What Does It Take To Be Our Head Of Sustainability? 

...and what does that mean day-to-day?
“I lead the development and delivery of THE ICONIC’s Sustainability strategy and program, along with my five talented teammates. Our strategy includes a raft of ambitious targets that we’ve proactively set ourselves that span four key areas that are outlined here. On any given day, I could be reviewing commercial and impact metrics for our sustainability assortment, Considered which continues to grow from strength-to-strength, to reviewing modelling for how we achieve our soon to launch climate change ambitions, to participating in the Federal Government’s Roundtable on Textile Waste and scaling up our Giving Made Easy initiative where you can give your old clothes a second life – there really is never a ‘typical’ day!”

How long have you been working in Sustainability and did you undertake any formal study in the space?
“That’s a very good question! I’ve been working in the sustainability space for more than 15 years now and hold a Masters in Sustainability from Sydney University, a post-grad degree in Social Impact from UNSW and an under-grad degree in Communications.

“I’ve had quite a varied background, from leading sustainability and corporate social responsibility for a global Fortune 500 consumer goods company, through to founding and running my own successful sustainability and innovation consultancy. I also teach post-grad students at UNSW’s Centre for Social Impact and UTS Business School as a ‘prac-ademic’ and I’m a board director of the Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia and, I’m a proud Governor of World Wildlife Fund(WWF) Australia – an organisation whose work I love.”

Ok, wow, we think you might have some idea what you’re doing! How did you get into this?
“My interest in sustainable business really started back in 2006 when Australia was suffering from a terrible drought. At the time I was working in a leading professional services firm and a large ASX listed company came to us and said they wanted to help the community respond to the drought in a meaningful and innovative way. So I helped develop a schools-based program that gave a rainwater tank to a school, every school day of the year. The program grew to be a phenomenal success giving away thousands of rainwater tanks to schools across Australia, and educating hundreds-of-thousands of school kids about water saving. This really showcased to me the power, scale and positive impact that businesses can have in the community. My interest and involvement in developing and leading corporate and brand-led sustainability strategies and programs grew from there - and now, here I am at THE ICONIC!”

Why is it important that THE ICONIC has a Sustainability team?
“One of the most important things the Sustainability team does is to lead and help enable change. The only way we can achieve many of our goals is to collaborate with other internal teams, and external stakeholders, and help to build capacity and enable others to make change. When you have big ambitions to make a positive impact on a raft of significant issues then you can’t do it alone!” 

Which of THE ICONIC’s Considered values do you work within most in your day-to-day work?
“One of the great things about my role is that I get to work across all six of the values which are all super important. A project that I’m really excited about is how we take the Considered Edit to the next level, and look to grow and expand the range of products we offer but also further engage and educate our brand partners and customers on the Edit.”

What’s been your career high in the business?
“I’ve only been at THE ICONIC for a few months but I’m anticipating that a high is going to be launching our new sustainability strategy and 2030 targets at the beginning of next year. There’s a lot of work to do between now and then, but I can’t wait to see it all come together. Watch this space for more!” 

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