John Brogden AM
CEO, Landcom
“The human experience of the last couple of weeks has been fascinating. There are many downsides to this lockdown, but there are also millions of stories of our urban conurbation coming together and people getting their head over the back-fence and talking to each other.
Stronger communities are critical in terms of the way we live and the way we support diversity. From my perspective, it’s about how can we take this phenomenal opportunity that we’ve been given, where we’re forced to reconnect with our neighbours and to keep it going beyond this.”
Vy Nguyen
Development Director for Central Barangaroo and the Reserve, Infrastructure NSW.
“One aspect of diversity and inclusion that I’ve been particularly passionate about is ageism. Ageism in our industry is real, and so limiting. Ageism is prevalent at both ends of the spectrum. It limits our industry because we are missing out on important perspectives and experience. We need to unpack our bias against ageism. We need to be more conscious of ageism and bring it the forefront to stretch the boundaries of diversity and inclusion.”
Joanna Russell
General Manager, Retail Development, Frasers Property Australia
“At an event recently I heard the phrase “the music always sounds better if we play the black and white keys.” It’s simple but it really captured for me the essence of diversity and inclusion and what there is to gain from having a diverse and inclusive workforce. A diverse workforce is a powerful one, with different skills, mindsets and ways of thinking. My one thing is to ensure these diverse experiences and ways of thinking are harnessed in our developments. Our workforce is as diverse as the communities we build.”
Iwan Sunito
Founder and CEO, Crown Group
“My daughter was diagnosed with autism and she was one of 20 people accepted into their program, called ‘uni 2 beyond’. [The program] is about social enterprising – my daughter is now painting everyday.
There are kids who may struggle with their communication skills but they are gifted in other skills. They want to bring business leaders to help these kids to be entrepreneurs and learn to sell their products. It’s one thing I’ll be working on for the next few years, involving buildings – like Green Square Infinity, for example, to put in a pop up shop for the artwork for these kids.”
Ranna Alkadamani
General Manager, People and Culture, Frasers Property Australia
“In my teens my brother was diagnosed with bipolar. The impacts on both him and our family have been devastating. We all struggled and there wasn’t any visible support, education or understanding in the community about mental health and its impacts. Thirty years on, I’m proud of all the work we do at Frasers Property to promote diversity and inclusion; but the one thing that is especially close to my heart is the focus we have on mental health and wellbeing. Our policy, education and ongoing conversations all go towards smashing the stigma and creating a far more inclusive and authentic workplace for us all.”
Jennifer Sweeney
Strategic Communications Manager, Landcom
“At Landcom, we believe that to fulfil our purpose to create more affordable and sustainable communities we need our workforce to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. We value diversity and enable all of our people to bring their “whole self” to work and fully contribute to the best of their ability. Landcom is proud to have won the UDIA NSW Diversity & Inclusion Award for Excellence in 2020.”
Ledum Yogure
Senior Development Manager, Sheargold Group
“One thing we do around diversity and inclusion is that we have a 50% gender balance within the workforce. This allows us to deliver different strategies and have a wide range of opinion that helps us deliver better outcomes for all communities.”
Priscilla Tran
Development Manager, City West Housing
“One thing we do at City West Housing is to provide affordable rental housing for people with very low, to moderate household income levels. This way we’re able to provide housing to people of all backgrounds and income levels.”
Linda Walsh
UDIA NSW Councillor and General Manager, AVID Property Group
“I am passionate about advocating for women in the workplace – no matter their age or specialisation. By providing opportunities and freedom of expression in every day work practices and special projects, we are able to showcase their skills and create a positive change to the business by acknowledging these valuable contributions.”
Anthony Boyd
CEO, Frasers Property Australia
“The one thing that can really drive diversity and inclusion is empathy. Having the ability to look at your business, your office, your work sites, your interactions and your conversations through other people’s eyes allows you to appreciate, respect and value our differences. For an organisation to be successful it not only has to be aware of, but also reflect the diversity of its customers and the communities in which they operate”.
Jude Wild
Key Account Manager – Insurance & Remedial Services, PAYNTER DIXON
“Consciously surrounding ourselves with people of diverse perspectives who can safely disagree with others without fear or retaliation.”
Katherine Hewlett,
NSW State Sales Manager, Lendlease
“Lendlease is about creating places where people feel comfortable in their environment, allowing us all to be the best we can be. Our global inclusion strategy is focused on embedding flexible work; achieving gender equity; and building an inclusive workplace.”
Marcus Skeggs
Account Manager, DisplaySweet
“The one thing that I’m doing to help support diversity and inclusion is by being a part of the Queers in Property group, helping LGBTQIA+ people across construction, development and sales, marketing and creative sectors, so they’re empowered to be themselves, comfortable to be themselves and to help them soar.”
Jona Lucas
Civil and Environmental Engineer, Indesco
“My one thing is, I continue to mentor young women in STEM at UTS and UNSW to bridge the gap between the industry and university.”
Adel Miskovich
Community & Marketing Manager, Frasers Property Australia
“It’s a stark reality that 1 in 5 Australian workers have experienced a mental health condition such as depression or anxiety in the past 12 months; and up to half of us won’t disclose our condition to our managers. My One Thing is to drive the shift in the conversations we have in our workplace from “how are you?” to “how are you feeling?”, so we can smash the stigma surrounding mental health.”
