Profiles

Women Who Win: Celebrating courage, conviction and change

Antoinette Lattouf Across history, women were told to sit down, smile and stay quiet. Spoiler alert: they didn’t. They spoke out, stood tall – and ruined the patriarchy’s day. Because of them, women won. Journalist and human rights advocate Antoinette Lattouf takes us on a gripping journey through women who defied expectations and shattered cultural and legal barriers – usually while being cast aside and asked to calm down. In these pages you’ll meet: – Australia’s first female law graduate – First Nations leaders who resisted colonisation – Pioneers in sport and science – The women behind the first sex discrimination class action – Those fighting against climate destruction. Some names you’ll recognise, others you’ll wish you’d known sooner. Threaded throughout is Lattouf’s landmark victory – one woman, armed with ethical resolve, taking on Australia’s most powerful media institution. In doing so, she sparked a global conversation on power, prejudice and the price of integrity in the press. Women Who Win is a fierce, unflinching celebration of grit, guts and glorious defiance. These women didn’t just show up – they came to rewrite the rules and never asked for permission. Less history lesson, more history’s mic drop – and now the stage is yours. Armed with the legacies of those who came before us, what fight will you take on? What victories are within your reach today

Profile: Kamales Lardi, Lardi & Partner Consulting

Kamales Lardi, CEO of Lardi & Partner Consulting, is ranked #11 in the Thinkers360 Top 150 Women B2B Thought Leaders 2026. With 26 years in tech advisory and 14 years leading a global AI transformation consultancy, Lardi helps Fortune 500 companies in financial services, manufacturing, and retail build the leadership and governance foundations that determine whether AI investments succeed or fail. Kamales Lardi, founder and CEO of Lardi & Partner Consulting, has been ranked #11 in the Thinkers360 Top 150 Women B2B Thought Leaders, Analysts, and Influencers 2026 — placing her among the top 15 most influential women in global business and technology. The ranking, published March 3, 2026, recognizes Lardi’s 26 years of impact across technology, business advisory, and AI transformation, and her work helping enterprise organisations build the leadership and governance foundations that determine whether AI investments succeed or fail. Lardi & Partner Consulting, founded in February 2012 and now in its 14th year of operation, has supported more than 50 major transformation initiatives globally — including engagements with Fortune 500 companies and governments across financial services, consumer goods, manufacturing, and retail. The firm’s core thesis is one the industry is only beginning to confront: AI transformation failures are not technology failures. They are leadership and governance failures. “AI doesn’t fix organisational problems — it exposes them,” said Kamales Lardi. “What AI most consistently reveals are weaknesses in leadership systems: decision-making structures too slow for AI-driven speed, governance models unclear about accountability, and cultures that avoid constructive challenge.” When AI Pilots Succeed But Scaling Fails Kamales Lardi has built a distinct reputation as the advisor boards and senior executives engage when AI transformation investments stall between pilot success and enterprise scale. Her methodology sits at the intersection of advanced technology expertise, organizational systems design, and applied neuroscience — […]

International Women’s Day 2026: Give to Gain

On International Women’s Day 2026, the message is clear. By giving time, experience, and encouragement to others, leaders not only help individuals grow, but they also gain new insights, stronger collaboration, and a more resilient industry. Each year on March 8, the global community recognises International Women’s Day as a moment to reflect on progress, highlight opportunity and reinforce commitments that help shape a more inclusive future. The 2026 theme “Give to Gain” captures a principle that is deeply embedded within the culture of Sandvik Coromant: the idea that sharing knowledge, supporting others, and investing in development ultimately strengthens both individuals and organisations. Within manufacturing, where technological advancement and workforce evolution continue to accelerate, mentorship and upskilling have become essential tools for long-term success. At Sandvik Coromant, leaders across the organisation are actively contributing to this culture of learning by sharing experience, encouraging curiosity, and creating opportunities for the next generation of talent. The power of mentorship in manufacturing Manufacturing is an industry built on knowledge transfer. From machining techniques to digital manufacturing strategies, expertise is often developed through hands-on experience and collaboration. Mentorship plays a critical role in ensuring that knowledge is not only preserved but also continuously expanded. For Anne Bjorck, Head of Media and External Relations at Sandvik Coromant, mentorship is a practical demonstration of how the “give to gain” principle operates within an organization. “Mentorship is one of the clearest examples of ‘give to gain’ in action. When you mentor someone, you may think you are mainly giving your time and experience, but in reality, you gain just as much. In my team, we always host junior trainees for a one-year internship, and for me, that has become one of the most rewarding parts of leadership. It’s a true two-way learning process. ”They bring fresh perspectives, […]

