Our speakers and panellists
Find out more about our Careers and Employability Week experts.
Our speakers and panellists will be sharing their insights, knowledge and expertise. You should also take the time to learn more about the organisations they work for and don’t be shy … submit a question in advance.
To submit your questions, send us an email to careers@mq.edu.au. We will make sure to forward them to our experts!
Ashly Dahdal – AND
Ashly is Program Coordinator at the Australian Network on Disability (AND). AND is a member-based organisation that is dedicated to advancing the inclusion of people with disability in business, and we do this by offering expert services and advice to employers, Government and Industry bodies. In her role, Ashly helps coordinate two programs, which is the Stepping into Internship program for students with disability and the PACE Mentoring program for anyone over the age of 18 with disability. She is widely experienced with supporting managers to become disability confident in the workplace, supporting students in their journey using workplace adjustments and helping foster inclusive workplaces.
- Session: Dynamic Support for Diverse Students
- Date: Wednesday 9 March 2022
- Time: 1pm – 2pm
Emily Nathan – Optus
Emily is the Associate Director for Inclusion & Early Career Talent at Optus. Emily has spent the last six-plus years working at Bloomberg in London where she held several portfolios including diversity recruitment, diversity talent programs, inclusive leadership and mental health. She is passionate about helping organisations get curious about the power of difference and building the next generation of talent. From employee-led initiatives to organisation-wide programs, Emily specialises in building the confidence and capability of employees engaged with their role in building and maintaining an inclusive culture – why it matters and what’s in it for them.
- Session: Dynamic Support for Diverse Students
- Date: Wednesday 9 March 2022
- Time: 1pm – 2pm
Janaki Ramachandran
Janaki is a highly driven and practical Principal Consultant with over 15 years of experience in Business Capability Improvement, Customer Experience, Corporate Strategy, Program and Project Management, International Marketing and Governance. She is an MSP Licensed Program Manager and has a multidisciplinary background with an MBA from Macquarie University and Fellowships with the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, London and the Governance Institute of Australia. She has been passionately working with startups to commercialise their innovations and business ideas.
- Session: Successful Start Ups – The Essential Skills to Get You Started
- Date: Monday 7 March 2022
- Time: 1pm – 2pm
Kristina Lesko – Beaumont People
Kristina took her initial steps in starting a corporate career at Beaumont People in 2019, after completing a Bachelor of Business - Human Resources and Marketing at the University of Technology Sydney. She started off as a Recruitment Coordinator for the Associations and Memberships team as she worked towards developing new skills associated with recruitment, as well as applying and refining previous customer service skills.
Kristina was promoted to Recruitment Consultant in April 2021 and joined the Fundraising and Marketing Team within Beaumont’s Charities division. Her role now is all about connecting candidates to meaningful work opportunities with Charity clients all across Australia.
- Session: Working in the Public or Not for Profit (NFP) sector
- Date: Thursday 10 March 2022
- Time: 12pm – 1pm
Lorraine Nicolas
Lorraine moved from France to complete her master's degree in Sydney and never left. Before settling in Australia, she studied and lived in France and in the UK. Her background is in marketing, communications, and project management.
She has worked with education providers for most of her career (UNSW, UTS, Sydney School of Entrepreneurship, MQ, and others), and also has experience in the private sector (professional services, food and beverages, automotive, media).
Outside of work, she is active within the community:
- She organises social and networking activities for French-speaking expatriates
- She is involved with organisations promoting entrepreneurship, culture, diversity and inclusion (La French Tech Australia, Young Professional Network, UN Women)
- In the past, she has been a lecturer, facilitator and mentor (UTS, UNSW, MQ, CSU)
- Session: Building your Australian Network for International Students with Study NSW
- Date: Friday 11 March 2022
- Time: 5pm – 6pm
Panos Vlachopoulos - Macquarie University
Professor and Deputy Dean, Faculty of the Arts. Passionate about quality teaching and learning with new and emerging technologies. A strong supporter of student-driven pedagogies and the potential of new and emerging learning technologies to realise truly student-driven learning.
