At WADSIH, one of our most important jobs in the industry is to champion traditionally under-represented people and give them the tools, resources and contacts to forge their own path in the STEM world.
And one of our favourite partnerships is the Future Female Leaders Program, a career kick starter for our future change makers and dream chasers, designed to empower future female leaders to shift the statistics and expand gender diversity in the workplace – especially in male dominated STEM fields.
So we were as enthusiastic as ever when they asked us to help organise and host their most recent event, the 2025 STEM & Innovation Workshop.
Speakers and leaders from across sectors prepared the next generation of female leaders for the challenges and opportunities ahead. A particular highlight was the STEM Careers Panel, which saw female leaders including 2024 Young Australian of the year Kate Kirwin and WADSIH Advisory Board member SJ Price share honest reflections on navigating traditionally male-dominated fields, balancing values with ambition and the importance of resilience, curiosity and inclusion.
Attendees came from all walks of life and high schools all over the state, many not even studying in technology fields, and they learned the not-so-secret truth about skills in STEM; those skills will help girls and women become innovative and empathetic leaders in whatever field they choose.
As WADSIH Engagement Lead Shannon Hansen told the audience in her opening comments;
“Some of you might already love science, maths or tech. But here’s the thing: not everyone in STEM starts out that way. As you’ll see from this afternoon’s panel lots of successful people in data science, engineering or AI come from all kinds of backgrounds – music, art, business – you name it. What they have in common is this: they learned how to work with technology to bring their ideas to life.
“Learning skills in science, coding, data, or design isn’t about becoming a robot, it’s about opening doors. Want to be an entrepreneur? Run your own startup? Solve big global problems? STEM gives you the tools to do that.”
The atmosphere was jovial and welcoming, everyone went away energised about the future and WADSIH looks forward to the chance to work with our friends at Future Female Leaders again soon.
Click here for photos from the event.