Staying plugged into the pulse of real life

Anna Wintour Anna’s early career at New York Magazine cemented her belief that great editors must stay immersed in real life. “Working at New York Magazine was thrilling,” she says. “I was surrounded by people who had absolutely no interest in fashion—and that was wonderful. They made me think about art, film, theater, politics. It made me realise that fashion only matters when it’s connected to the world.” That ethos has guided her leadership at Vogue for nearly four decades. Even now, she told the audience, she makes time every morning to read multiple newspapers, walk through Washington Square Park, and call colleagues across time zones before sunrise. “It’s really important to expose yourself to life,” she says. “Walk in the street and take in what you see. It will always give you an idea.” The power of instinct over analytics Despite leading one of the world’s most data-literate publishing houses, Anna says she’s never been ruled by metrics. “ I am not someone who follows data and analytics religiously,” she says with a grin. “I always make my choices with instinct.” Her most iconic decisions—like Vogue’s 1988 debut cover featuring a couture jacket paired with $50 Guess jeans—were the result of gut feeling, not focus groups. “Everyone was expecting something different,” she remembered. “This image related to the women I saw in the street. I didn’t want Vogue to be removed or distant.” The printer even called to ask if the photo had been sent by mistake. That cover went on to redefine modern fashion photography. Yael Taqqu (left) and Anna Wintour Anna Wintour on stage interview at McKinsey’s inaugural “Brilliant Moves” Speaker Series She recalled a 1989 conversation with a conservative businessman on a plane who said he could never imagine such a thing. “So, I went straight back to the office and said, ‘We’re […]

Leading from the inside out: Why clarity, impact and focus matter more than ever

-Deb Bailey, Coach, Facilitator, Speaker, Author When I stepped away from my global executive role at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do next, only that I didn’t want more of the same. I created space by completing an MBA, and by the end of my studies, I knew I wanted to start my own Leadership Practice. I’ve always been passionate about creating a world of work where people know how they contribute and feel genuinely valued. That led me to focus my Practice on leadership impact, building and sustaining high-performance teams, and helping organisations bridge strategy to execution. My approach is based on the belief that leadership must be measurable, just like other parts of the business whether it’s finance, projects, customer satisfaction etc. When we understand our inner game of leadership our strengths, blind spots, motives, and values, we improve our outer game: team outcomes, strategic results, leadership impact, and culture. Measurement brings insight; insight enables action; action drives results. One of the biggest challenges I see today is what I call the “Busy Olympics.” The world of work has become fast, demanding, and always-on. Technology was supposed to make things easier, but often it just means we’re available 24/7. There’s an unspoken competition to be the busiest, but all this busyness is eroding clarity. And without clarity, it’s hard to prioritise what matters most, at work or in life. Clarity takes courage and discipline. It means being willing to ask the big questions: Where am I going? What am I here to do? What matters most right now? When we have that clarity, we’re able to say ‘no’ to the noise and distractions and yes to the things that make the biggest difference. I believe business success is fundamentally about the quality of its leadership. […]

