By Abbey Cannan
The Zonta Club of Noosa is set to celebrate both International Women’s Day and the 100th birthday of Zonta International with a breakfast on Friday 8 March at 7am.
Zonta International is a human rights organisation that focuses on empowering women through service and advocacy at a global and local level.
One hundred years ago, founding member, Marian de Forest dreamed of an organisation that would bring together women in executive positions and help them reach their rightful places in the professions that rarely had women leaders.
Since the creation of Zonta International in 1919, their members have dedicated the last century to empowering women, both in and outside of Zonta.
The breakfast will feature inspirational speaker, Ann Harap, a former long-serving diplomat for Australia.
Ann spent 20 years working as an Australian diplomat, including in the UK, Iraq, Papua New Guinea and South Africa. She was Australia’s first female High Commissioner to South Africa and six other southern African countries from 2008-2013. Following her retirement from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, she established her own independent consulting company specialising in diplomacy and leadership training; international relations and policy advice. Last year, for example, she was a member of the five-person Australian delegation sent to Fiji to observe the elections there. She has recently stepped down from the Board of Brisbane Girls Grammar School and currently sits on the Board of NoosaCare. She will talk about her career as an Australian diplomat, with a particular focus on some of her leadership lessons gathered over years of working in what was historically a very male dominated environment.
The breakfast will be hosted at Noosa Waterfront Restaurant, Noosaville and tickets for the event are available for $40 at www.trybooking.com/BADGM.
