As a long-term The Inclusion Circle member and Executive Committee member for the last two years, and President for one Alice would like to continue to support the organisation by re-nominating for the position of President. We have continued the legacy of previous Exco and President’s/ Vice Presidents by modernising the constitution this year, and next year she would like to lead the team to double down on providing extra value to members and modernising our systems and processes to make them more efficient for all, which will contribute to the financial health of TIC by bringing in new members.

A 20 year + career in Human Resources, 5 of which in DEI and an additional 8 in Human Rights non-profits and NGO’s both in Australia and overseas, demonstrates Alice’s commitment to the sector.

Half of her career has been in the commercial sector and she combines a passion for social justice with strong commercial acumen and the capacity to translate justice principles into pragmatic action in a business context. She has led teams for 15 + years and would be delighted to lead our fabulous Exec Committee. She enjoys networking and bringing people together, and promoting our working on LI, which are important for maintaining TIC’s profile.

Susan is keen to support and contribute to the building of TIC membership, resources and offerings to benefit and enhance the awareness and capacity of existing D&I Practitioners in this essential work. Her experience and skills were honed designating D&I programs for employers, producing the Workforce Development and Industry Participation (WDIP) plans for large multibillion infrastructure programs and working for the DCA as former Senior Consultant for many years before consulting to employers on Conflict Resolution and Cultural Inclusion more recently.

Susan has a strategic and operational understanding of implementing workplace change programs including in her current P/t role at Social Ventures Australia where she currently coaches 19 employers to implement their bespoke pilot programs to create employment opportunities for young people without university qualifications facing exclusion. She holds a Masters in Mediation and Conflict Resolution UQ and B.A Hons (Spanish & Latin American Literature UNSW)

Jessica is interested in a role with The Inclusion Circle as the work I do as a Senior Relationship Manager with Pride in Diversity will allow me to share my experiences and expertise in the area of LGBTQ inclusion.

She believes she can contribute to The Inclusion Circle by bringing her experience of working for ACON, growing up and living in regional NSW. She and her wife have two small children, and so have the perspective of being a queer family and parent.

Her previous skills and experience in project management and leadership and her current skills in inclusion and event management will hopefully also assist The Inclusion Circle in achieving its goals around thought leadership, and collaborative community in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusive practices.

Alpana is Lead Inclusion & Diversity at Australian Red Cross. She has experience planning and delivering events, and in 2023 delivered a virtual event for United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This included promoting the event, constructing key messages, preparing the panel, and MC-ing on the day. Alpana also has experience in presenting inclusion and diversity inductions and facilitating inclusion and diversity forums.

As a woman of colour working in diversity and inclusion, Alpana is passionate about increasing diversity, equity and inclusion across workplaces and communities. Alpana is the Inclusion & Diversity Lead for the Australian Red Cross Culturally and Linguistically Diversity Employee Resource Group and 2022-2023 Women of Colour Mentor.

Alpana will bring her skills and strengths of thought leadership, diverse thinking, event management and interest in other people’s stories to the Executive Committee.

Fungai believes we have more in common than that which divides us. To understand those intersections and promote inclusion partly requires that there are more diverse voices in the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) space that can speak to different experiences and opinions.

A unified voice can help us move in a direction of meaningful change and impact that creates a more inclusive culture across organisations and communities.

Fungai comes from Zimbabwe and has lived in Cape Town for 1.5 years and Sydney for about 11. He has a self-curated learning and development plan that has allowed him to study and research broadly in varying areas of human behaviour (including Cross-Cultural Management) and race, which strongly drives his interest in matters of DEI.

The work he currently does at mwah. gives him exposure to a range of people management, strategy, and overall culture matters. It also allows him to understand identity, belonging, and network analysis, and how those concepts intersect and impact culture.

He regularly writes reflective articles for the mwah. newsletter as well as his personal blog which centres around inviting people to critically examine themselves when it comes to issues of diversity and inclusion.

Lesley has experience in Inclusion, Diversity and Equity for several years, most recently with Accenture Australia Pty Ltd in Talent Strategy, focussing on Inclusion, Equity and Diversity. She has participated as a mentor for a person with disability as part of PACE Mentor Program with AND (and managed subsequent program participation within the organisation). She was nominated for NSW Volunteer of the Year award 2022, by Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion at UTS.

Experienced in event management (e.g., Global Accessibility Awareness Day events, International Day of People with Disability events, International Women’s Day events, World Refugee Day, World Autism Day, Sign Language training etc) Recently established two new ERG/Support groups in her organisation – Neurodiversity; and Menstrual and Menopause Support

Her Top 10 Gallup Strengths: Strategic, Ideation, Activator, Maximiser, Developer, Positivity, Individualisation, Learner, Futuristic and Connectedness - as such she has multiple ideas for future topics for consideration, based on anticipated needs of members, and I have the innate ability to simply ‘get stuff done’ without fuss

Lesley would like to join The Inclusion Circle and utilise this industry platform to enhance awareness/education for a more inclusive, equitable and accessible work environment across Australia and the world.

Rashida has been consulting specifically in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion space for over four years, having learnt from clients both in Australia and globally. She would love the opportunity to share her insights, knowledge and experience with others outside of the workplace

In addition to this, she brings deep expertise from a people, culture and organisational design perspective from various in-house roles across Financial Services, FMCG and Government

She would like the opportunity to contribute to a community with other like-minded DEI practitioners who are all working on an agenda to drive significant change in highly challenging times – she appreciates the need to have the support and to support others doing this work

Being a woman of colour and a mother of twins, she would also love to contribute by bringing an intersectional lens on personal lived experience, particularly in the Australian context

She has key strengths in strategic thinking, relationship building, design and facilitation, as well as Executive coaching. She would love to bring these skills to support driving the strategic direction of The Inclusion Circle, particularly around increasing and diversifying membership as well as the delivery of future member events.

She regularly keeps up to date with latest research, trends and best practice to help inform her own work and would love to bring this knowledge to TIC.

Samantha has been a lifetime advocate, promoter, adviser, fundraiser, and champion of all things equitable, inclusive, and diverse.

She is privileged to now be working in a professional context and societal era, where there is finally consensus that DEI is not only the right thing to do, but the business case for change is now too compelling to ignore.

As an innate aggregator of people, purpose, and performance, she identifies and embeds the intersectional value of diverse people solutions and culture. She believes this will add value to TIC’s purpose and cadence of activity to further DEI understanding and impact.

Samantha is Honours Degree qualified (B.Ed.) with 20+ years of diverse experience in UK, USA, and Australia – both in the private, NFP & public sector.

As a global citizen who has lived and travelled in some of the most amazing places, she has the enviable life experiences and insight into different languages, cultures, religions, geographies, and everything that makes up the wonderful diversity in this world.

She believes that by working with TIC as a committee member, she can further the discussion and case for inclusion across many forums and engagement opportunities, whilst furthering the brand and potential for new and sustainable membership as a result.