Operationalising AI for manufacturing in ASEAN

Karen Kim, CEO Human Managed While the hype around Gen-AI will shift to the buzz around agentic-AI in 2025, traditional sectors such as manufacturing will still be coming to terms on deploying AI strategies to become participants of Industry 4.0 or the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This is the next phase where disruptive trends including data, connectivity, analytics, robotics and human-machine interaction is said to transform manufacturing significantly. According to a Kearney study[1], while over 70% of ASEAN manufacturers polled claimed to be “non-leaders/followers” of AI adoption, 47% believe investment in AI is “very critical” for their business. Gartner’s[2] Prism use case of GenAI in Manufacturing encourages leaders to evaluate AI use cases on a strategy that addresses both value generation and feasibility . Value parameters include increased revenue, increased efficiency, managed risk and non-financial gain. Feasibility parameters include technical feasibility, internal readiness, external readiness. So how can leaders operationalize AI, keeping value and feasibility in mind? At Human Managed, we believe it begins with an understanding of data. A framework to understand the highest impact for manufacturing businesses in the age of AI, would be to understand “3 Ops”-DataOps (Feeding AI), MLOps (Tuning AI), IntelOps (Applying AI). Data Ops (Feeding AI) In the manufacturing sector, data can be provided through assets in an interconnected ecosystem. From a range of sensors, machine data on temperature, vibrations, pressure, power consumption, operating hours etc are collected. Industrial machines, robotic arms and assembly lines can provide process data includes information on production rates, cycle times, error rates, material usage. Image and video data from cameras capture data for product dimensions and defect detection. ERP systems provide information on inventory levels, order information, transportation data. Given the vast array of data, manufacturing enterprises have to first solve for the issues around understanding the data […]

Aotearoa to host world-leading conference on women’s entrepreneurship

A major international conference in Auckland is putting the spotlight on how to better support female founders and highlighting wāhine Māori perspectives on entrepreneurship. What do female entrepreneurs really want and why is the system still stacked against them? These are a couple of the big questions due to be tackled at the world’s leading research conference on women’s entrepreneurship held in Aotearoa New Zealand for the first time ever this year. The Diana International Research Conference from 1-4 July, brings together top researchers and industry experts from around the world to tackle funding inequities, structural barriers and discuss the future of women-led enterprise, with a spotlight on te ao Māori perspectives. “This is the only conference that focuses solely on women’s entrepreneurship research, and it’s an opportunity to garner insights from interested attendees, researchers and founders,” says Professor Chris Woods, the Business School’s Theresa Gattung Chair for Women in Entrepreneurship, and Diana Conference co-chair. “We’ll be asking: What do women entrepreneurs want? How do we bridge the gap between academic research and industry, and how can we tackle the barriers women face when building businesses?” Hosted by the Business School’s Aotearoa Centre for Enterprising Women, the conference includes keynote talks, academic sessions, and a public-facing Impact Day on Friday 4 July, a one-day forum featuring panels on capital access, wāhine Māori leadership, and entrepreneurial futures. The day opens with ‘A boomer, Gen X, millennial and Gen Z walk into a panel’: Mana wāhine across the generations’. Business School senior lecturer Dr Kiri Dell (Ngāti Porou) says the panel will spotlight the unique strengths wāhine Māori bring to entrepreneurship. The kōrero will also explore te ao Māori concepts of sovereignty and entrepreneurship. “It’s about being role models, sharing networks and giving each other emotional support, challenging mainstream models of the […]

Victoria Meldrum_Anna Christensen_Cloudian_1

Cloudian appoints new APJ Channel and Marketing Directors

Cloudian has appointed Anna Christensen as Asia Pacific and Japan head of channel and alliances, and Victoria Meldrum into Christensen’s former role of Asia Pacific and Japan head of marketing. The appointments come as Cloudian experiences a surge in demand for its technology across the region as data demand rises and customers and partners seek shelter from tariff uncertainty. Cloudian’s software-first approach has enabled companies to upgrade data storage capabilities on existing hardware to avoid new capital expenditures now subject to tariff-inflated prices. The company is also helping organisations source hardware from local suppliers where needed and opening its inventory of pre-configured appliances acquired before tariffs to the APJ market. Christensen, who led Cloudian’s APJ marketing program since 2022 and brings deep experience from IT distributors NEXTGEN and Exclusive Networks, says new tariffs have introduced significant uncertainty into technology investment planning and added pressure to already-constrained IT budgets. In the picture: Victoria Meldrum, Anna Christensen. “Our software-defined approach has given flexibility, choice and control to our customers and partners across APJ,” she said. “Now, it’s also helping to shield them from tariff costs and uncertainty while establishing their foundation for data-centric applications, including AI workloads that will drive competitive advantage.” Meldrum joins Cloudian from Buckner Brand Management and brings more than 20 years’ experience working with companies including Fortinet, Menulog and Canon. She aims to deepen joint marketing initiatives with Cloudian’s APJ partner base, particularly in key and growing regions like A/NZ, India, Vietnam and the Philippines. “Cloudian’s unique partner-led model and engagement was a major drawcard for joining the company,” said Meldrum. “No one else in the market offers the same breath of technology in the increasingly important object storage space, exemplified by the company’s growing partnerships with NVIDIA and other AI leaders.” New initiative to support A/NZ tech […]

