The office of Community Hubs Australia, on a 31^st floor on Collins Street, offers a panoramic view of the city.

It’s a perspective as vast as the career of Sonja Hood, who not only helms the community organisation but is also president of AFL club North Melbourne.

Though a born-and-bred Melburnian, Sonja’s professional journey has taken her around the world. A Bachelor of Arts and Masters in Policy preceded consultancy work in the United States and eight years at Britain’s National Health Service (NHS). In that time she started a family.

“I came home a completely different person than the one I left,” Sonja says.

The North Melbourne supporter’s time back in Australia has revolved around her childhood club. A five-year stint as Community Engagement manager in the 2010s was followed by her appointment to the board in 2019 and elevation to President in 2022.

Highlighting her expertise and versatility, for the last eight years Sonja has also been leading Community Hubs Australia. The organisation engages isolated migrant and refugee women and children, providing pathways to preschool, English language, volunteering, skills training, and connection to a host of community services.

Under her watch Community Hubs has moved from project funding to ongoing Federal Government funding, ensuring it can continue to provide its critical services long into the future.

Future Forte

Sonja’s work with vulnerable women at Community Hubs, and in the male-dominated world of the AFL, leaves her well placed to impart some of that wisdom at the Future Forte Conference in Melbourne.

Future Forte is a support community designed to help female and gender diverse international students thrive in Australia.

The initiative is the brainchild of Belle Lim, a Malaysian national who made Melbourne her home and is now giving back to the community in a significant way. Currently working at Deloitte Access Economics, Belle also completed a PhD in cancer genetics and is now spearheading Future Forte.

“I think she’s doing an incredible job and I’m really looking forward to the panel,” Sonja says.

Her advice for international youth is simple but poignant: be persistent and be yourself.

“If you’re different, you’ve got a point of difference. If there’s already a lot of something, there’s no point in being another one of that.

“The difference I bring into footy is I see the world through a different lens than a lot of the people who are in there. It doesn’t invalidate their lens, it just makes mine different, which can be really useful.

“That’s incredibly true for international students and for people who’ve come from other cultures or who’ve lived in other cultures and experienced other ways of being.

“It brings a different perspective to what we do and that’s really important, so don’t lose that.”

Good organisations are already working out that diversity is going to get them ahead, and there is more power with people to seek out those employers.

“Part of the work is done for you. Go and find them. You don’t have to play on everybody else’s terms,” Sonja says.

Belle says Future Forte is excited to present Sonja alongside dozens of other women leaders as role models that the community can look up to and feel represented by.

"Sonja's journey, achievements and impacts are nothing short of inspiring to girls and boys alike,” Belle says.

“Our audience particularly resonates with her determination in promoting gender equity and cultural inclusion through all of her work.

“Connections like these can spark the confidence and belief that they too can leave a positive mark - here in Australia and beyond."

Still a way to go

Future Forte’s conference theme is unite global minds, advance gender equity.

Sonja says “we’ve come a hell of a long way” on gender equity, acknowledging that the career she’s had may not have realistic before her time.

“It was unthinkable that a woman would have been anything in a footy club other than the person who made sandwiches. Sandwiches are important, but so is club president,” she says.

“I also think people still have this notion of a one-decision career that the decision I make at the beginning sets up everything I do from there and it’s just not that way anymore. Your ability to take the skills and the experiences you have along the way to shape your next decision is huge.

“There’s much more of an acceptance and ability to take the skills you get across your whole life into your job these days. So you don’t have to be work Sonja or home Sonja or professional Sonja or mother Sonja. You can just be Sonja. That’s pretty cool.”

Despite this, she knows “things are not progressing as fast as they should” – and not just in the world of AFL or leadership.

“Every year when the stats on the gender pay gap come out, I can feel my partner in the bed next to me going, ‘Oh God. Here we go,’ because I get so angry. There’s no need for it.”

That gap will continue to narrow with time and generational change but it doesn’t let everyone off the hook now. As important as individual persistence is in the workplace, so is the need to “challenge our own biases, conscious and unconscious”.

“We can’t feel comfortable that because there may a woman in the top job, we can stop now,” Sonja says.

“Some people will get convinced on the logic of equity, some people could get convinced on the fairness of it, and some people will never be. But we’ve got to persist.

“It’s a bit of stick and carrot – an appreciation of the value that comes with diversity. But getting people to do it for the sake of it is never going to work.

“You’re asking people to give up power or privilege. There’s got to be something in it for them.

“What’s in it for them is a better organisation, better results, whatever your bottom line is.”

That philosophy and ambition extends to the AFL, where Sonja is evidence of the strides made but continues to advocate for greater representation.

“The industry is congratulating itself for having had four female [presidents and CEOs], but there are 18 clubs, so 36 positions. It’s not what you call great but we’re getting there.

“We don’t have gender equity on our board at North either – we’re moving towards it but we’re not there yet.

“On the other hand, there are people who don’t think women should be presidents of football clubs because they don’t know enough about football. I still get that. I say thanks for your opinion – don’t write to me again.”

Sonja Hood will be one of the speakers at the Future Forte Conference on Saturday 9 September 2023 at the State Library of Victoria - Conversation Quarter from 9am-5pm.

The one-day conference will deliver:

• A series of thought-provoking panels featuring high-profile speakers
• Strategies to fulfill your professional aspirations in Victoria
• Community leadership and inclusion from successful leaders
• Workshop focusing on career development and planning
• How to maintain and boost your wellbeing as students
• Meaningful networking opportunities with students and professionals.

More information and registration is available at the 2023 Future Forte Conference.