Winners of the 2022 WID Awards

Bailey Wilde is a Growth Marketer at Jumbo Interactive – an online solution for brands to operate and sell lotteries online.

At Jumbo, Bailey’s role is chasing opportunities, particularly in relation to customer acquisition, retention and re-activation. And that is exactly what she has done at Jumbo.

Utilising extensive research, data analytics, personalisation, AI and automation, Bailey illustrated marketing mastery in implementing a comprehensive and innovative retention campaign that achieved an impressive increase in new user retention, ROAs and app installs.

The judges were also highly impressed by Bailey’s innovative use of MarTech and personalisation to achieve business goals as well as her tenacity to fill skills gaps to be self-sufficient.

Here’s what the judges had to say…

“Bailey is a quintessential growth marketer, testing and optimising to deliver results.”

“A high-performing marketer delivering in a tough vertical market, and one who is also not afraid to get into the logic and code.”

GLASS is a future-focused management and technology consultancy that adopts a human-centred lens to innovatively solve business problems across digital transformation projects. They are driven by a desire to bring together a diverse range of people committed to changing the way the digital industry works.

The judges were incredibly impressed by GLASS’s commitment to championing diversity of all kinds. Demonstrating the importance of culture in everything they do from the top down.

With clear goals, plans and vision for DEI, GLASS have been highly deliberate and strategic in their recruitment strategy and achieved impressive and sustainable results in attracting more women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and members of the LGBTIQ+ community in senior consulting and leadership roles. It is not only what GLASS are doing to benefit their own organisation but also what they are doing to benefit the industry that sets this finalist apart.

Here’s what the judges had to say:

“I was really impressed with the professionalism of GLASS’s submission. It’s evident that they value diversity and inclusion and prioritise it in all facets of their business. GLASS has a diverse range of policies and initiatives in place that all add to creating a diverse workplace.”

“Amazing achievements in building a culturally and gender diverse team with practical ways to continue this now and into the future.”

Sasha Morrissey is the Senior Staff Engineer at Paypa Plane, a financial services bank-grade platform powering the future of payments.

Throughout her nomination, Sasha demonstrated that she is a Software Engineer through and through. Her contribution to Paypa Plane’s tooling and deployment pipelines has been instrumental to the success of her engineering team and ultimately… their product.

Not only has Sasha shown excellent technical ability, but she has also demonstrated impressive leadership and tenacity in driving the growth of her team’s engineering productivity and effectiveness while overseeing and providing technical guidance across multiple teams.

• Economic viability of future water resource developments and jobs in regional Queensland through enhanced water modelling for resource planning, new water infrastructure and water security assessments
• Great Barrier Reef protection by enabling faster water quality modelling to better inform Reef and sediment management
• Efficiencies in processes for environmental assessments and major infrastructure project approvals by improving the collection, management and delivery of Queensland’s biodiversity information
• Emergency management and response by improving access to quality data and high-performance computing which is increasing our understanding of the complex interactions between climate change, fire regimes and biodiversity
• Understanding of the risk and impacts of climate change by implementing AI/ML, enabling climate modellers to increase the scope, scale and frequency of the models for managing multi-year drought risk, heatwaves, tropical cyclone hazards, localised storms, and water security

The judges were also highly impressed by Tamara’s continuous professional development and industry contributions as a mentor and female data leader.

Here’s what the judges had to say…

“Tamara’s work is truly inspiring where she is making tangible impacts to the community and the environment, using the power of data, AI/ML and cloud technology.”

“Impressive effort to modernise and democratise data in an important and impactful sector.”

Caitlin Donaldson is a Senior Software Developer at HotDoc – Australia’s largest patient engagement platform connecting clinics and clinicians with their patients.

Caitlin’s submission was based on a technical project she led in building a new integration with a cloud-based practice management system; Cliniko. The goal of the project was to build a robust integration that would allow HotDoc to sync practitioners, appointment types and availability to create a seamless experience for patients. The project was a success, exceeding the initial deadline by six weeks and creating a new profitable revenue stream for HotDoc – a testament to Caitlin’s excellent people and technical leadership.

