of Blackbird Ventures to NAB's The Hall to unpack unconscious bias, chat the future of work and how we build a STEM Gen on Thursday 23 November, 9.30-10.15am. Tickets here.

Corporate Australia needs to ditch old processes and 'org-hack' itself to keep up with Silicon Valley

This article was first published in Business Insider Australia, October 12 2017.

If Australia wants to compete with global innovators, corporate culture needs to change.

GirledWorld co-founders Madeleine Grummet and Edwina Kolomanski want to equip the next innovation generation of female leaders, founders and STEM experts with the enterprise skills, and access to female business role models they’ll need to excel in the future of work.

Grummet told Business Insider that GirledWorld focuses on embedding purpose across everything they do, and building a startup culture that fosters creativity and human-centred design.

“We’ve worked and studied across the US, Asia and Europe over our career lifetimes, and it’s interesting to compare the cultural dictates of those economies,” Grummet said.

“What is clear is that comparatively, Australia’s corporate culture is inherently conservative and currently bound by legacy processes, hierarchies and systems that actually impede innovation.

“In the context of a data-driven knowledge economy, the advent of exponential technologies, rapid communication and a fragmenting marketplace, it’s clear that corporates will need to embrace change, employ human-centered design to put the customer at the heart of their business model, and embed purpose in their culture if they are going to survive.”

If you compare Australia to the Silicon Valley start-up scene, for example, Grummet said the companies there have an intense focus on being scalable, 'scrappy', agile and adaptable to change – driven either by the consumer, the marketplace or the technology.

“In that environment of rapid value shift, traditional industries and companies simply have to adapt to survive and this is driven by startups,” Grummet said.

“So companies and corporate cultures over there are actively trying to org-hack themselves to stay agile, redefine their purpose and drive intentional innovation.”

Grummet recently returned from a trip to the Valley, where she participated in deep-dives in innovation labs with the likes of Google, Airbnb, Twitter, Tesla, Silicon Valley Robotics and Singularity University.

Unfortunately, changing your culture is not something Australian businesses can just “copy and paste” from Silicon Valley, Grummet explained.

“In order to stay globally competitive and locally relevant, we must create and nurture our own culture within a start-up ecosystem that drives net job creation for Australia’s future economy.”

In the next 12 months, Grummet says girledworld's focus will be on three things: building an entrepreneurially minded team, scaling to reach more girls across Australia with a digital platform and continuing to embed purpose across their business to deliver on their mission.

“Five years from now we would like to have a multi-national team working within an operating culture that is diverse, positive, purpose-fuelled and that lives by its values, providing active mentorship and future career pathways to girls.”

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Join girledworld, Google, The Australian Futures Project and Blackbird Ventures at NAB 23/11.

GirledWorld Co-founders Madeleine Grummet and Edwina Kolomanski are members of the NewCo Advisory Council, and will be presenting at the Melbourne NewCo Festival on Thursday November 23 at NAB's The Hall in Melbourne. For tickets book here.

The Panel Event entitled 'Redefine the Workplace Paradigm: How to get women to stay, lead and succeed', will feature guest presentations and girledworld Co-Founders in conversation with Sally Ann Williams, Engineering Community & Outreach Program Manager, Google, Ralph Ashton, Co-Founder, Australian Futures Project and #WTFAustralia, and Nick Crocker, Partner, Blackbird Ventures. Tickets here. (Event details below and full NewCo Melbourne schedule here.)

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NewCo Melbourne: Redefine the Workplace Paradigm: How to get women to stay, lead and succeed brought to you by girledworld.

girledworld will explore the third gender revolution as we unpack diversity as an innovation driver, hear from experts about purpose-driven female leadership, and smash up workplace status quo and unconscious biases. Join us to build your toolkit on how to drive cultural transition in a positive, sustainable way, and how to create connection between industry and education to build the female pipeline of future innovators, leaders and founders.

NewCo is a festival of innovation and inspiration where mission-driven companies invite you inside their offices to share stories of positive change.

Business Insider Australia is the proud media partner of NewCo Melbourne, which kicks off on 22 November. Get your tickets and see the full schedule at www.mel.newco.co

Bringing up businesses and babies: Why women need mentors to make it work

As a working female who knows all too well the pace and juggle of balancing the needs of four busy daughters with the mid-career portfolio demands of building a startup, speaking engagements, active mentoring and board directorships, time is the core currency I trade in these days.