- Session: Demand for Humanities skills: What do business leaders think about these skills in the workforce?
- Date: Wednesday 9 March 2022
- Time: 2pm – 3pm
Fiona Anson -Middle8
CEO of Middle8, a jobs and skills data analytics business, Fiona has a background consulting to Education, Industry, Government and Communities to assist them in understanding the evolving world of work and how to best get, and keep, people in jobs. Spearheading the annual national initiative, The Jobs Agenda, a national discussion on work, she is a thought leader, speaker and influencer, leading the conversation around jobs, education and the future of work.
- Session: Demand for Humanities skills: What do business leaders think about these skills in the workforce?
- Date: Wednesday 9 March 2022
- Time: 2pm – 3pm
Alison Cairns - Education Sector Leader - EY
Education Sector Leader at EY, Alison is passionate about empowering educators to transform learning. She is a key contributor to technology conversations having participated in women in technology panels and digital education thought leadership as well as facilitating design thinking and deep collaboration sessions with industry experts.
- Session: Demand for Humanities skills: What do business leaders think about these skills in the workforce?
- Date: Wednesday 9 March 2022
- Time: 2pm – 3pm
Manuela Franceschinili – Adobe
Strategic Development Manager at Adobe. Industry awarded Journalist & Foreign Correspondent with 15 years experience in some of the world’s most renowned media companies. Travelled the world creating multimedia projects and stories for Latin America's largest TV station and other influential publications. Experienced in the Higher Education sector, with a Master’s Degree focused in International Relations and National Securities studies from Bond University and 4 years working as a Semester Teaching Fellow/Lecturer in Australia. Passionate about empowering lives through storytelling, creativity and digital literacy.
- Session: Demand for Humanities skills: What do business leaders think about these skills in the workforce?
- Date: Wednesday 9 March 2022
- Time: 2pm – 3pm
Madeline Lee – Procter and Gamble
HR Business Partner at Procter and Gamble, and also incredibly passionate about mental health. For the last 6 years, She has been sharing her story to thousands of young Australians with the aim of smashing the negative stigma surrounding mental health.
- Session: Demand for Humanities skills: What do business leaders think about these skills in the workforce?
- Date: Wednesday 9 March 2022
- Time: 2pm – 3pm
Jen O’Donovan – Macquarie University
I’ve been with Macquarie University for two years and currently work as a Career and Employment Advisor. My past experience in career coaching, recruitment, training and generalist HR drives me to help our students and graduates achieve their career aspirations.
- Session: Employable you
- Date: Monday 7 March 2022
- Time: 12pm – 1pm
- Session: How to market your employability skills in an ePortfolio
- Date: Thursday 10 March 2022
- Time: 12pm – 1pm
Erika Schuetze – Macquarie University
I am an HR professional with a broad range of experience including early career talent, organisational capability, learning, engagement and talent acquisition.
The best part of my role is being able to use the experience I've gained in my own HR career, helping those who are just starting out.
- Session: Employable you
- Date: Monday 7 March 2022
- Time: 12pm – 1pm
Amelia Gray – Macquarie University
Amelia is a fifth year Bachelor of Social Science student from regional NSW. Since her first day at Macquarie, she has sought to take any opportunity to build new skills and support her career path. From participating in the Global Leadership Program and joining clubs and societies, to going on Exchange and completing her PACE unit, Amelia has not only gained new knowledge and skills but also now has experience to show it.
- Session: Employable you
- Date: Monday 7 March 2022
- Time: 12pm – 1pm
Vicki George – Macquarie University
I have worked as a Career and Employment Advisor at Macquarie since 2012, and prior to that gained extensive experience over seven years in the field of employment services. I have delivered careers workshops on a range of topics to diverse groups as well as provided focused individual support. I have a wealth of practical knowledge to share and am dedicated to the task of helping students to achieve their career and employment goals.
