Last month saw Sydney celebrate some of the young Australian’s inspiring the next generation, with the inaugural 30 Under 30 LGBTIQ+ Role Model Awards.
Among the winners was SAP’s Delia Deng, Solutions Consultant in the Intelligent Spend Group at SAP.
The event was run by Out for Australia, an organisation that supports and mentors aspiring LGBTIQ+ professionals. Nominees were judged on three measures:
- Tangible contribution to bettering the lives of LGBTIQ+ people in Australia.
- Success in their respective careers.
- Living the qualities of a role model – authenticity, courage and resilience.
And what a night it was! The event was hosted at Boston Consulting Group and featured the sassy MC Jordan Raskopoulos, along with an inspiring keynote from Dr Kerryn Phelps AM.
The 30u30 winners have all courageously been working as young LGBTIQ+ champions in their communities, universities and workplaces. You can see the full list of 30 under 30 winners here.
Impressively, Delia was also one of the category winners for “Success in their Career”, all while being an out and proud LGBTIQ+ woman from a culturally diverse background.
Following her win, Delia said:
“I hope this award shows people, from a culturally and academically diverse background, that they are not alone. Together, we are able to smash all kinds of ceilings and succeed in all our pursuits.“
“I want to give a special shout out to Giancarlo de Vera from Out for Australia for nominating me and shining a light on my profile, and my manager Nikolai Lavrentiev, Head of ANZ Presales, Intelligent Spend Group, who attended the event to support me. The work Out for Australia do is incredibly important. It helps to support aspiring LGBTIQ+ professionals, by promoting the positive impact we have in our offices and communities.”
Ginacarlo de Vera, Out for Australia Director of Community Partnerships, congratulated Delia, saying:
“Huge congratulations to Delia for her win. At Out for Australia, we hope this will empower more LGBTIQ+ Australians to feel confident in their workplaces. Research from the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) shows that 1 in 2 Asian-Australians fear discrimination in the workplace, with young people feeling even more vulnerable. It also shows that only 1 in 4 LGBTIQ+ young people feel comfortable being out at work.”
“This needs to change. We hope our awards will help raise awareness of the challenges LGBTIQ+ people can face at work. Role models like Delia and the others nominated can show others that you can be out at work and thrive.”
About Delia
Dee has been a procurement, compliance and operations professional for almost a decade, both in the banking industry and now IT. Currently at SAP, she is proud to help organisations and C-Suite leaders spend more intelligently using technology, and in more diverse businesses (LGBTQI+, Indigenous, minority businesses etc.). She’s influenced millions of dollars’ worth of opportunities, conducted sales & diversity training, and has been recognised as a catalyst for change and an office leader. She is a bubbly advocate, avid traveller and a closet maths geek.
