Mary Haddock - Staniland: Your Why

It's well documented that there is something about Mary, and I've wanted to use my voice and ability to help change the dial broadly across the many dimensions that exist in diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

My “why” is because for so many years in the beginning of my life, I was excluded. We talk about COVID-19 and how we had to social distance during the various levels to ensure we weren't going to catch the disease. A lot of my life has been spent with people social distancing from me.

So understanding how awful it is to be excluded was definitely a superpower and the reason why I left the environment I did to join Diversity Works New Zealand. Because inclusion, and fostering and cultivating that, I think is key to the business landscape.

I'm not talking about the vein of being Takatāpui and trans. I'm talking about, generally, the dimensions of diversity, whether you have a visual issue, hearing impairment, use a wheelchair, gender, race, age, people are confronted with all types of adversity.

So in this role, I'd like to think that I get to influence change for the better for those that perhaps have got one way of thinking that may not be the right way.