There are only so many hours in any given day, and the opportunity cost of time ill-spent down an email black hole or in zero-outcome meetings mean I've become more binary about how I will and won't spend my business time.

I choose to work with people and on projects that align to my purpose, and that solve for problems that really matter. It means the work can dial up and down as the projects demand, and it also means I therefore have to know when to flick the switch to family.

But like many women of my generation raising businesses and babies, finding true balance can be a challenge.

Sometimes the mix is just right, other times all wrong. You wing it anyway, and remind yourself that balance isn't static, and life is a continuum of change within which we chart our course, adjusting sails along the way where we need to. Some days are rough and tough, others blue-skied and calm watered (personally and professionally).

But in the mix of busy, I have, and always will, carve out time for mentorship. Because bringing up businesses and babies is not an easy juggle, and to make it work I have relied on the active mentorship of generous, intelligent women to help me navigate the way.

Because I have lived the benefit of having other women empower and mentor me, I believe in paying it forward. Daily, I still draw on the power and knowledge well of my collective circle to stay afloat, accelerate my opportunities and make strategic career choices. In fact some of the best business decisions I've made were shaped with mentors.

Sheryl Sandberg’s 2013 book Lean In: Women, Work and the Will To Lead has a dedicated chapter called Are You My Mentor? and in it she explores the idea of mentorship, and how to find the right mentors for your personal and professional stage.

Some of her key points about mentorship are that at its best it must be:

1.  AUTHENTIC: Healthy and effective business relationships take time to nurture and develop, and most often arise organically from real human connections where there is inherent mentor/mentee chemistry, authenticity and generosity. Find mentors who understand who you are, what your values, vision and purpose are, and who will then bring people into your network who share this, too.

2.  RECIPROCAL: Mentorship cuts both ways, and provides both parties with the opportunity for growth, transfer of knowledge, personal learning and professional extension. The mentor can sharpen and shape their leadership style through mentee feedback, and the mentee can also provide “grassroots intelligence” on industry insights, market intel and internal culture (access the mentor would not otherwise gain). In turn mentors can push you to your limits, challenge your thinking, strategically connect you to key stakeholders, champion your cause and actively market you and your business to amplify your message/vision.

3.  ACTIONABLE: Mentors and mentees must commit to progress, and measurable outcomes. In order for both parties to benefit most from the relationship, mentees must create actions around advice dispensed, embed key learnings, and then circle this back into the learning loop with mentors.

4.   AUTONOMOUS: Great mentors don’t cut the path but light the way. The greatest learning for mentees is learning by doing, even if it means failing and floundering a few times before charting the right path. Taking autonomous steps but knowing you have someone to bounce off when the going gets hard can be just the support you need to realise your potential and better achieve your goals.

Some of the most successful women I know have attributed active networking and mentoring to their success, saying that by putting themselves out there, finding their tribe and building a trusted group of people around them, they have achieved far more than could ever have done on their own.

If you’ve been thinking about becoming a mentor or seeking active mentorship as a mentee, there are now multiple organisations, digital platforms and online communities offering professional and personal coaching services if you’d like a hand to get started rather than reach out to your existing networks. Everwise, Mentorloop, Inspiring Rare Birds, Business Chicks and Mogul are just a few.

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SHE MENTORS - SUMMER NETWORKING PARTY

Inspire9, Richmond, Wednesday November 1, 6.00pm-8.00pm

Alternatively, if you’re in Melbourne and would like to connect in the real with a room full of female business women from all walks of life, register for the She Mentors Summer Networking Party at Inspire9 in Richmond on Wednesday November 1 6.00pm-8.00pm, and join me alongside Gemma Lloyd of Diverse City Careers as part of a She Mentors event celebrating female mentorship and the power of networking.

Lloyd is the co-founder of DCC Jobs, Company Secretary of the Diversity Practitioners Association (DPA), winner of the Sue Wickenden 2016 Entrepreneur Of The Year Award and has served on multiple not-for-profit Boards including IT Queensland Females in and Technology and Telecommunications (FITT).

