What a night of inspiration and celebration it was for our WACL Talent Award winners on the 20th Anniversary of the event!
I’ve coached and mentored women for much of my career, and our capacity for resilience, focus and optimism never ceases to inspire me. Never more so than at this year’s 20th Anniversary of the WACL Talent Awards.
When Satin Reid collared me at my first ever WACL AGM and asked me to join the Talent Committee it was an easy ‘yes’. But it was only as I and my fellow judges worked our way through a record 210 applications and over 30 shortlisted presentations, did I appreciate the diversity of talent and the sheer commitment to lead that makes up our future cohort of leaders. This was made all the more amazing when you consider the sometimes spirit-breaking challenges that some of these women are having to deal with – and the total dedication and lack of self-pity that helped them to apply themselves to their goal.
As the evidence is clear that more gender-equal businesses are more successful, and women face many barriers in their rise to the top, Tess Alps, who created the WACL Talent Awards when she was President in 2004,
said in her opening address: : ‘Don’t be scared about wanting power’. And we know the bursaries we’ve awarded to each of these women will help them step into their power and make the industry a better place for all of us.
An emotional moment in the evening came when Judith Salinson and Lyndy Payne, who have been involved with the Talent Awards from day one and have interviewed every Talent Awards shortlisted entrant for two decades, presented the three special awards and announced that after 20 years they will be stepping back from the judging. We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to these titans of our industry and the beating hearts of WACL. And we should also recognise that once earned, great leadership endures.
A big thanks to all of our Talent Award Committee members – especially Chair Satin Reid – and onward to our 21st Awards in 2026. And the message from our award winners for anyone applying next year, expressed so eloquently on camera by some? Be yourself, and go for it!
#womenleaders #WACL #womeninbusiness #genderequality #mentorship
Opinion piece written by WACL Member, Rose Bentley
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