Re-upload from the PDF Podcast for archival purposes. Find out more about PDF here: https://professionaldevelopmentforum.org/

Episode Themes

• Cultural & gender barriers in Australia & what we can do to improve these,
• Diversity in Australia vs Japan,
• Her entrepreneurial journey & advice for others on a similar journey,
• Why COVID has unfairly impacted women in their careers and what she’s doing to help them,
• The opportunities for women in the tech industry,
• Having a positive mindset and turning your obstacles into opportunities.

About The Dream Collective

The Dream Collective was founded in 2012 by Sarah Liu, a passionate advocate for women in leadership and furthering diversity and inclusivity practises in corporate culture to transform the way we work.Sarah was named one of the “40 under 40: Most Influential Asian-Australians” in the Entrepreneurship category at the 2019 Asian-Australian Leadership Summit.The Dream Collective is a global leadership consultancy, helping businesses across Sydney, Shanghai, Melbourne, Tokyo & Singapore build diverse and inclusive workplaces: https://www.thedreamcollective.com.au/our-story/

Timestamps

1:20 – Introduction
3:50 – Cultural & diversity barriers in the workplace.
6:00 – Advice for others…career journey, upbringing, entrepreneurship.
9:25 – How did the Dream Collective start?
12:00 – Sarah’s transition from corporate to startup. Thoughts on having a “safety net” & taking risk.
12:40 – Seeing a gap in the market for mid-career level women
13:55 – What exactly are the barriers for women in the workplace?
15:40 – How is Sarah & The Dream Collective solving the lack of female leaders?
17:25 – thoughts around diversity & inclusion quotas in the workplace. The importance of having measurable targets. The lack of meritocracy in the workplace.
21:40 – utilising cultural & gender barriers to your advantage, addressing cultural barriers.
24:35 – why women have been unfairly impacted by COVID? What is the ShePivots program? How is it addressing this problem?
26:40 – opportunities for women in tech. You don’t need a technical/coding background to succeed. Using your diversity as a strength
28:25 – thoughts around entrepreneurship, advice for others on a similar journey, understand your “why”, impacts of COVID.
31:00 – Expanding globally to expand into other markets, differences in diversity & inclusion between countries.
34:10 – Using Japan vs Australia as an example
36:10 – COVID impacts and how to turn obstacles into opportunities
38:15 – Wrapping up, final thoughts, the launch of 50/50 in 100 days
41:15 – how to find out more about The Dream Collective, ShePivots, other programs & initiatives.