Creating a culture of inclusion, for everyone: any gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion and socio-economic background, is no doubt the vision for most startup founders. The reality, however, is an uncomfortable truth where unconscious bias and traditional cultural practices are barriers to diversity.

Meet the startup and business leaders who are setting standards and increasing participation for diverse communities to enrich the startup ecosystem. Learn about work cultures that promote staff loyalty, creative output and efficiency, and appeal to new talent.

Diversity is being invited to the party;

inclusion is being asked to dance.

Vernā Myers, Lawyer, entrepreneur and author

More about our panellists:

Luli Adeyemo, Best Case Scenario

Luli has over 30 years+ experience curating content for thought leadership discussions and campaigns within the technology, Government, FinTech and health sectors. Prior to running Best Case Scenario, She worked for Gartner heading up their Asia/Pacific conference business. During this time she grew the APAC event business by a staggering 250%. This required managing and launching a portfolio of senior executive programs in Australia, Singapore, India & China.

Luli's unique professional network has me involved in initiatives that propel innovation and business growth, most recently she co-designed a virtual trade mission to Australia and the UK to support scale-ups expand overseas. She secured Government support from Senator Jane Hume, the Federal Coalition’s Assistant Minister for Superannuation as well as other key industry associations and the start up community.

She volunteers, spear heading not for profit #TechDiveristy, a community that aims to make diversity and inclusion the number one business priority in Australia for technology workforces.

Peter Mousaferiadis, Diversity Atlas, by Cultural Infusion

Peter Mousaferiadis has spent over three decades working in the cultural & creative industries. In 2002, he founded the internationally recognised organisation Cultural Infusion, which builds global harmony through intercultural action within education, ICT & the arts.

Peter has had a career which spans conducting and directing and producing large scale international and intercultural productions for a range of clients including Parliament of World Religions, United Nations, and directed 9 Australia Day Concerts. He is a winner of numerous international awards in interculturalism including the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Intercultural Innovation Award as well as producing the winning slogan “Diversified We Grow” for their “Do One Thing for Diversity” campaign. Peter is regularly called upon as a thought leader of culture as a driver of peace.

In 2002, Peter founded Cultural Infusion to foster an appreciation of cultural diversity throughout Australia and the world. Cultural Infusion’s education program “Discovering Diversity” is delivered to more than 350,000 students annually. By harnessing the power of art, education, technology and multimedia, Cultural Infusion regularly delivers creative services, events, workshops, training courses, consulting services and has produced a range of digital acclaimed resources. In 2013, Sound Infusion which helps to discover diversity through creation of music was a winner of the United Nations Alliance of Civilization Intercultural Innovation Award.

In 2019, following 5 years of research and development, Peter launched Diversity Atlas a world first data analytics tool able to provide comprehensive insights into the extent and type of cultural and demographic dimensions of diversity. Diversity Atlas is now being used by think tanks and a range of multinationals to map their global workforce.

Peter is the Chair of the Lahore International Conference on Culture, a Global Trustee of United Religions Initiative, a Salzburg Global Fellow and admitted to the Asia Peace Innovators Forum. In 2017, Peter was issued with the Peace Ambassador Award from the Center of Peace Studies (Sri Lanka).

In 2021, Peter was awarded at the Tokyo Paralympic Games the Global Business & Interfaith Peace Award Silver Medal from the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation and the United Nations Global Compact’s Business for Peace Initiative. The award recognises individuals for their contributions to peaceful and inclusive societies.

Divided We Fall, United We Stand, Diversified We Grow

(slogan created by Peter Mousaferiadis)

Gretchen Scott, The Human Collective

Gretchen is a former Community Manager at Cloudflare and a leading executive in tech. She is a Director at Women Who Code Melbourne and prides herself on supporting and encouraging diverse people in the technology industry. Gretchen is the founder of The Human Collective; a community designed to encourage inclusion, promotion & advocacy of female tech leaders.

Andrew Eddy, CEO, Untapped Neuro diversity

Andrew Eddy is a co-founder of Untapped, a social enterprise focused on developing a neurodiverse employment ecosystem to increase opportunities for autistic individuals. He is also a consultant focusing on strategy, risk and governance reviews, company investigations, debt restructuring and turnarounds.

With varied experience in digital platforms, large corporations such as Amcor Limited, Arthur Anderson and Orica Limited, University boards and not for profit organisations Andrew is well placed to understand the complexity of managing people and culture effectively.

This session will be facilitated by Josh Lipscombe, Community Programs Lead, LaunchVic

Pivott invites you to explore the dance at this special event.

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