In this event Lloyd will share her journey at the helm of DCC Jobs, where she has been campaigning for flexible working conditions for women, and regularly presenting on topics including diversity and inclusion, entrepreneurship, developing confidence for career success, and personal branding strategies, so will have a wealth of knowledge to impart to the audience.

DCC is a social enterprise helping women pursue rewarding careers, particularly in sectors with high gender inequality rates. Since its conception, DCC has grown rapidly and is now regarded as one of Australia’s leading authorities on gender diversity.

The DCC jobs board is Australia’s only exclusive jobs board, meaning employers must be pre-qualified before advertising to ensure a strong focus on diversity and inclusion. DCC were winners of the 2016 #techdiversity awards and finalists in the 2015 ARN Women in ICT Awards in the Innovation category.

I’ll also be sharing my story and some of the thrills and spills as a social entrepreneur, Mum, mentor and co-founder of girledworld.

Mainly, I’ll be chatting about how I’ve charted my career path around businesses and babies, built connections and communities along the way, and what I’ve learned from mentors and other extraordinary business women in my network.

There’ll be plenty of time for Q&A and networking afterwards, so we can all share stories, forge new connections and learn from each other.

I look forward to seeing some of you there.

Madeleine Grummet
Co-Founder & CEO girledworld

She Mentors Summer Networking Party.
Bookings here.

If Yassmin Abdel-Magied is 'unAustralian', then can the real Australians please stand up?

It’s no wonder Yassmin Abdel-Magied is moving from this wide, brown land to another land (kinda) girt by sea. Australia may be wide but clearly the tolerance for brown remains questionable.

By Madeleine Grummet, girledworld Co-Founder

In light of the vitriol currently being hurled at Yassmin Abdul-Magied, who self-describes as “the most hated Muslim in Australia right now”, I just want to put on record that I, and girledworld, stand in full support of her and all she stands for.

This is not because we are the same as her, or hold exactly the same beliefs. This is because we deeply respect her basic human right to be who she is.

We live in an old country that supposedly rejoices the young and free.

Abdel-Magied is young, but the new Australia has certainly not afforded her much freedom to be.

Since her relatively innocuous Facebook post on Anzac Day created a media fireball across the country (see post verbatim below, which was voluntarily withdrawn 1 hour after publication), Abdel-Magied has been repeatedly forced to justify her existence. Defend her choices. Speak louder so she is not shouted down (see recent Q&A debate). Apologize for who she is. And this has all played out in the public arena, with a biased, angry crowd cheering on.

To be fair, her post simply asked that on a day of remembrance of lives past lost, we also remember those fleeing, dying and losing lives in wars being fought today.

But this was enough to set the wolves howling. These last three months have seen a constant public backlash against her.

So it’s no wonder she’s moving from this wide, brown land to another land (partially) girt by sea. Clearly the tolerance for brown, and wide opinion, in this country remains questionable.

Earlier this week Abdel-Magied announced she is relocating to London, after enduring months of death threats, on and off-line vilification and open harassment both publically and privately since the ANZAC Day post.

Channel 7 promptly responded to news of Abdel-Magied’s impending move with a Facebook poll that asked its followers to vote on whether she should be allowed to leave the country or stay and “face her critics”. (This was subsequently removed and Channel 7 “unreservedly” apologized and admitted “it should never have been posted”.)

But the fact that it was publicly polled in the first place speaks volumes for what’s going on here.

This is an autonomous 26-year-old woman deciding to live offshore. Since when was that up for publicly sanctioned debate? To whom is she beholden? Makes one wonder who’s leading the lynch mob? And what sort of people are sitting in a national newsroom thinking publishing a poll on this is even anywhere near acceptable?

That’s not the worst of it.

Sydney businesswoman-turned reality TV celebrity Lisa Oldfield said in the days after Abdel-Magied’s Facebook post:

“At the end of the day I don’t like what she said. I was offended by what she said. But I still support her right to freedom of speech, and my right to be able to turn around and say lest we forget, Yassmin, that you are brown, you are Muslim and you are a girl, and that’s the only reason you have a job at the ABC.”

Oldfield is no leader. But she is an ‘influencer’. And her ill-considered words are just one example of the hateful, small-minded stuff that is sewn in the minds of the masses.

So let’s look to the leaders then.

