marieclaire.com.au (^) | 81
“WHEN MORE YOUNG
PEOPLE DIE BY SUICIDE
THAN ANY OTHER CAUSE,
WE NEED TO ACT”
Seven of The Iconic’s eight C-Suite
executives are female, making it one
of the most female-friendly senior
leadership groups in Australia. We
spoke to the winners of the Majority
Rules Award, Anna Lee (left), COO,
and Erica Berchtold, CEO, about the
benefits of having women at the top.
MC: Anna, you’ve been with The
Iconic since 2014. How has gender
diversity changed in your career?
AL: When I started working, more
than 20 years ago, the lack of women in
leadership was concerning and whilst
there is much more we can do, I’m
truly inspired that there’s been a lot of
progress in that time and that change
is possible. My hope is that the next
generation of women won’t need to fight
for equality; it will just be the norm.
MC: Erica, you were five months
pregnant with your third child when
you started as CEO at The Iconic in
March. What was that like?
EB: It’s truly a bizarre thing – starting a
new job – let alone a CEO role like
mine, when you’re pregnant. For my
generation, women have felt the need
to downplay their relationship status
for fear that an employer might catch
wind of impending nuptials and decide
not to give them a job or a promotion.
I too have felt the need to conceal
aspects of my private life at certain
stages of my career. However, here
I was, five months pregnant, stepping
into the biggest role of my career.
How times have changed.
MC: One in four ASX 200 companies
have only one female board member.
What can be done to change that?
EB: We need to create an environment
where women are actively putting
themselves forward for leadership roles. I
refuse to believe that there aren’t enough
talented women out there to create a
more equal balance. I’m a firm believer
in the far-reaching benefits that having
a diverse board offers a business, and
there’s plenty of research to support that.
The
MAJORITY RULES TEAM
The
MENTOR
WINNER: The Iconic
WINNER: Vicki Condon AM, Raise
“I’m not really a proud person,”
admits Vicki Condon, wiping tears
from her eyes while accepting a
Glass Ceiling Award for establishing
youth mentoring foundation Raise.
“But I’m really proud of this award.”
Condon, 51, calls Raise her
“midlife crisis”. Having trained as
a counsellor after a decade-long
corporate career, she first came up
with the idea for the organisation
when she turned 40 and “took off to
Byron Bay to sit on the beach for a
week”. In Byron, Condon wrote an
entire business plan. But when she
returned home to Sydney, she put
the document in her bottom drawer,
suffering a crisis of confidence.
It took a tragedy to turn Raise
into a reality. In 2008, Condon’s
family experienced the death by
suicide of a 14-year-old friend. The
day of his funeral, she pulled out
the business plan and vowed to do
something about Australia’s youth
mental health crisis. “I thought, if
I could just help one young person,
it would be so worth it,” she recalls.
That was 11 years ago. Since
launching, Raise has helped more
than 5400 young Australians by
simply matching at-risk kids with
volunteer mentors.
After finishing the six-month
program, mentees leave feeling
empowered, capable and with
goals – and hope – for the future.
“We’ve had young people who
experience anxiety, self-harmers
and kids whose parents are in jail.
Watching these young people shine
at the [Raise] graduation is amazing.
The difference that a mentor can
make is remarkable,” says Condon,
who wants Raise to be in every
public secondary school by 2024.
sharon
(sharon)
#1