The SCBWN International Women’s Day breakfast was always planned to be one of our most influential and powerful events as we proudly celebrated this important day on the world calendar. We set out to deliver a morning that showed our network that achieving your dreams is within their control while immersing them in an environment that supports, encourages, grows and nurtures talented, dedicated and driven women to reach their highest potential.

Our mission to support IWD isn’t a one-day event, it is embedded in our purpose. 

While women continue to lack their share of voice and representation, we are committed to raising awareness and urging change by empowering and supporting women to earn and learn through education, leadership, friendship, mentorship and conversation.

Inviting skilled goal shooter Peace Proscovia, CEO Danielle Smith and Head Coach Kylee Byrne from the incredibly successful Sunshine Coast Lightning to take over the USC Stadium with us was something that felt strong from the beginning. These three remarkable women were the perfect candidates to stand up in front of our growing network and inspire the room to fight for their goals no matter what obstacles may come up along the way… and that they did.

Peace Proscovia amplifies ‘individuality with a purpose’, her raw story about rights and obligations, culture and expectation, moved the whole stadium to a state of respect and pure inspiration. Peace fought against a world that was fighting against her and her experiences completely align with the 2020 International Women’s Day #EachforEqual campaign.

Born into poverty and a family of eight children, Peace imagined herself to have a lonely life that led to forced marriage and early motherhood. Instead, she became disciplined and determined to make something of herself. Defying her father’s wishes and going against both social and cultural norms, Peace left her small Ugandan village at only 18-years-old to travel to the capital city Kampala and chase her dream of playing professional netball.

Through unimaginable hard work and sheer willpower, Peace shared how she became the captain of the Ugandan national side, played for the Loughborough Lightning in England, represented her country in the World Cup and is an International Netball Federation Ambassador. Every step in her story shaped Peace to become the notorious goal shooter for Sunshine Coast Lightning, in the world’s pinnacle netball league Suncorp Super Netball.

We are so honoured to have had this incredible woman stand up in front of our network, open our eyes to other people’s troubles and triumphs, and inspire us to individually and collectively work together to create an equal world.

Following Peace’s story, we had an interview between our SCBWN President Roz White and Sunshine Coast Lightning CEO Dannielle Smith, and Head Coach Kylee Byrne.

Danielle and Kylee were invited to share with our network the business of netball, the highlights and challenges faced by a start-up organisation, building a team – on and off court – from scratch, and how that has impacted Lightning’s success.

Both ladies have incredible backgrounds full of hard work, resilience and fortitude resulting in their successful roles today.

Danielle Smith is currently the CEO of Sunshine Coast Lightning and board director of NRL club, Melbourne Storm. Her career spans more than 20 years working across a broad range of industries including sport, major events, management consulting, consumer products and chartered accounting. During Danielle’s time as CEO, Lightning has become the most successful professional sporting start-up in Australian history, competing in three successive grand finals, winning back to back premierships in 2017 and 2018, and the minor premiership in 2019.

Head Coach Kylee Byrne has over 15 years’ experience coaching elite netball programs. Kylie was promoted to Head Coach of Sunshine Coast Lightning at the conclusion of the 2019 season after playing a pivotal role in Lightning’s 2017 and 2018 Premierships and 2019 Grand Final as Assistant Coach. Previous to her role on the Sunshine Coast, Byrne was Netball Queensland’s Elite Development Coach, where she oversaw the state’s program to identify and develop the next generation of netballers.

Putting together this uniquely powerful, out-of-the-box International Women's Day event could not have been possible with the support of our event sponsors. Upon hearing our plan, the fantastic people at ANZ stepped in to support the event as speaker sponsors, ensuring the SCBWN once again delivers an outstanding, inspirational and empowering morning.

Year after year, USC supports SCBWN as our event sponsor to demonstrate their passion and commitment to celebrating and empowering women. In particular recognising this time of year as one to highlight the achievements of women from all backgrounds and vocations.

Thank you ANZ for your invaluable support and to the USC for your continued support of the SCBWN, and for once again partnering with us to bring together the members and guests of the network to celebrate International Women's Day.