No better. What sort of country elects people like Pauline Hanson, actually being paid to hold public office, who openly stated about Abdel-Magied in April this year: “Let’s be honest, her working part-time at the ABC, it’s tokenism, she’s not going to pull us together. Tokenism.” (As an aside, I do hope Hanson soon becomes a mere token of our political history. Best she move on and let someone else more deserving take a seat who has real leadership, can effect positive global change and who better reflects the views of the multicultural thinking majority).

But sadly, it’s people like Hanson who hold the power of influence, and who set airwaves and social channels abuzz to in turn dictate the popularly held opinions of our times.

And outside of politics, our country continues to celebrate media opinion brokers like broadcaster and talkback presenter Alan Jones, who told millions of listeners this about Abdel-Magied: 

“The woman is silly, she’s insensitive, she’s inexperienced, she’s obviously pretty un-Australian… but in this country thankfully there are no laws against any of those things, so she’s entitled to make a fool of herself.”

Silly? Seriously? Leave it to you to hand the title to who seems the greater fool here. (By the way, to date, I’m yet to find a mandate on what it means to be an actual Australian. Do those self-appointed gatekeepers who call out un-Australians have certified copies of their own ‘Australian’ credentials on hand? Keen to see.)

I could go on. I won’t. I’m already incensed.

In any case, you can find all the Abdel-Magied hating vitriol you care to trawl on any social media platform you land on. The attacks and trolling and outrage run like rivers down the feeds (according to Abdel-Magied over the last three months approximately “90,000 twisted words have been written about me … largely laced with hate”).

Of these words, you’ll find far less open and robust respectful debate, and much more one-sided, unfair debasing of a 26-year-old who just happens to hold strong opinions. As strong as Jones’, or Oldfield’s or Hanson’s for that matter. And far less offensive.

It’s just that they in the media and politics and business boardrooms and countless others can seemingly get away with it unscathed, and obviously Abdel-Magied can’t.

We need to ask ourselves why this is? What is our cultural narrative?

If Abdel-Magied has been declared as un-Australian for holding opinions that are apparently at odds with the prevailing cultural norm, then I think we need to spend some time as a nation defining and deciding exactly what an Australian is (and who then are the binary gatekeepers classifying un-Australians if we want to keep perpetuating this ridiculousness in our contemporary vernacular).

My passport says I’m Australian. But I’m not an ANZAC. I’m not an indigenous person. I’m not a pioneer. I’m not a footballer. I don’t hold any parliamentary office. I’ve travelled and lived across this country. And I still call Australia home.

But I’m no closer to classifying myself as a defined and understood true Australian as I am of saying I understand our complex cultural narrative, which buries its own bloodied racist past and blindy bumbles on clinging to a romanticized colonialism despite our very changed modern-day multicultural face.

My identity as a modern-day Australian is as mixed as the millions of long settled or newly arrived who call this place home alongside me. I stake no claim on being any more Australian than any one of them. Could the real Australians in the room please raise their hand? Who would? And justified by what claim?

There are clearly deep, dark, insidious currents that sit at the heart of our Australian identity right now. Public opinion and dissension is easily stirred when it comes to a question of who we are. But if we can’t define it and don’t know who we are, then who and what exactly are we defending when we flare against those like Abdel-Magied who supposedly threaten it? (Too often our base System 1 reactions to those who look different to us speak more to the baseless, irrational fears we hold within ourselves.)

The fact is our multiracial, multicultural diversity remains dangerously divisive in this country right now.

We have stories like Abdel-Magied’s playing out and fueling the fires of public opinion which continue to fixate on our difference, which divide us, which engender unconscious biases and which work directly against the cultivation of of a diverse, harmonious, respectful, multiracial nation.

And on the other we have the gathering momentum of diversity as a desired driver in the new economy, where businesses recognise that in order to succeed in the global marketplace and fuel the innovation ‘boom’ Australia needs to create the growth and jobs of the future, they must embrace or at least be seen to be actively cultivating diversity.

This desired diversity currency includes encouraging more women and multicultural representatives into leadership positions, reaching gender equality and parity quotas, and attracting and retaining a dynamic workforce mix of cultures, genders, skill-sets and value-sets.

