2022: A Reflection

I want to thank all of our Out for Australia community for their support this year - our partners, mentors, volunteers, and everyone else who’s contributed to our vision of an empowered LGBTQIA+ community who are confident in being their authentic selves in every workplace.

This year saw the return of our in person 30 Under 30 Awards, hosted on Gadigal Country at the offices of our strategic partner BCG. For the first time in the Awards’ 4 year history, we also held state-based community celebrations. These local celebrations were initially meant to be a way to celebrate our winners from previous years who didn’t have the opportunity for an in-person event. What I observed beyond this was the power of our winners sharing their own stories, with their local community, and growing that community with each other.

We saw some other achievements this year too: hiring a Head of Mentoring, only our second part time employee; marching at Mardi Gras to “Work” by Rihanna; holding 25 events; welcoming 5 new partners; helping 229 new active participants in our mentoring program; and hosting our first Out for Regional Australia event held in the Barossa Valley with Regional Partner Wolf Blass.

Our experience at work is not just shaped by the organisation we work for, but by the people within them, and the communities of people connected to them. Building a supportive community with mentors, allies and role models that spans beyond a single workplace, is vital to seeing a shift in more LGBTQIA+ people coming to work as their authentic self. Connecting our community to each other is as important as our workplaces investing in equity and inclusion.

In some ways, 2022 was more challenging than the two years prior. It felt like there was an expectation that we’d go back to ‘business as usual’, as if no pandemic had happened. That was far from reality with cancelled or delayed travel plans, covid induced event postponements and last-minute speaker changes. We’re relearning lessons in this new context, and learning new ones.

Next year, we will continue to build on the successes and learnings of this year. It will be our first year of our new 3-year strategy, the celebration of our 10 year anniversary in April from our beginnings as Out for Sydney, and not to mention a packed schedule for Sydney World Pride. Expect to see new experience initiatives in our mentoring program, a greater focus on our thought leadership content, and an exciting calendar of engaging events.

In the meantime, wishing you all a safe and happy holidays!

With pride,
Frances Gamble (she/her)
CEO