Thursday 18th September, marks International Equal Pay Day, representing the longstanding efforts towards achieving equal pay for equal work and to eliminate all forms of discrimination, including discrimination against women and girls.

It’s a day that highlights the additional days on average women must work into the new financial year to earn the same pay as men worldwide. For Women of Colour, this pay gap is even wider as we face additional barriers that widen the disparity.

Our theme, “It Doesn’t Add Up”, focuses on how the intersection of race and gender creates unique challenges in the workplace.

We welcome Women of Colour and allies to join this special panel and networking event moderated by VPS WoCN Champion and Executive Director, Public Health Network and Programs, Department of Health, Dr Bridie O’Donnell, with panellists:

Angela Skandarajah, Board Chair, Development Victoria
Oanh Thi Tran, Fair Work Commissioner
Sharon Deano, Director, Compliance and Enforcement, Energy, Essential Services Commission (VPS WoCN Champion)
Vanya Kumar, Executive Director, Innovation, Commercial and Investment Attraction, Energy Group, DEECA (VPS WoCN Champion)

You can also go in the draw to win one of 30 chances to get your professional headshot taken after the event! 📸

Schedule:

· 11:30 am: Doors open, registration

· 12:00 – 1:00 pm: Panel discussion and Q&A

· 1:00 – 1:30 pm: Networking and lunch

· 1:30 – 2:30 pm: Professional headshots (for lottery winners)

We hope this will be a valuable opportunity for us all to connect, reflect and take action. You can RSVP to the event below.

This event is for both Women of Colour and Allies.

Accessibility

An accessible pathway to the venue is available via Flinders Lane, entering on the west side of Throssell Lane. The entrance is opposite a car park.

Please note the auditorium has space for wheelchairs at the top of the theatrette, but no access to the front. Please indicate any mobility requirements

There are wheelchair accessible bathrooms on Level 6.

The theatrette is not equipped with audio loop technology.

An accessible pathway to the venue is available via Spring Street, entering just before 1 Treasury Place.
Please note that the auditorium has a dedicated accessible bathroom, two dedicated spaces for wheelchairs, and a wheelchair lift for access to the auditorium. Lift platform dimensions are 110cm x 84cm.

Please let us know if you have any accessibility requirements.

Panel Bios

Angela Skandarajah, Board Chair, Development Victoria	Angela has extensive leadership experience in the real estate, legal and government sectors, including over five years as CEO of Development Victoria and 13 years as a partner at a large commercial law firm. Her expertise includes real estate transaction structuring, Board governance and reporting, and managing enterprise risk. She has been a long-term contributor to the property industry through her work and participation in various industry bodies and is a passionate advocate for building inclusion and diversity across the development sector. She is committed to nurturing the next generation of leaders. Angela is currently the Chair of Development Victoria, Chair of Aeria Management Group, a director of Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and a member of the Board of Trustees at the Queen Victoria Women's Centre. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and an Executive Master of Public Administration from the University of Melbourne.
Oanh Thi Tran, Commissioner, Fair Work Commission	Oanh Thi Tran was appointed as a Commissioner of the Fair Work Commission – Australia’s national workplace relations tribunal – in July 2023. She is Deputy National Practice Lead for employee-like workers, assisting Vice President Ingrid Asbury as the National Practice Lead for minimum standards for regulated workers. Prior to FWC, Oanh was principal solicitor at the Young Workers Centre, a community legal centre. She has also been a Union legal and Industrial Officer with the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia and CFMMEU-Manufacturing Division. She was also an employment and anti-discrimination law lawyer in firms in the UK and Queensland. Oanh began her legal career as a judge’s associate and has also worked in retail, been a Christmas elf and shop fitter. Oanh’s family were outworkers, and she sews as a hobby. Oanh cares deeply about social justice and the dignity of all work.
Sharon Deano, Director, Compliance and Enforcement, Energy, Essential Services Commission	Sharon Deano has occupied various leadership positions in the Australian Public Service over the last 18 years.  She has led several high-profile investigations which have resulted in groundbreaking precedent and multi-million dollar penalties. In her current role, she advises the commission on setting the strategic direction of the compliance and enforcement functions, including establishing annual compliance and enforcement priorities. Her past experience includes contributing to several international projects designed to fast-track skills acquisition for newly formed competition regulators in the ASEAN region. She has provided capacity building training to agencies in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia.  She has also spoken at multilateral conferences with ASEAN member states on the topics of leadership, investigations and data-driven decision making.
Vanya Kumar, Executive Director, Innovation, Commercial & Investment Attraction, Energy Group, Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action	Vanya Kumar is the Executive Director, Innovation, Commercial and Investment Attraction in the Energy Group at the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. Vanya is an experienced executive with expertise in commercial transactions, infrastructure development, project management, innovation and industry development . A lawyer by training, Vanya has worked across a range of industries including energy and utilities, banking and finance, construction, oil and gas, and transport in Australia and overseas. Throughout her career, Vanya has sought to improve the opportunities for CALD communities and women. At the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), it was to advance the prospects of and connections with WOC, that she accepted the role of the inaugural Women of Colour Network Executive Sponsor in 2022. As a VPS WOCN Champion, Vanya is keen to support initiatives, evolve systems and advocate for the important role WOC play in the VPS and in building our State
Our host, Dr Bridie O'Donnell, Executive Director, Public Health Network and Programs, Department of Health	Bridie O’Donnell is a medical Doctor, Victorian public servant, former professional road cyclist, author and cycling commentator. She completed the Hawaiian IronMan World Triathlon Championships and represented Australia at three UCI Road Cycling World Championships. A medical practitioner and surgical assistant before taking up cycling, Bridie later returned to medicine to work as a behaviour change physician and breast physician for cancer patients at the Epworth Hospital. In 2016 Bridie broke the Women’s World Hour record at the Adelaide SuperDrome riding 46.882 kilometres, and in 2018 published ‘Life and Death: a cycling memoir’. She was the first woman to commentate the Tour de France for SBS Television in 2020 and continues to work with SBS Television to commentate the men’s and women’s Tours de France, spring classics and world championships. In her first role in Government, Bridie was appointed the inaugural Head of the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation in the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (DJPR) in November 2017, and led significant policy change to support gender equality in sport, including the implementation of a 40% board quota for all funded sporting organisations in Victoria, the first jurisdiction in the world to do so. She completed the EMPA at ANZSOG and the University of Melbourne over 2019 and 2020, and in November 2021 she was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women. Throughout Victoria’s COVID-19 response, Bridie took on four consecutive leadership roles in two departments over two years: in the Industry Coordination Recovery Group, the Public Events Team (both in DJPR) and then on secondment to the Department of Health as South East Metro Area of Operation Controller and Executive Director of Case, Contact and Outbreak Management (CCOM). In 2022, she joined the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (OC), and 14 months later as the Chief of Strategy and Delivery Coordination, led on the OC’s response to the Victorian Auditor General’s Office and the Parliamentary Inquiry into the cancellation of the Games. In February 2024, she commenced a new role in the Community and Public Health Division of the Victorian Department of Health as Executive Director, Public Health Network and Programs.