But it’s clear we’ve still got a bloody long way to go before diversity becomes the business, political and societal norm. Unconscious biases, deeply entrenched male-dominated workplace cultural architecture and a lack of strong leadership means diversity often slips down the triage of most political, cultural, enterprise and personal agendas and we stay stuck in status quo.

If we are to progress as a nation, as a society, as a country that celebrates and leverages our diverse populace to our advantage by fuelling the innovation we need to drive us forward, then we need to rethink how we treat our citizens. Rethink who we really are. Rethink who represents us. And have a big reboot on what we’re actually saying about ourselves when we so publicly decry women like Abdel-Magied who have done nothing wrong but none-the-less been vilified for expressing opinions not widely held.

If we are to progress, be proud to call ourselves Australian and stand up on a world stage, we actually need to rethink who we choose to lead us, who we choose to follow and who we choose to celebrate.

We need to continue to ignite difficult conversations, challenge assumptions, encourage robust debate, all the while ensuring we hold our opinion and decision makers (in media, parliament, startup and business) accountable for deeply entrenched backward biases that infiltrate our popular culture.

We need many more powerful, intelligent women like Yassmin Abdel-Magied to continue to stand up for their right to be who they are, to continue to speak up for diversity, to challenge status quo and to push for greater gender, cultural, age and religious diversity in traditional industries, businesses, boardrooms and backwaters of this country.

We need to continue to advocate for the inalienable rights of all to freely speak, no matter their gender, their colour, or their religion. Even if it differs from ours.

We need to continually advance the human rights of the marginalized, whether by gender, colour or religion. Even if their cause is not ours.

And we need to continue to believe, as Stan Grant said in his impassioned, important speech about the troubled Australian identity, we can do so much better than this.

Until we get better, no-one has the right to put their hand up first and declare themselves to be a real Australian.

And I’ll stay self-declared and categorically un-Australian until I can say I fully, proudly, passionately, call Australia home.

Keep speaking out, Yassmin. Australia, when it decides to grow up, will eventually be better for it.

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Yassmin Abdel-Magied appeared as a guest panelist to discuss diversity at the girledworld Big Ideas Leadership Summit at the University of Melbourne on June 25, 2017.

Abdel-Magied’s original Facebook post stated the following: “LEST WE FORGET. Manus, Naura, Syria, Palestine.”

girledworld join ABC TV to chat the gender gap and how they're building the next Gen

Girledworld Co-Founders Madeleine Grummet and Edwina Kolomanski join ABC TV Breakfast News to chat smashing the glass ceiling, closing the gender gap and how they're building the next innovation generation of female leaders and founders. 

Monday June 26, 2017

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY.

Meet the women fighting to close the pay gap in Australian Business - MamaMia

This article was published by MamaMia on June 22, 2017.

Written by Dana Morse.

When Madeleine Grummet and Edwina Kolomanski met, they were composing a thesis on the gender gap in business.

With more than 20 years of experience in education and parenting between them, they could see a glaring problem with how girls progress from school to the career world.

It’s said girls can’t be what they can’t see – and when only eight per cent of ASX 200 CEOs and one in five board members are female, women are grossly under-represented in positions of leadership in Australia.

This is a problem Grummet and Kolomanski believe is unlikely to self-correct. So they’ve taken action.

They are now the founders of the girledworld, a startup committed to diversity, equality and innovation aimed at empowering the next generation of female leaders and entrepreneurs, starting in secondary school.

“Our DNA as a startup is about creating change and diversity,” says Kolomanski.

This weekend they are launching their inaugural girledworld Big Ideas Leadership Summit 2017, a leadership and entrepreneurship event aimed at educating and inspiring the school girls of today to become the leaders and entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

“It’s time to close the gender gap and show girls what’s possible for them," say Grummet and Kolomanski.

"We’ve designed an event that will engage, inspire and educate girls by teaching them new skillsets and mindsets, and connect them with Australia’s most inspiring female trailblazers in the innovation, entrepreneurship and STEM sectors.”

The Summit is to be held in Melbourne and will feature everything from workshops on how to make it as a Silicon Valley startup, to financial literacy and pitching workshops.

The two-day event will bring some of the most successful female founders and leaders together with secondary school aged girls to share their expertise, inspiration and career advice with the next generation.

