UNBiased

I encourage you all to tune in to the latest episode of UNBiased where I’m joined by multi-award-winning, marketer extraordinaire, and founder of Suits&Sneakers, Anne Miles.

Anne is the quiet achiever at pushing people outside the box - for business performance and cultural gain. Most of all, that includes the need to remove negative stereotypes and old ways of targeting customers.

Anne believes in diversity in the way that she works, and for the end products produced as well as advocating for change to Government to change the rules on stereotypes.

Anne shares her personal experiences openly and how those experiences drive her to effect change in the advertising space where there is much to be done to ensure that advertising is truly representative of the consumers being targetted.

Trigger warning: some of the content depicts experiences of sexual violence in the workplace and at home which some listeners may find distressing.

Joining me today is Nusrat Uddin.

Nusrat is a British human rights lawyer of Bangladeshi origin.

Nusrat joined Wilsons Public Law Department as a solicitor in 2014 and she is now a partner specialising in public law and human rights, with a particular focus on modern slavery, forced labour and human trafficking bringing cases against central and local government bodies for failing their duties, as well as claims against those who have exploited their workers.

Nusrat is growing the firm’s Business and Human Rights work, specifically in relation to modern slavery in supply chains. She has provided evidence for several US investigations into complaints against companies, from the fashion industry through to rubber gloves. The US authorities have banned certain products from entering the US where indicators of forced labour in supply chains have been found. She believes the UK’s approach is far weaker and is critical of the Modern Slavery Act’s approach.

Since recording the podcast earlier this year Nusrat won a ground-breaking, and world-first case in the UK’s highest court which held that a diplomat is not immune from modern-slavery charges and will be subject to action for subjecting a domestic worker to modern slavery.

In recognition of her work in this field, Nusrat has been shortlisted in the 2019 Anti-Slavery Day Awards, for Outstanding Contribution to the fight against Slavery, in the Enabling and Supporting Survivor Rights and Entitlements category.

As well as going after employers and those who contravene anti-slavery legislation at scale, Nusrat also has an interest in improving state support for victims of modern slavery, by challenging the cuts to susbsistence monies paid to victims, and she has helped victims to earn back rebates of around 1 million pounds  in aggregate for victim support payments.

Nusrat was Highly Commended at the 2019 Law Society Excellence Awards for Human Rights Lawyer of the Year. Nusrat was also shortlisted as a finalist for Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year 2019, organised by the Legal Aid Practitioners Group.

Her passion and sense of purpose in this area is so evident in how she has spent her time in and around her work, through volunteering in the UK and internationally, including work with the Human Rights and Legal Aid department of on of the world’s largest NGO’s, BRAC in Bangladesh, (formerly Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee).

Bedi (she/her) is the co-founder of DivTal, an online job platform that connects inclusive organisations to migrant or culturally and linguistically diverse jobseekers.

Bedi is a passionate Human Resource professional with over 10 years’ experience within the finance industry. Her areas of expertise include Graduate and Early Career Talent Management, Diversity & Inclusion, Change & Communications, and Recruitment and Program Management. Bedi is involved in numerous diversity & inclusion committees and advocates for minority women and youth empowerment.

Divtal was born out of Bedi, and her fellow South Sudanese Australian co-founder Lorna Deng, both seeking to improve employment opportunities for job candidates from underrepresented backgrounds having faced and overcome their own employment barriers in Australia.

From the moment you encounter and engage with Bedi it is abundantly clear that she is a force to be reckoned with and a force for good and equal. She is a driven co-founder and a great example of a committed entrepreneur who is currently successfully navigating both the start-up and corporate HR worlds.

You can learn more and connect with Bedi here:

https://divtal.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bedi-othow-91952667/

It's taken a while to get back on schedule with these podcast episodes, and you'll hear from this one that it was recorded on International Women's Day! But conversations like these can't stay in the can forever! So I'm delighted to be back in flow of publishing and recording more great conversations on all things bias and equity. This week's guest is Julia Arnott-Neenee. Julia is driven by social justice, people and futures, and as you'll hear from our conversation she is truly aligned with that purpose. 

Julia is a Sāmoan, Chinese & British Global Strategist with her career spanning across Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, UK & USA in the Technology sector. Julia has recently joined Emerge Aotearoa as the national manager of transformation Emerge Aotearoa is New Zealand’s  largest NGO, whose mission is to strengthen whānau so that communities thrive. She is also the only Pacific member of the Digital Council for Aotearoa New Zealand, a member of World Economic Forum Global Futures Council on AI and Humanity (Inclusion), Trustee of Hi-Tech Trust, Board Member at Middlemore Foundation, Mentor at First Foundation and has also co-founded her only Social Enterprise – PeopleForPeople: a youth-led Pacific organisation on a mission to ensure that everyone confidently participates in the Digital World of today and tomorrow.