Kweh Jia Xuan

Meet Ms Kweh Jia Xuan, a 23-year-old athlete with mild intellectual disabilities, who represented Special Olympics Singapore in DanceSport (Latin Dance) for the Special Olympics World Winter Games Turin 2025! The Special Olympics World Games is the world’s largest humanitarian sporting event, and was hosted in Turin, Italy, this year. Over 100 nations sent nearly 1,500 athletes with intellectual disabilities to compete in 9 sports at the Special Olympics World Winter Games 2025, including 113 participants from the Asia Pacific region representing countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Team Special Olympics Singapore competed in DanceSport, showcasing their talent in the Latin Dance genre in both team and couples’ categories. Jia Xuan was part of the first-ever team of four athletes with intellectual disabilities, accompanied by four officials, to compete in the inaugural DanceSport competition at the Special Olympics World Games, after DanceSport was unveiled as an official Special Olympics sport in 2019. Jia Xuan’s passion for Latin Dance ignited during her secondary school years at APSN Tanglin School, through her co-curricular activities. She followed in the footsteps of her mum, Olivia Oh, 53, who was a keen dancer almost 20 years ago. Olivia has been a constant source of support, seeing Jia Xuan’s choice of activity as a fantastic way to stay fit and active. Although Olivia no longer dances herself, she’s one of the Special Olympics DanceSport’s team’s biggest fan, often helping with hair and makeup for performances. Reflecting on the choice of her co-curricular activity back in school, Jia Xuan said that her decision to choose dance was motivated by her love for music. However, she credits her patient and encouraging coach, Andy Ang, for motivating her to continue training weekly with Special Olympics Singapore’s DanceSport outreach for the past five years. Jia […]

Afsaneh Abolhassani embraces the technical side of warehouse automation

Swisslog Technical Lead, Afsaneh Abolhassani Swisslog Technical Lead, Afsaneh Abolhassani, has always enjoyed the technical aspects of complex automation and intralogistics projects, and encourages others to continuously learn the latest technologies and trends. In a career spanning more than 15 years in the logistics and automation industry, including eight years with Swisslog in design and consulting roles, and most recently a year as Technical Lead, Afsaneh hasn’t felt any additional challenges being a woman in a male-dominated field. “That doesn’t mean others haven’t faced challenges, of course, this is just my experience. For women – and for anyone – entering a new field of work, it’s important to familiarise yourself with the needs and requirements of that industry, to see if it’s a good fit for you, and to figure out where you can add the most value,” she says. After an initial seven years with Swisslog, Afsaneh moved to another company in the logistics and automation industry for four and a half years, before returning to Swisslog a little over a year ago, to commence her new role as Technical Lead. “I chose to return because this was an exciting opportunity, and Swisslog has recently taken steps to further enhance its already excellent culture that continues to put people first, proactively encourages you to expand your skills, and makes everyone feel welcome and supported,” she says. Afsaneh’s role involves collaborating with design teams to create complex solutions that meet the customer’s specific requirements. As a global leader in intralogistics and warehouse automation, Swisslog’s projects range from standardised and standalone automation solutions, right through to highly customised solutions for unique and large-scale applications. “Regardless of the size of the project, my job is to ensure all the technical aspects work successfully, and that the customer is satisfied with the […]

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