The judges were also impressed by Caitlin’s involvement in the Australian tech community and leadership growth.

Here’s what the judges had to say…

“A well-explained challenging integration problem. I enjoyed reading about Caitlin’s leadership challenges and how she set about to alleviate them.”

“A very meaningful use case for a space where the seamless delivery of digital services is increasingly relevant.”

Kate Kirwin is the Founder of She Codes – a for-purpose organisation connecting women to career pathways in technology through coding workshops and programs.

Kate is clearly a passionate advocate for women in STEM. Having founded She Codes (then Perth{web}Girls) in 2015 when she was just 21. Kate has ambitious goals to create an inclusive community of 100,000 women in tech by 2025. So far Kate has:

• Created a community of over 11,000 individuals, teaching over 6,000 women to code
• Since 2019, She Codes has run 7 cohorts of She Codes Plus programs impacting over 120 women in Perth, Brisbane and Port Hedland
• Of those She Codes Plus alumni, 70% now have jobs in tech
• Created a mentor pool of 168 people (from all genders) who have the opportunity to upskill, meet inspirational leaders and grow their careers
• Helped to invest over $1 million from government and corporates into women in STEM education
• And, they are currently trialling part-paid scholarships with a focus on diversity to expand impact

Our judges were impressed with Kate’s passion, determination and impact, helping to build a pipeline of talented women in tech to fill the technical jobs of the future.

Here’s what our judges had to say…

“This was a fun submission to read! The start-up journey felt very relatable.”

“Strong application. This ‘coding for women’ initiative fills a niche in terms of already working women but not in tech.”

Lisa Sarago is a proud Yidinji/Yalanji woman and the CEO of Goanna Group (which includes Goanna Solutions and Goanna Education).

Although having dipped her toes across many industries, a focus across all of Lisa’s roles has always been strong leadership and advocating for underrepresented or disadvantaged groups to access services and opportunities. Bringing this passion to the digital sector, Lisa is currently focusing her efforts on ensuring disadvantaged and marginalised groups have access to training and employment opportunities through Goanna Group.

Lisa’s vision through a place-based model is to change the narrative and highlights the opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be engaged. Her work to increase the pipeline of Indigenous talent in job-entry positions within the digital sector has:

• Built the capability of Indigenous communities in digital participation
• Increased the knowledge and understanding of the digital sector and its career opportunities
• Increased participation of Indigenous people in digital jobs across an array of positions and levels
• Facilitated and fostered a strong, positive relationship between the Indigenous communities and the digital sector
• Increased the levels of digital literacy across Indigenous communities

The judges were wowed by Lisa’s passion for continuous learning and education, her strategic and visionary leadership and the impact of Goanna Group, evidenced by the 7,000 students who have experienced the program.

Here’s what the judges had to say…

“Lisa clearly dreams big and seems to see her work as having an impact well beyond the tech sector.”

“Lisa has created an alternate career pathway for disadvantaged Indigenous people within the digital sector, leading the development of a pipeline of Job-entry talent.”

WithYouWithMe (WYWM) is a social impact, profit-with-purpose organisation working towards a future where underrepresented people are offered the opportunity to find meaningful careers. Challenging traditional hiring practices, WYWM focuses on a jobseeker’s potential to learn and grow over their previous work experience.

WYWM won due to their incredible impact in assisting 20,000 individuals to find work in IT roles through free digital skills training with a focus on hiring from underrepresented and underemployed communities including Veterans, neurodivergent talent, military spouses, Indigenous communities, refugees and young people at the very start of their careers.

WYWM has recognised its talented and diverse workforce is a key component of their competitive advantage. The judges were thoroughly impressed by their mission and outstanding impact, tackling the global digital skill shortage while creating a more equitable future.

Here’s what our judges had to say…

“The passion for their work is clear from the first sentence. WYWM took me on their digital “north star” journey, and clearly articulated their purpose, intent and process and their intent to build pathways to careers.”

“An absolute stand out. A business built to address the critical need of digital skills for Australia’s prosperity with a social consciousness to enable access for all.”