In this conversation Julia shares openly about her upbringing and heritage. We get real on the importance of psychological safety in the workplace, tokenism, and creating safe technology.

You can connect with Julia here.

Before resuming regular programming with more fabulous guests, I'm hogging the mic for International Women's Day 2022 #BreaktheBias. Couldn't be more on point really.

I am also shamelessly plugging a new initiative Women for Impact - Set up to create safe spaces and empower Women of Colour Founders to secure more funding, we are launching over drinks, networking and a fantastic panel discussion to kick things off. If you're around in Melbourne this Friday 11th March 6:30pm, register for free tickets to join us! https://events.humanitix.com/international-women-s-day-2022-break-the-bias?_ga=2.83055829.219392571.1645519930-1825002683.1644552808

Happy IWD!

My guest to round off 2022 is Tanaya Joshi.

Tanaya wears many hats, including her current role in Impact and Communications at Earthwatch Australia, an environmental not-for-profit that uses nature-based experiences to empower people in saving nature.

She is also a science and culture writer at SAARI collective, a media start-up aiming to diversify Australian media, and is part of the Science Gallery Melbourne's Sci Curious, a group of young people shaping a gallery which brings together sciences and the arts. While working, Tanaya is also completing a Masters in Environment and Sustainability at Monash University.

Her current passions lie in science communication, systemic change to slow the climate and biodiversity crisis, and striving to platform First Nations and people of colour in the movement for a liveable future.

I'm joined on this week's episode by Khin Kha. Khin is a cultural diversity champion and co-founder of Phoenix Sisters, a volunteer-based network which aims to help people and organisations to understand and cultivate their cultural intelligence through professional development conferences, career workshops and mentoring programs.

Khin shares so warmly and openly about her upbringing in Myanmar as the daughter of Burmese film star Kyaw Hein, moving to Australia with limited English, and working her way up the corporate ladder at Ernst and Young, co-founding Phoenix Sisters and being recognised as a nominee for Asia 21 Young Leaders. 

Despite her relatively unique upbringing there is so much of Khin's story and experiences that will be relatable to many.

Joining me today is Founder and CEO of Inner Ambitions, Lanre Sulola.

Lanre found his calling to dedicate his career to the pursuit of diversity and inclusion in the midst of a corporate career which led him to set up Inner Ambitions in 2013 and he's never looked back.

Lanre shares the story of his journey which began as a side hustle, chipping away and building his network whilst creating programmes for under-represented communities, to today, where, based in London, Inner Ambitions has an enviable list of blue chip clients seeking out his services to help them foster an inclusive environment in their workplaces. 

Lanre shares some valuable practical tips for both leaders, and individuals who want to thrive whilst being able to be their authentic selves at work.

In this episode I'm joined by Psychologist specialising in childhood trauma, Dr Rana Tayara. Dr Rana was born and brought up in Lebanon, and has studied and worked in the UK and Australia.

She has been a psychological consultant for a number of NGOs in Lebanon, Jordan and the UK, working with refugees, delinquent youth and individuals with special needs.

Since moving to Australia in January 2016, Rana has continued to hone her focus on raising awareness against child abuse and more specifically child sexual abuse.

Rana shares openly her story taking her from war-torn Lebanon to Australia, and we talk biases, commonalities and differences in the factors affecting childhood mental health from her experiences across the Globe.

For those of you who joined me earlier this year for the launch of UNBiased as a brand new podcast, I'm back after a Covid-19 Delta variant-induced hiatus. Here in Australia, we were forced to move swiftly from trying to keep Covid-19 off our shores, to vaccinating and living with it like the rest of the world. As a result we were thrown back into lockdown - my first one having to home school a 5 year old, whilst juggling full time work, setting up a new business, and generally riding out the ups and downs that came with closed international borders when all our family support is based in the UK.

But I'm back! I'm double vaxxed. Kids are back in school and daycare. And international borders are starting to re-open.

I'm excited to introduce you to some great guests, and take our conversations into new territories.

Kicking off with Prerana Mehta: CEO, Board Director; Mum of 3. The sheer breadth of Prerana's career and the amount that she has given back to her community through her work with notable NGO's SisterWorks and BraveHER; and to Australia's cyber-security efforts both here and overseas through her work with AustCyber, is breathtaking. 

In this episode Prerana shares her story behind her immense CV and gives us a glimpse into biases that she's overcome, and why we should be hopeful for all that can be achieved with the right mindset.