Inspired Leadership

Amplifying the voices of leaders from Tasmania

Inspiring stories. Powerful leadership insights.

In this free online event, you’ll celebrate the TAS Award for Excellence in Women’s Leadership winner and engage with an insightful panel discussion focusing on Allyship in the Workplace. We’re amplifying the voices of leaders in Tasmania, but people from all over Australia can benefit from the lessons and insights.

Featuring

Award Session

Dr Natasha Vavrek (She/Her) BMed Sci MBBS Hons. FRACGP FPAA

General Practitioner; Founder, The Bubble Tasmania

The TAS Award for Excellence in Women’s Leadership

Dr Natasha Vavrek, Founder of The Bubble Tasmania, a trailblazing women’s health clinic revolutionising health care in Tasmania. As a doctor, Natasha recognised the critical need for comprehensive women’s healthcare in her community.  In response, she established a truly unique clinic that fosters authentic relationships with the community.

Within a remarkable 18 months, Natasha’s visionary clinic expanded from Launceston to Hobart, transforming the landscape of women’s health in Tasmania. Her commitment to changing the narrative earned her the prestigious Telstra Best of Business Award for Accelerating Women, a testament to her outstanding contributions.

As the current President of Soroptimist International Tasmania, Natasha extends her commitment to enabling, empowering, and educating women well beyond the clinic. Grounded in gratitude to her community as a daughter of migrants, her involvement in this women’s organisation is a heartfelt form of volunteering—a sincere way of giving back and, in essence, an extension of her work as a dedicated doctor.

Natasha’s generous leadership style and clear communication style make her not only a successful entrepreneur but also an inspiring woman in her community.  A relentless advocate for societal transformation, Natasha is a true “mover and shaker” in the realm of women’s health, embodying resilience, determination, and an unwavering passion for the well-being of women in Tasmania and beyond. At the age of 39, she has already achieved remarkable milestones and undoubtedly has much more to contribute and achieve in her distinguished professional career.

Panel Discussion

Allyship in the Workplace: Building Collaborative Networks for Impact

Allies play an important role in advancing inclusion in our workplaces and communities by supporting people or groups who are underrepresented, marginalised, or experiencing discrimination. As leaders, engaging allies and collaborating with other supporters is key to increasing our impact. Our diverse panel will share their real-world experiences of allyship in action: what it looks like, what the challenges are, and what can be achieved. We’ll explore practical tips for being a better ally, how we can work with allies to advance change, and how we can all take small actions every day to drive lasting change.

Panellists

Martine Delaney (She/Her)

Rights Activist; Writer

Martine Delaney is known around the world as the first person to play Division 1 Football for both Men’s and Women’s teams. In Australia, she is also known as being the manager of an internationally successful Aboriginal singer-songwriter, a stand-up comic, brieﬂy dead, ghost tour guide, book in a Human Library, and a Federal election candidate. Her work as an advocate for LGBTIQA+ rights has resulted in the founding of Australian Marriage Equality, achieving passport reforms for trans and gender-diverse Australians, and, after a 15-year campaign, world-leading birth certificate law reforms in Tasmania. Her work also includes community development and social justice – child protection and youth justice within the Tasmanian Aboriginal community. Most recently she has become a successful screenwriter, creating, writing, and co-producing a documentary for SBS and becoming the only Tasmanian to have written for an Emmy-nominated drama series, ABC’s First Day.

Cameron Cahill (He/Him)

Director, Gov Insights

Cameron Cahill is all about shattering norms and spicing up the public sector with a dash of boldness and a passion for blowing minds. Battling a chronic low boredom threshold, Cam rides the thrilling roller coaster of work life. Imagine orchestrating culture revamps, leading belonging initiatives, or transforming organisations. As a proud feminist and Gender Equity champion, he’s led and contributed to numerous initiatives, taking immense pride in his work with groups like Women’s Health Goulburn Northeast and WLA. Continually reflecting on his role as a man in this space, Cam is critical of undue praise for men just doing what’s right and just in this space. Expect Cam to shatter dull corporate stereotypes, but remember, he’s always learning and striving to be better – so be sure to hold him to account.

Emma Bennison MBA GAICD (She/Her)

Chief Innovation Officer, Life without Barriers; Non-Executive Director, NV Access Limited; Chair, Attitude Foundation; TEDx Speaker

Emma Bennison has over twenty years’ experience as a CEO and non-executive Director. Currently, Emma is Chief Innovation Officer with Life Without Barriers, where she provides empowering, inspiring, and collaborative leadership that drives the development and implementation of strategic change and engagement initiatives in relation to disability advocacy and community services delivery across the organisation and beyond. Prior to commencing her current role, Emma fulfilled five years as CEO of Blind Citizens Australia. Emma also chairs the Attitude Foundation, serves on Tasmania’s Ministerial Arts and Cultural Advisory Council and is a singer/songwriter who released her first solo album, Fine Line, in 2015. In 2020, Emma won the national Aspire Award for community development and advocacy and was the recipient of a full MBA scholarship for outstanding not-for-profit leaders from the Australian Scholarships Foundation and Kaplan Business School.