International Women's Day 2025
Head Facilitators Elizabeth Boachie and Jayme Fressard led a phenomenal day of innovation and empowerment at the International Women’s Day Event hosted by Gilbert + Tobin, guiding students from Cranebrook, John Edmondson, and Wiley Park Girls High Schools to accelerate their actions in line with the theme for this year’s celebration.
They were joined by Moya Dodd AO and Sirine Demachkie on a panel discussion facilitated by Senior Creating Chances staff member Natasha. Through a range of insightful questions, the panel shed light on their resilience and motivations to effect change throughout their careers.
Elizabeth is a dynamic force at Creating Chances. She leads with empathy and a conscientious approach, always taking the people in the room into account throughout her decision making. With her work being so grounded in empowering the youth of today and the future leaders of tomorrow, Elizabeth was asked to reflect on advice she would give to her younger self.
“If I could give my younger self a piece of advice, I would tell her to just do something. Even if you don’t know what to do, especially when you don’t know what to do, just do something, anything at all. If that means getting up and going for a walk, do it. As long as you’re doing something, you’re going somewhere.”
Another Creating Chances legend, Jayme Fressard, lent her expertise to the panel sharing the diverse situations she had to overcome growing up, harnessing her aptitude for sport as a method to stay grounded. Jayme emphasised the power in using her voice and how it helped her gain momentum in her career as a professional rugby player for the Sydney Roosters Women’s Team, and in her own development. When asked what Jayme would tell her younger self she responded:
“Supporting myself around the right people, making sure I'm not getting caught up in the wrong things, or doing things I shouldn't be doing. Really managing my time right and making sure I have a really good support network, focusing on me and not everyone else around me.”
Long time supporter of Creating Chances and Football United Moya Dodd AO, also sat on the panel and lent her many years of experience in the Sport for Good sector to the students. Moya spoke of following your passions and leading with integrity to achieve your goals. Reflecting on the question, “What advice would you give to your younger self?”, Moya answered with:
“I would say follow your curiosity. Follow what you’re interested in, follow your passions, because if you follow what you're curious about you will find yourself in the company of other people who are interested in the same things and then the sparks fly, things happen, opportunities come up and you will end up exactly where you’re meant to be.”
Sirine Demachkie is a Bilingual Presenter and Writer who is fluent in Arabic and English. She has ten years of TV and Radio Presenting, Writing, Producing and Facilitating experience. Sirine joined us as a panel member on the day and shared inspiring stories rich in cultural pride and implored the students to commit to doing what they are passionate about. Like the other panel members Sirine reflected on what advice she would give her younger self. She responded that learning to strike a balance between work and play is an important part of success, and one she wished she started to hone earlier on.
“My advice would be to balance your time out.”
The activities for the day were inspired by the Gamechanger Program and allowed the students to think critically about issues affecting women in their communities. They were asked to think how they could bring achievable solutions to those problems to work towards an equitable future.
Students created insightful pitches and exercised great critical thinking skills, bringing actionable outcomes to diverse problems. Their day’s work culminated in a shark-tank style pitch to a panel of special guests, including by Gilbert+Tobin staff and Football United Founder, Dr. Anne Bunde-Birouste.
Inspired by the example of Elizabeth, Jayme, Moya and Sirine, our young leaders of tomorrow showcased their ability to “do something”, and follow their curiosities for the betterment of their communities.
For more information about our partnerships and gamechanger programs click here.
