2024 Women to Watch
This year we showcase over 80 South Australian women to watch throughout the year. From business, to careers, arts to science. This year’s selected women highlight the depth and diversity of the women in our state and also the vast array of opportunities to develop a business or career in South Australia. Find our more about our inaugural Women to Watch initiative here.
If over 20 years experience in the child protection and family sector has taught me anything, it is that quality leadership and relationships are the key to positive outcomes!! And I’m not just talking about providing quality, evidence based practice and measuring impact and outcomes for clients (which my inner geek absolutely strives for!), I’m talking about effectively supporting and developing staff so they love coming to work, mentoring new and emerging leaders, not just for management roles, but to be champions in advocacy, policy reform, and systemic change. Being a strong communicator who drives evolution and growth, but most importantly with compassion and care.
I am lucky enough to lead a group of dynamic and passionate managers across a range of services and sectors, including Child Protection, Out of Home Care, Alcohol and Other Dugs, Youth and Family Support and Counselling, Family Law and Mediation, Domestic Violence, LGBTQIA+ Peer Support and Men’s Behaviour Change. How awesome is that!
My job is my passion, my purpose, my commitment. One moment I can be fiercely advocating for social change through bold conversations at the highest of levels, supporting the most vulnerable in our community…. the next I can be sitting on the floor having a yarn and holding hope with a person on their darkest day… and pretty much everything in between from strategic planning, finance and budget management, complex HR, and risk mitigation, government relations, contract management and negotiations, learning and development, you name it!!
// Favourite inspirational quote
Ann Cotton once said “Be greedy for social change, and your life will be endlessly enriched. The only failure lies in not trying, or giving up.”
// Let’s get to know you
Firstly, I was not planning to submit an application when I first received the nomination, as flattered as I was. Mostly because I felt many women do what I do and why should I get any accolades, but as I mentioned it to my colleagues, there was overwhelming support and encouraging and they made me realise, why not me! I should provide an example for younger women entering their career and girls who aspire to be senior leaders in community organisations that help change lives for many South Australians.
I have always been passionate about supporting women, firstly as clients who were seeking support from domestic violence, in child protection or who had experienced trauma, and then I moved into leadership roles when my new passion became supporting women in the workforce. In 2017 my life took a different path, I experienced my own family violence situation and I found myself to be a single parent with a newborn and 1 year old and career wise, I felt like I was starting again. Life then became about navigating single parent life with being driven in my career, it such a hard balance, but now I advocate for single mum’s, create opportunities and flexibility in our organisation and celebrate successes.
Sharing the highs and the lows of motherhood while having a career…it is not all unicorns and rainbows, so let’s normalise the struggles and keep the dialogue going! I am also partnering with another female powerhouse to break the arriers of talking about menopause in the workplace, more of that in my goals!
// What is your goal or intention for 2024? And how are you going to achieve it?
2024 is going to be epic! I support a group of female and non-binary employees who come together to work through org challenges around gender equality and the prevention of domestic violence. This group is planning on a range of lunchtime sessions, workshops and formal training just for women in our organisation. These workshops will include subjects such as sharing experience of family violence through story telling and writing, menopause and the workplace, leadership circles for women and art and creativity for gender equality.
// What are you most looking forward to in 2024?
Leading over 500 staff and 46 programs in Community Services always comes with it’s challenges and successes but I think what I am looking forward to the most in 2024, is the work we are doing in leadership at Uniting Communities. To me, what makes you effective as a leader is not the title you hold. Instead, it’s demonstrating an unrelenting focus on helping others succeed in their collective efforts. Sure, having a title means people might listen or follow instructions, but I want people to walk with me because they’re engaged in what I’m talking about, or because we share the same values, interests or passion for something!! Leading with heart and compassion!
If you can inspire people to believe in something beyond what they thought was possible, believe in themselves when they never did and show people you care, this is true leadership and this is what I want to continue to create and embed at Uniting Communities.
// What would being a Woman to Watch in 2024 mean to you?
I am truly humbled to even be nominated, many women deserve to be recognised through this platform but this would give me the opportunity to show women in the not for profit sector that we can be leaders, we can balance career and motherhood, and we can empower other women to achieve great things.
This opportunity would enhance the wonderful conversations I already have at Uniting Communities around gender equality, women in the workforce and prevention of gendered abuse to further reach other women in the sector and the state.
// What would you like to see for the future of South Australian women and girls?
I recently marched in the stopping violence against women campaign in Adelaide with my mum and my eight year old daughter. The tragic deaths of 5 woman in just 6 weeks in Adelaide late last year shook me to my core! My aspiration and commitment is to create a world for my daughter where gendered violence and abuse towards women does not exist and my daughter will never experience some of what I have!
It is also my responsibility as a mother of a seven year old son to teach him about respect and healthy relationships and that violence and abuse is never ok. Together, with every conversation, we can stop abuse against women for our children and the generations that follow!
Get in touch with Leisha:
Linkedin: Leisha Olliver
Website: www.unitingcommunities.org
Check out all of the incredible Women to Watch for 2024 here as their profiles are uploaded throughout the year.
To become an SA Woman Member, check out our Membership Options here.