S1E2: It's IWD2024: Can You Afford That Cupcake?

Q: What do you get when you mix a community choir, Wiradjuri elder, disability advocate, financial adviser, business leader, psychology academic, and poet extraordinaire together?

A: An absolutely cracking evening, with a thought-provoking discussion about the systemic, social and economic factors, that constrain women’s ability to earn, to save, to invest, and in turn build financial security. 

 

This episode of "It's Not About The Money (Australia)" was recorded at the "Can You Afford That Cupcake?" event held on Wiradjuri lands in Wagga Wagga. A program can be accessed ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

 

The event features a performance from the UNISONg Women's Community Choir, including an adaptation of John Farnham's "Two Strong Hearts" to support fundraising towards purchase of a defibrillator for the Wagga Women's Health Centre, and an original poem performed by Peita Vincent.

Five panellists share thoughts and insights from their lived experience and professional expertise about pathways to greater economic inclusion for women and girls, in line with the UN IWD2024 theme of Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress.

 

Aunty Cheryl Penrith

Aunty Cheryl is a connecter, an influencer, a mentor and coach, and has worked in the government, non-government and tertiary education sectors. Her passion is community development and capacity building, business and strategic planning, cultural empowerment, community health and wellbeing, involvement in decision making and the revival and reinvigoration of cultural practices such as language, possum skin cloak making workshops, women's cultural business. Aunty Cheryl's life experience as a First Nation Wiradjuri woman has given her a unique perspective, skills and networks.

 

Gioia Gianniotis

Gioia is a registered Architect and established GPG Architecture following registration with the NSW board of Architects in February 2006. In 2021, Gioia completed her NSW registration as a Design Practitioner-Architectural. Her architectural practice undertakes a diverse range of residential, public and commercial projects. In the 19 years since the establishment of GPG, Gioia has developed an efficient and well-known regional practice with projects located throughout the Riverina, Bland and Snowy Valleys council regions. Employing a team of five, while also leading teams of numerous consultant teams of various specialties, her business continues to develop with many successful and multi-million dollar projects in construction and on the drawing board. Recognised for her passion and business acumen, Gioia received the “Most Outstanding Business Leader” and her practice won the “Excellence in Small Business” Award at the 2018 Wagga Wagga Business Chamber Awards. Gioia won the 2019 inaugural MBA Riverina Women in Building Award. Her practice projects have also won several awards from the HIA and MBA from 2017 through to 2023. In 2020 her practice in collaboration with another local architect, Mark Golden achieved the Australian Institute of Architects NSW Country Division Educational Architecture award for their work at the Wagga Wagga Christian College, Junior School. Prior to starting GPG, Gioia spent ten years at The Cox Group working alongside many influential architects. She considers her time at the Cox Group as an invaluable contribution to her career, and attributes this to several mentors that supported her journey. Gioia’s move to Wagga Wagga in March 2004 from Sydney was for a lifestyle change and was an opportunity for Gioia to establish her own practice and contribute to the ever expanding architectural landscape of the region. Throughout her career Gioia has been involved in many professional bodies, forums and community activities including being a mentor within the Australian Institute of Architects NSW Chapter Mentoring Program and is currently the President for Women in Business Wagga Wagga. Her practice, GPG Architecture regularly hosts work experience and university students from all over the region and she is actively involved in presenting to local colleges and school about her career and the built environment.

 

Jessica Horner

As a disability consultant and journalist, Jessica uses her lived experience and expertise in disability, diversity and inclusion, social justice, and media to help change the disability landscape and discourse. Jessica has more than two years of experience in creating content, writing stories, and advising on disability-related issues for various platforms and organizations, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Mona Magazine, and Relationships Australia. In 2022, Jessica was selected as an ABC Regional Storyteller Scholarship recipient, where she pitched and produced stories about the adult autistic community from a lived experience perspective. She also received a Media Diversity Australia Award nomination in 2023 from the Walkley Foundation for her work on raising the profile of autistic adults in the media. Jessica's mission is to be a voice for those who are left without a voice, and to promote hope and empowerment for the disability community and broader society.

 

Dr Rachel Hogg

Rachel is a psychology academic whose work focuses on human-animal interaction, social psychology, gender and feminism, mental health, and the psychology of work. Her PhD research examined horse-rider relationships in elite equestrian sport. She now conducts research on animal-assisted therapy, sustainability in farming, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences of mental health services, neurodiversity, social media, and the gendering of mental health diagnoses and systems. Rachel has contributed to academic and media discourses around wellness culture, sex education and consent, and domestic violence reforms, and is regularly sought after as a researcher and public commentator. Rachel grew up on a wheat and sheep farm in south-eastern Australia and this upbringing has infused her work, alongside her engagement with literary and performing arts. Rachel delivered a presentation on 'Disordering distress: Women’s experiences of domestic violence, self-empowerment, and psychology' as part of the 2023 TEDxWaggaWagga event.

 

Trish Gregory 

Trish is a CFP® certified millennial financial adviser with more than 7 years of formal experience, a Masters Degree, three school-aged children and a military veteran partner. With an abundance of life experience prior to commencing her financial planning career, Trish intimately understands the challenges the younger generation face which can thwart their financial goals. Having previously worked in a more ‘traditional’ advice role supporting pre-retirees and retirees as well as clients holding a Defined Benefit pension, she now spends her days in the weeds of budgets, projections, goal planning and trade-off conversations with Millennials and Gen Z. Trish is a strong believer in supporting women to enter and grow in the financial planning profession and knows that systemic change is needed before we’ll reach gender parity.