Stephanie Shedden has stepped in to lead the Drinks Association Embrace Difference Council’s Create Difference workstream.
Ms Shedden is passionate about fostering diverse and inclusive workplaces. And she works as the National Business Manager - Endeavour Drinks at Campari Group, certified as a Great Place To Work in February this year. Prior to that Ms Shedden worked at Diageo.
After 8 years working in the drinks industry, she knows that diverse workplaces are good for people and good for business.
“I have seen the positive impact on individuals where inclusion is a practised and promoted behaviour. It helps build confidence and buy-in within teams, where everyone feels accountable and empowered.
“A culture where disruptive and different thinking is welcomed, is one in which I thrive and it’s a scary thought to think the best idea in the room isn’t heard because someone didn’t feel able to raise their hand or because we didn’t have the right people at the table,” she says.
Ms Shedden recently participated in the Drinks Association’s Inclusive Leadership Program as a mentee and her experience there is one of the reasons she put her hand up for the role.
She says, “To be able to be hands on in driving inclusion and more specifically gender equality within the industry, by working alongside and leveraging the collective strength of the members of the Drinks Association is really exciting.”
The Create Difference workstream is currently planning out the Drinks Association’s International Women’s Day event - which will be held next March - as well as the schedule of State Chapter events for the year.
Ms Shedden wants to see the conversation around gender equality continue to evolve at State Chapter events. She is also hopeful of maintaining a balance between in-person and virtual events, saying that the reach of webinars is an important advantage of the format.
“How we harness this new forum is already a discussion amongst the team and one that is important to continue to increase involvement with the Council and its events.
“More broadly as a member of the Embrace Difference Council, I am invigorated by the vision of inclusivity as a real calling card for the industry, particularly as we start to see significant changes and a new normal emerge in ways of working.
“We need to ask ourselves, ‘How do we support businesses to leverage inclusion and make it a priority?’.”