International Women's Day is recognised globally on the 8th of March. We've seen it evolve into a month of events and activities that celebrate women's achievement, raise awareness against bias, and drive action for equality.

We have chosen to mark #IWD2020 with our 'Women in Startups' dinner series; where we're inviting women leaders from across the startup ecosystem to share their personal story, triumphs, and lessons learned over dinner with an intimate group of founders.

For our Melbourne dinner, we couldn't think of a better guest than Rachael Neumann.

Rachael plays many roles supporting the #startupaus ecosystem; as Head of Startups in ANZ for Amazon Web Services, startup mentor, angel investor, board member, advisor, and all-round startup superfan. She’s passionate about helping companies scale and increase their impact through differentiated customer experiences and new product development.

With all these different viewpoints into the startup ecosystem, it’s not hard to see how Rachael is perceived as a leader and a great mentor. Participating as a "no-nonsense" mentor with programs like Startmate she has imparted knowledge from years of seeing many businesses unfold and speaks from deep experience in product and customers.

Things you can expect us to discuss over dinner:

The career journey of a change maker
The hallmarks of being a successful mentor and mentee
How we can encourage more women to become angel investors?
What more needs to be done to increase diversity in the startup industry?

With a young family and so many commitments, Rachael's dedication to grow and endorse startups in Australia is truly something to be admired. We hope you join for an evening of candid conversations, great company, and good food.

Jodie Imam, General Manager of SBE Australa and IB Ambassador will be leading the evening's conversation.

This event is an intimate 3-course dinner, for a maximum of 22 guests. Chatham House rules apply to keep the conversation open, honest and candid.