Celebrating Accentuated WoC Leadership programme graduations
What a couple of months June and July have been! We have had multiple workshops and also celebrated the graduations of three Accentuated programmes across the motu.
Accentuated is a leadership programme designed by women of colour for women of colour to gain confidence and step into their leadership power. It has 4 in-person workshop days spread over several months and Day 4 is about expanding women of colour leadership. So as part of Day 4, participants invite their sponsors, managers, allies, colleagues and families to hear about their learning and growth journeys and have a workshop with the audience on how to support women of colour to rise.
The Tauranga cohort was our 6th graduating cohort made up of Aroha Kopae and Mere Kawha from Toi Kai Rawa and Sanjana France from Tauranga City Council. Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington cohort was our 7th graduating cohort with Ping Shen and Nazila Alinaghi from Treasury and Mary Wango from MBIE. We also celebrated the graduation of our first ever cohort in Ōtautahi Christchurch, which was our 8th graduating cohort made up of Hero Modares from Kiwibank and Kia Ora Academy, Mona Contractor from Department of Internal Affairs and Vimbayi Chitaka from Rātā Foundation. Rātā Foundation has also funded a number of community leaders for this Ōtautahi cohort: Elena Golubkova from Kalina New Zealand, Emily Verhoeven from Multicultural Recreation Community Centre Charitable Trust, Geetha Kopparapu from DharmaYodha New Zealand and Rasha Elgammal from Active Muslim Explorers.
Tauranga graduation
Aroha opened up the Tauranga graduation with a karakia and mihimihi. The Tauranga cohort participants’ motivations for coming into Accentuated can be summed up in this whakatauki “He kākano ahau, i ruia mai i Rangiatea” I am a seed born of greatness in that participants wanted to gain more confidence knowing that it is all within themselves and from that inner confidence they can serve their people, communities and beyond.
Aroha talked about her growth from feeling nervous before speaking up in meetings and hui to speaking authentically her truth with confidence. She practised giving herself affirmations in front of the mirror which resulted in her presenting more confidently at work events and amongst leadership representatives from within her hapu. Mere talked about cultivating a confident and positive mindset, how this mindset has never been far away from her and this time is about incorporating it into her everyday habits. The biggest takeaway for Sanjana was embracing the beauty of her multicultural kiwi identity. This means she is able to value and bring out her different perspectives and cultural backgrounds at work and in life. There was a moving and heartfelt waiata to conclude our Tauranga programme.
Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington graduation
From Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington graduation, we heard about Ping’s motivation for coming into Accentuated stemmed from the data collected in the Women of Colour Australia Workplace Survey 2021, where a total of 543 women of colour were surveyed and 60% reported that they had faced discrimination within the workplace and 57% felt they had faced challenges in the workplace related to their identity as a woman of colour, while 21% did not believe so and the remainder answered ‘maybe’. There is no equivalent report in Aotearoa New Zealand as our data currently collected is only by gender or by ethnicity/race but not the intersection of the two. Nazila’s motivation for coming into Accentuated was about being a role model and paving the way for other women of colour. Mary’s motivation was to learn how to lead and influence as a woman of colour.
Every Accentuated programme starts with participants defining who they want to be as a woman of colour leader. Ping saw strengths that came from her identities of a mum, a Chinese immigrant and a leader who cares deeply about people and tailors her communication and leadership style. Nazila balanced parts of herself when excellence and achievement are met with self-compassion. Mary talked about what it is like being a Black woman born and raised in Germany, who then became a world citizen having lived in multiple countries, and how this unique experience has led to her multifaceted and multicultural perspectives.
Ōtautahi Christchurch graduation
This was the first time we were able to bring Accentuated to the South Island and many thanks to Rātā Foundation for making it possible with your funding of community leaders. All participants from the Ōtautahi Christchurch cohort either lead an ethnically diverse community or work with communities. Each of them came from a different background and made Aotearoa home, having moved from Iran, Egypt, India, Zimbabwe, Kenya, UK and Russia. Their collective motivation for Accentuated was to connect with each other and become confident leaders that support, lead and inspire their communities to thrive.
We had such a special time together over the 4 days of Accentuated and demonstrated the essence of this whakataukī well, “E koekoe te tūī, e ketekete te kākā, e kūkū te kererū”, different birds in the forest make up the beautiful birdsong. We talked about how behaviours can have different meanings in different cultures, what is taken as a “good” behaviour, e.g. to speak up, can be taken as rude or disrespectful in another culture. We also talked about, given that we navigate multiple worlds, how we carve out a path that is authentic to us as ethnically diverse women leaders and how we give ourselves and each other the power to defy expectations, from society and our own cultures. Work takes on a different meaning when it comes to communities. We do feel the weight of this job but at the same time feel honoured and motivated to do this important job well, not only for ourselves but for our children, our families, our communities and people who arrive in Aotearoa after us. By having these community leaders define their leadership identity and grow in confidence, our communities are stronger, more resilient and connected together.
How to support more women of colour to rise?
At the end of each graduation sharing session, we would have a workshop with the audience on “How to support more women of colour to rise?”
In the workshop with the Tauranga audience, we talked about how we can reach more people to get them curious about women of colour challenges and invest in women of colour development. In the workshop with Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington audience, we talked about the need to collect statistics and measure progression for women of colour, and create awareness across different communities so that we can have more conversations and build the scale.
In the workshop with the Ōtautahi Christchurch audience, we looked at the actions we can do personally, interpersonally and systemically to support women of colour. On a personal level, we can intentionally learn more about others’ cultures by listening attentively and not making assumptions. At an interpersonal level, we can give people recognition and encourage story-telling and food-sharing. At a systemic level, we can look to creating more safe spaces for story-telling and challenging the traditional ways that community groups get access to funding.
For women of colour to rise and thrive in Aotearoa, we cannot do it alone and we need allies. So we would like to thank all those who made it to our graduations. Your support was heartfelt. We would also like to thank the employers who continue to invest into women of colour development - Toi Kai Rawa, Tauranga City Council, the Treasury, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Development, Department of Internal Affairs, Kiwibank and Rātā Foundation. Once again, thank you Rātā Foundation for your generous support in funding the community leaders of Ōtautahi. We thank the sponsors of our spaces for Accentuated - Advance Diagnostics, Multicultural Tauranga, two/fiftyseven and Rātā Foundation.