ACT honours: Young Woman of the Year Asha Clementi, Woman of the Year Kelli-Ann Jackson and Senior Woman of the Year Lee-Anne Daley. Photo: ACT Government.
Three inspirational leaders have been selected as the ACT’s women of the year 2022.
The trio was announced on Thursday evening, 3 March from a pool of nine finalists.
Each contributes to the community in distinct sectors – from outdoors and adventuring to Indigenous advocacy and young women’s diplomacy.
Woman of the Year Kelli-Ann Jackson is the leader of Women’s Adventure ACT.
She’s impacted the lives of thousands of women and gender-diverse people by making the outdoors accessible, cheap and safe while boosting their knowledge, skills, safety awareness, fitness and personal confidence.
As one of the group’s early members, Kelli-Ann took on the leadership role in 2018.
The group has now grown to nearly 4000 members and holds hundreds of events each year, including short walks at the National Arboretum, bush-foraging, sea kayaking trips in Far North Queensland, and weaving workshops led by local Aboriginal educators.
It also conducts learn to swim lessons and raises thousands of dollars for charities through partnerships with other organisations.
In addition to organising and leading events, Kelli-Ann builds the skills and confidence of other group volunteers so they can lead activities.
She also plans to make Women’s Adventure ACT financially sustainable to offer paid jobs to some women in the community.
Kelli-Ann left her job in the public service to dedicate herself to the full-time volunteer role.
Senior Woman of the Year, Wiradjuri woman Lee-Anne Daley, works with parents, carers, aunties and grandmothers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and shares cultural knowledge with Indigenous girls to build links with the community.
She also facilitates the Strong Women’s Group and Koori Girls Group at the West Belconnen Child and Family Centre. The latter helps young women make healthy lifestyle choices, plan for their future and build confidence through activities such as creative arts.
The Yurwang Bullarn Strong Women’s Group provides local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women an opportunity to socialise and engage in activities related to art and culture.
Lee-Anne is passionate about ensuring Aboriginal views and values underpin the delivery of services to communities.
Young Woman of the Year Asha Clementi co-founded The Girls Leadership Network when she was 18 years old.
In 2018, she also founded Girls Run the World – a program encouraging young women to engage in diplomacy by spending a day at a participating embassy or high commission, meeting with ambassadors and making tangible contributions to their work.
Minister for Women Yvette Berry said all three winners were incredible individuals and “wonderful examples of the strength, passion and dedication so many Canberran women share”.
“Congratulations to all the nominees for the 2022 ACT Women’s Awards for their outstanding contributions to our community,” she said.
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