Join us for lunch to celebrate the launch of our Next Gen Inclusion Toolkit!

Shaped by the voices of more than 600 young women and gender-diverse people across Aotearoa, the Toolkit is designed to help employers understand and respond to the needs of the next generation. Gen Z is bringing fresh perspectives, courage, and values-driven expectations to the workplace. This event will highlight how organisations can create environments where young people feel included, motivated, and empowered to contribute. 

The Toolkit brings together youth perspectives and practical guidance, including a roadmap for employers, a youth engagement maturity stocktake to assess current practices, and workshops to share insights from young employees with senior leadership. It is a resource created to inspire meaningful action and provide organisations with clear pathways to build workplaces that young people want to be part of. 

Hear from a panel of young leaders and members of our community who are championing youth inclusion in their organisations. Together, we’ll discuss what matters most to Gen Z in the workplace, the challenges and opportunities they see, and what employers can do to respond with authenticity, care, and impact. 

• Keynote: Tania Domett (she/her), Cogo Research
  Tania is passionate about the power of research to help businesses and organisations make good investment decisions and grow stronger communities. Tania has over 15 years' experience as a researcher and policy analyst. Her expertise is in research design, online survey design and build, interviewing and focus group facilitation, and qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Tania is the Founding Director of Cogo and conducted our research into ‘Workplace Insights from Young Women and Non-Binary People’.

• Young leaders panel with:

  • Holly Simpson (she/her), SkyCity Entertainment Group
    Holly is a champion for employee voice and workplace wellbeing, passionate about creating environments where people feel heard, valued, and empowered to thrive. With a background in youth development & mental health, she brings a people-centred perspective to building inclusive and supportive workplaces. As Chair of SkyCity’s Elevate Employee Resource Group, Holly leads initiatives that amplify young voices and promote belonging. She is dedicated to supporting the next generation of employees, helping organisations implement meaningful practices that enable them to grow, succeed, and flourish in their careers.

  • Nele Kalolo (she/her), University of Auckland
    Nele is a UNICEF young ambassador who travels around Aotearoa empowering our youth. She is part of the Le Va youth advisor group and also works with Pharmac in the health sector. She is currently the Social Media Communications Lead at Pacific Vision Aotearoa. Her passion is to indigenise spaces to have better equitable outcomes for our communities including bringing 275 to the world.

  • Zina Abu Ali (she/they), Aurecon
    Zina is a queer Middle Eastern researcher and activist. She researches and advocates for the rights of ethnic queer communities within Aotearoa. Her work has a primary emphasis on the tertiary education sector. Zina is committed to empowering marginalised youth and levelling the playing field as much as possible. She is also the DEI Coordinator at Aurecon.

  • Sala McCarthy-Stonex (she/her), Le Sala, Tāpui
    Sala is an indigenous woman of Māori, Kanaka Māoli, Sāmoan, Tongan, Scottish, Irish, German, Welsh, and English descent. With more than a decade of professional, academic, and lived interdisciplinary and cross-sector experiences from across the globe, she is a confident strategic leader, expert systems and realmspace navigator, and natural change maker.

We warmly invite you to join us for this important kōrero, to celebrate the launch of this exciting new resource, and to connect with one another over yummy kai. 

Event details 

• Date: Thursday 30 October

• Time: 12:00 – 1:30pm 

• Location: Powerplant Meeting Room at Precinct Flex Wynyard Quarter, 12 Madden Street, Auckland Central

• Please RSVP by Friday 24 October using the member and non-member forms below.