- Session: Successful Start Ups – The Essential Skills to Get You Started
- Date: Monday 7 March 2022
- Time: 1pm – 2pm
Susan Wallace – Macquarie University
I’m a Career and Employment Advisor with extensive experience in the implementation of work-integrated learning programs and internships for PACE, industry engagement, HR, and more recently, career coaching and training. I enjoy helping students and graduates develop their professional skills and capabilities to enhance their employment outcomes.
- Session: Successful Start Ups – The Essential Skills to Get You Started
- Date: Monday 7 March 2022
- Time: 1pm – 2pm
Tyree Barnette – Macquarie University
I have a unique intersection of skills within careers coaching, communication, and writing. My passion is to assist students with telling their own professional stories on the written page, their digital profiles, and explaining their unique selling points with confidence and insight.
- Session: CV writing and Job-hunting workshop
- Date: Tuesday 8 March 2022
- Time: 11am – 12pm
Lena Corzo – Macquarie University
I am a passionate business professional with solid experience in career development learning, capability building, digital learning and recruitment. Expertise in one-to-one careers coaching and support, leadership development and virtual online training design. Dedicated to optimizing young professionals' employability skills in order to achieve their career and life goals with self-confidence and to act as an enabler and facilitator in extremely diverse and multicultural environments. I care about what I do and enjoy building relationships among industry partners, students and internal stakeholders to develop and deliver positive outcomes through partnerships. Naturally empathetic, I use skills developed through experience, evidence-based theory, and ongoing learning, to help and empower relevant, meaningful and confident career decision-making.
- Session: CV writing and Job-hunting workshop
- Date: Tuesday 8 March 2022
- Time: 11am – 12pm
- Session: How to market your employability skills in an ePortfolio
- Date: Thursday 10 March 2022
- Time: 12pm - 1pm
Sam Montano – Macquarie University
I am an experienced Recruitment Consultant specialising in preparing candidates for their first roles, whether it be a first casual role while studying or taking the first steps towards your profession nearing graduation. With over 20 years of experience in retail marketing, education, property and recruitment, I look forward to working through your career goals with you.
- Session: Finding jobs with MQ Student Employment
- Date: Tuesday 8 March 2022
- Time: 12pm – 1pm
- Session: Stand out to employers
- Date: Wednesday 9 March 2022
- Time: 12pm – 1pm
Sina Rezvani Bidgoli
I’m a Macquarie University Alumni, with experience across multiple industries including recruitment. My passion is to help students’ professional and personal development and help them achieve employment success. Most of all, I love having the opportunity to help students and graduates avoid the mistakes I made when starting out and be able to connect them with the right opportunities to begin their career journeys.
- Session: Finding jobs with MQ Student Employment
- Date: Tuesday 8 March 2022
- Time: 12pm – 1pm
- Session: Stand out to employers
- Date: Wednesday 9 March 2022
- Time: 12pm – 1pm
Kelly Piper – Macquarie University
Kelly is currently the manager of the Macquarie University- Accessibility Service. Kelly has been working in the disability sector for over 20 years including roles within the tertiary education system, community services and private consulting. She has led projects to assist in improving the experiences of students with a disability whilst undergoing their university studies through the implementation of support services and educating others around reasonable adjustments. Kelly is passionate about inclusive education and the benefits of universal design initiatives and continues to work towards improvement in these areas within the tertiary education system.
- Session: Dynamic Support for Diverse Students
- Date: Wednesday 9 March 2022
- Time: 1pm – 2pm
Melinda Varhegyi – Macquarie University
Melinda is a friendly and caring Organisational Psychologist with 10 years of experience working in the counselling team at Student Wellbeing, providing support around mental health and vocational/career issues. Melinda's background is a culmination of consulting, research and lecturing within academia. These areas are all underpinned by Melinda's interests in building confidence and resilience, teaching and providing individual support to help people thrive in their lives. Outside of work, Melinda enjoys camping, cooking and being outdoors.
- Session: Dynamic Support for Diverse Students
- Date: Wednesday 9 March 2022
- Time: 1pm – 2pm