"We’re excited about getting a group of diverse school girls in a room to talk about the future of work,” says Grummet.

“Our story is one of celebration, positivity and action… We want to activate change because business needs to do better for everyone – not just themselves.”

Grummet and Kolomanski believe that having “gender quotas” in leadership roles is the wrong way to bring up the number of women in these positions.

They believe the key lies in getting girls involved earlier and creating a pipeline for them to enter startup, leadership and STEM based roles.

“Our theory of change is to create an intervention with girls on a secondary school level and provide them with enterprising skill-sets, mindsets, tech-sets and role models they need to step into the future of work.” says Grummet.

The girledworld Summit is expected to see 500 attendees and will an feature outstanding all-female line up of over 30 speakers, including Yassmin Abdel-Mageid, MP Kelly O’Dwyer, and CEO of Startup Victoria Georgia Beattie.

“These are women who are truly doing unbelievable things.” says Grummet.

The event is exclusively for secondary school aged girls, as well as mums, mentors and children.

Tickets can be bought here.

GIRLEDWORLD BIG IDEAS LEADERSHIP SUMMIT 2017
Building the next generation of female leaders, founders and STEM champions, one girl at a time.

GirledWorld co-founder Edwina Kolomanski aims to close the gender gap

Published in the Geelong Advertiser - June 12, 2017
Written by Claire Martin 

A HOMEGROWN entrepreneur is encouraging young women to tackle the workforce gender gap with her start-up company GirledWorld.

Geelong Grammar alumni Edwina Kolomanski co-­founded the organisation with marketing guru Madeleine Grummet and they are aiming to equip young women with the skills needed to step into the workforce “skilled, confident and ready to lead”.

They have put together the 2017 GirledWorld Summit, which will see hundreds of secondary school girls take leadership workshops, hear stories of start-up success and gain ­career advice from local and international female leaders.

Ms Kolomanski grew up on the Bellarine Peninsula and worked at Geelong Football Club before receiving a scholarship to study at ­Melbourne University’s Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship.

“It was there I met co-­founder Madeleine, she’s a mother of four daughters and is really passionate about making a change for them,” she said.

“I started looking at the statistics of female CEOs and managers, and looked at some of them within emerging ­industries and found out that they’re all still really domi­nated by men.”

She said statistics on the representation of women in traditionally male-dominated industries such as STEM, start-ups and in leadership was worse in rural areas.

“We looked at the opportunities for women in metro areas versus regional — when you branch out in regional areas the stats just get worse,” Ms Kolomanski said.

“These are areas that hold excellent opportunities for ­impact, though.”

The GirledWorld Leadership Summit 2017 is for girls in years 7 to 12 and will explore automation, digital disruption and teach girls Design Thinking, teamwork, coding and virtual reality.

The event will also feature keynote addresses from global leaders and homegrown start-up founders, including Airbnb, IBM, StartupVic, Frank Body, LaunchVic, Atlassian, Girl Geek Academy, The Hacker Exchange, TOM Organic and more.

Ms Kolomanski said they had more projects in the pipeline for GirledWorld and encouraged Geelong girls to attend the summit at the University of Melbourne's Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship from June 24-25 2017.

If we run the numbers, girls and women are still way behind. Herconomics Founder joins girledworld Summit 2017 to grow money mindsets

So we’d like to ask you this.

Firstly, identify as female.

Thank you.

Ok. So moving on.

Would you consider yourself financially responsible? If you had to draw up a budget, and stick to it, could you do it? What if the floor dropped out from under you? Do you have a nest egg? Do you know how much is in your piggy bank right now? Could you read a balance sheet and see the red flags? And when it comes down to it, do you really know your numbers?

Sorry to bring it down, but according to a recent ANZ Survey of Adult Financial Literacy in Australia Report, women had significantly lower scores on average than men when it comes to basic financial knowledge and numeracy.

Additionally, in a recent report published by Wendy Tuohy, Herald-Sun columnist, journalist and thought leader, the Australian Federal Government Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins confirmed a view from the top that bolsters what Victorian Minister for Women Fiona Richardson also says: Currently, an unacceptable number of women are systematically and socially excluded from the active economy.

