‘A few months ago, I attended the Empowering Women for the Future Summit. The summit had impressive presenters and I walked away inspired to start something.
‘I asked attendees from the commission to get together and discuss what we learnt from the summit. My initiative snowballed into a commission-wide discussion, and the Empowered Women’s Network emerged.
‘Since then, we’ve met regularly to identify gender-related issues and develop ideas on how we can press for progress. We are officially launching the network on International Women’s Day and the response from everyone at the commission has been a great reminder of how we’re positively responding to cultural challenges.
‘Our organisation encourages staff to develop their professional and analytical skills. I’m in the transport team, where I work on regulation in industries such as the Port of Melbourne and commercial passenger vehicles. I specialise in data analysis and have the flexibility and support to work on different projects in my division. It's given me great experience across the transport industry.’
Helena Knapik, transport team member at the Essential Services Commission
Photo: Paul Jeffers
The Essential Services Commission is made up of a diverse range of people who bring something unique to our workplace. In 2018, our 'essential stories' series showcases some of our team members and why the work they do here is important to them. Follow us on LinkedIn for regular 'essential stories' updates.
