Last night, in the dazzling Sydney Town Hall, the best and brightest women in the tech field congregated to see who would be crowned the winners of the Women Leading Tech Awards and the inaugural WLT Power List.
If you didn’t make it last night, check out all our winners here!
So, how does it feel to be honoured with a Women Leading Tech Award? What more can be done to advance women in the tech field? How do we encourage more young girls to enter STEM? And what advice do the best of the best in tech have for the next generation of WLT winners? B&T sat down with some of the winners only a few moments after stepping off stage to find out precisely that.
Woman of the Year – Hannah Moreno — Third Hemisphere
Humble as ever, Moreno “still feels like we made a mistake” as she talks about leaning into her feminist values from a professional standpoint and the importance of using one’s voice.
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People’s Choice – Wendy Komadina — Cloudflare
Komadina tells us how honoured she is to have won a WLT award and to have been selected by her peers.
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Social Impact Advocate – Sophia Symeou — Bill Fairies Pty Ltd
Symeou was so overwhelmed at winning a WLT Award that she needed an emotional support person to join her on stage and in the interview.
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Rising Star – Grace Johnson — Anduril Australia
Rising Star winner Grace Johnson believes anyone can make a meaningful contribution just by having a voice and putting themselves out there.
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Public Relations – Hannah Moreno — Third Hemisphere
She’s that good, we had to interview her twice!
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Advocacy – Thoughtworks
A representative from the Thoughtworks team talks about why events like the WLT Awards are essential in advancing female representation in STEM fields.
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Cyber Security – Kate Monckton — Deloitte
Our Cyber Security winner, Kate Monckton, tells us how the industry has changed for women since she first started!
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Data Science – Jacqueline Huvanandana — Woolworths Group
Huvanandana tells us about her passion for finding patterns in data sets and how this led her to a role in data science.
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Entrepreneur/Founder – Charlotte Bradshaw — Evrima Technologies
Bradshaw tells us about overcoming the voices that told her starting her own tech business was “not possible”.
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Executive Leader – Katrina Troughton — Adobe
The inimitable Troughton talks about how we elevate more women into senior leadership roles in the tech sector.
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Glass Ceiling – Kaelah Ford — Canva
Ford tells us that the way to break down barriers in the tech field is to ensure that more women join and continue into senior leadership roles.
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Mentor – Shan Wen — VMware
“Be brave and courageous”, said Wen when asked the advice she would give a mentee.
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People and Culture – Christine van Hoffen — Tracksuit
van Hoffen tells us how the Tracksuit People and Culture team is working to encourage women to return to the tech workforce after having children.
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Let’s hear it for some more of our incredible winners!
“Dive straight in,” “You are the smartest person in the room,” and “Just go for it” are some of the amazing answers we heard from our impressive Women Leading Tech winners. Hear from our Sustainability Crusader Cecille Weldon, Sales Anna Mascarello, Martech Candice Ayad, Innovator Tandadzo Matanda, Customer Success Jyo Shukla and AdTech June Cheung.
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