If we take the lens wide, we can also see that more women, particularly older women, are living in poverty as the long-term impact of disrupted careers due to the burden of care, lower wages, less stable work and less access to workforce participation mean they are further disadvantaged down the line by having far less access to saved income and superannuation than men.

(Quick stat to say that the World Economic Forum put out there last October that Australia ranked 46th in the world for gender equality, behind several African nations and New Zealand. Just saying that, because we probs, like, pretty bloody soon, need to look in hard at the numbers – and at ourselves - if we want to keep claiming we’re a country that's progressive).

But let's go small lens again, and the big question really is, for the average girl, woman, young, old, or otherwise out there, are you financially literate, economically empowered, and financially fit enough to take responsibility for your own money, both now, and into your financial future?

And if the answer is um, don’t know, or a straight up NO, don’t despair.

Herconomics is here to help, and will join us at the girledworld Big Ideas Leadership Summit 2017 to teach girls the basic skills they need to lead, succeed and be finance-fit both now, and into the future of work (Saturday June 24 2017).

This is stuff they need to know, it’s good news for the next Gen, and we’re pretty convinced this immersive session will be critical financial skill-building for the next age of leaders, founders and business women.

In this hands-on, interactive workshop, they’ll get a good starter on the finance basics, run the numbers, and learn from an expert who knows how to give them the tips and tricks they need to start to financially empower themselves now, no matter their business futures.

So who’s at the helm of this?

Meet Wadzanai Nenzou:

A: Extraordinary human and community leader, raised in Zimbabwe

B: Financial Services Professional

C: Bachelor of Commerce graduate, and gender pay gap expert

D: Social Entrepreneur and benevolent giver to community

D: Founder of Herconomics - a social enterprise and thriving active hub that helps females manage and grow their money, and brings women and entrepreneurs together to talk about, upskill and empower each other in financial acumen so their business does better.

For the record, Nenzou juggles working in financial services, running Herconomics, is the Engagement Officer for the Women’s Melbourne Network, currently studying a Graduate Diploma of Public Policy and will be commencing a Master of Applied Positive Psychology next year. Busy? Yep. Changing the world. Hell yeah.

Passionate about the empowerment of women and girls, Nenzou thinks it’s time to close the gender pay gap, and that for females to take control of their finances and put themselves in a position to succeed, we need to improve their financial literacy, and get women and girls to step up, skill up and grow their money mindsets.

Nenzou will join us at the girledworld Big Ideas Leadership Summit 2017 at the University of Melbourne's Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship next weekend to teach girls the basic money skills they need to be finance-fit both now, and into the future of work.

For more please click here. And book your tickets here.

And to read the full interview by Wendy Tuoy of the Herald Sun with Nenzou click here, or see excerpts below:

“I look deeply at psychological barriers that get in the way and how to overcome these blocks women have created which keep them disempowered in the area of financial literacy. Research findings have highlighted the gap between men and women when it comes to financial literacy levels. They also highlighted that women were more likely than men to find money management overwhelming, boring, uncomfortable, intimidating and unimportant compared to other aspects of life.”

"I am interested in using positive psychology tools to empower women to thrive when it comes to money management and am currently working on developing Herconomics into a not-for-profit social enterprise. I plan to channel some of the profits into providing financial literacy programs targeting girls and women refugees from African countries as well as supporting female economic empowerment projects based in Africa."

“Working in the financial services industry for 10 years I have gotten some interesting insights when it comes to women and money. On a general scale I have noticed the obvious gap in superannuation balances between women and men. I have also noticed a higher amount of men compared to women seeing financial advisers and have met many women who highlight how uncomfortable they are talking about money or trying to learn more about money. There seems to be deep psychological barriers for many women when it comes to money management.”

“I look deeply at psychological barriers that get in the way and how to overcome these blocks women have created which keep them disempowered in the area of financial literacy. Research findings have highlighted the gap between men and women when it comes to financial literacy levels. They also highlighted that women were more likely than men to find money management overwhelming, boring, uncomfortable, intimidating and unimportant compared to other aspects of life."

GIRLEDWORLD BIG IDEAS LEADERSHIP SUMMIT 2017 - Building the next generation of female leaders, founders and STEM champions.

We can do better. Why Australia needs to play fair, call out inequality and celebrate the real leaders.

