Indigenous Advocate Named 2016 Telstra Business Woman of the Year
22 November 2016 at 12:30 pm
Indigenous advocate and the CEO of the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council in the Northern Territory, Andrea Mason, has been named the 2016 Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year.
In announcing the award on Monday, Telstra said Mason spoke with dignity and lead with humanity and cultural sensitivity.
Mason has had a variety of roles in both the public and private sectors in the Northern Territory around just and fair access for Aboriginal people, through employment, workforce planning, tenancy management and negotiating reconciliation action plans.
In 2009 she was made CEO of the NPY Women’s Council. For more than 20 years the NPY Women’s Council has been supporting its members through service delivery, advocacy, education and employment.
On a day-to-day basis Mason transitions between being a policy maker, a social reformer, a negotiator, an advocate and an inspirational leader. She is also responsible for the 413 members of the council, who are all women over the age of 16.
Mason said that, as an Aboriginal woman, it was a career highlight to work in an Aboriginal women’s member-led organisation.
“I love being the type of leader that I am because it means I can take communities with me on a journey,” Mason said.
The award ceremony was told Mason demonstrated tangible success in breaking the cycle of domestic violence, which has the potential to be ground-breaking for women tackling one of Australia’s biggest issues.
Mason was also the 2016 Telstra Australian Business Women’s For Purpose and Social Enterprise Award winner.
Other winners at the 2016 Telstra Australian Business Women’s Awards were: Jenny Paradiso from Suntrix in South Australia (Entrepreneur Award), Inspector Virginia Nelson from the Queensland Police Force (Public Sector and Academia Award), Jackie McArthur from Martin Brower in New South Wales (Corporate and Private Award), Rituparna Chakraborty from TeamLease Services Ltd in India (Business Woman in Asia Award) and Anna Ross from Kester Black in Victoria (Young Business Woman of the Year).
The CEO of not-for-profit disability services organisation Scope, Dr Jennifer Fitzgerald, was named Victorian Telstra business woman of the year.
Now in its 22nd year, the Telstra Business Women’s Awards are Australia’s longest-running women’s awards program.