We need more women in leadership roles across this country, in every business, every boardroom, in politics, in research, in think-tanks, in startup, in policy-making, in media, and in every conversation that will shape the way our world is, and where it's going, in an age of unprecedented change.

To do this we need to continue to advocate for fair play, integrity, equality, parity and diversity.

To do this, we need to continue to call out the companies and individuals who are not playing fair, and who continue to insult our collective humanity with their value-less, biased, small-minded, backward-facing behaviours and barriers to societal progress. This is not leadership, and we can do so much better than this.

To better shape the world we want to live in, we need to continue to advocate for, celebrate and empower today's leaders, both women and men, who are built on the things that matter: integrity, vision, strong values, wisdom, humility, collaboration and a commitment to diversity and shared purpose for the betterment of all.

At girledworld we're working on it, creating tomorrow's leaders today by making female role models visible and accessible to the next generation, by laying down pathways for girls through active mentorship and knowledge trading, and by building the pipeline through equipping today's girls with the skill-sets, mindsets and tech-sets they need to step up to leadership and shape the future world around them. 

Girls can't be what they can't see. And they need to see more examples of real leadership.

So let's work together across industry, government, education and business to show and teach the next generation of leaders what leadership looks like.

Let's work together to cultivate and celebrate leadership that is built on altruism, on listening, on respect, on equality, on parity, on diversity, on shared purpose, on collective vision, and on lived example.

And let's remember that we can do much better than we have been.

The future world depends on it.

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Tag a strong woman, amazing female mentor or awesome secondary school girl in the comments below here if you think they should be celebrated, and give them the chance to win one of TWO SUNDAY PASSES to the girledworld Big Ideas Leadership Summit 2017 (valued at $89.95 each). 

Winners will be notified by 5.00pm on Wednesday June 21 2017. Tickets are not transferable, and winners must be available to attend event on Sunday June 25 2017 at the University of Melbourne's Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship. 

See some of our extraordinary mentors, advisors and role models on our website in the tabs above, and click here to see the full girledworld Big Ideas Leadership Summit 2017 speaker and workshop lineup featuring female founders, leaders and change-makers from across the globe. 

If you would like to get in touch to hear more about our work, and what's in the pipeline please email us at hello@girledworld.com

www.girledworld.com 

✖️✖️

How to teach girls Design Thinking - girledworld Summit 2017

At girledworld we get a little bit excited about innovation, ignition of ideas and problem solving. It’s why we train in and keep a hand on Design Thinking, Lean Startup, agile and anything that keeps us moving, questioning, pivoting and coming up with awesome ideas to solve the wicked problems of the world.

So we’re super excited to have education consultant and design thinking facilitator Kirsty Costa from Cool Australia joining us for the girledworld Big Ideas Leadership Summit 2017 to get hundreds of secondary school aged girls immersed in a Design Thinking workshop on Saturday June 24!

Design thinking helps us create, analyse and rebuild products and ideas. It can also be used to find creative solutions to big problems, and in this experiential workshop, participants will experience and apply each step of design thinking – from immersion to prototyping – as they work in teams to solve a live world environmental problem: the shrinking habitat of marine turtles and how Design Thinking can be used to create a prototype solution to protect their endangered nests.

Costa started out as a primary teacher, became an award-winning education consultant and now is the Head of Professional Development at Cool Australia, enabling more than 65,000 teachers to connect their lessons to the world outside the classroom every day.

Costa was awarded the 2013 Victorian Environmental and Sustainability Educator of the Year and trained by Al Gore as a Climate Reality Leader in 2014. In recent years she has helped hundreds of organisations and individuals carry out exciting change projects across Australia, and worked on global environmental initiatives with Greenpeace Japan and Oxfam Community Aid Abroad.

We can’t wait for Kirsty Costa to bring her expertise, energy, turtles and big thinking to the girledworld Big Ideas Leadership Summit 2017.

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Please join us alongside some of Australia and the world's most remarkable business leaders, startup founders and STEM champions to up-skill the next generation of girls in leadership, innovation and enterprise.

girledworld Big Ideas Leadership SUMMIT 2017.

Saturday June 24 & Sunday June 25

University of Melbourne @unimelb

Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship @wadeinstitute

#stepup #startup #STEM

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!