Her Magazine

:in bev we trust we trust Promoting gender equity has always played a large part of Beverly Cassidy Mackenzie's personal and professional life and as the new CEO of The EEO Trust, she is now in a position to make real change. Who is Beverly Cassidy Mackenzie? The 43-year-old mother of one is from a large family in the west Auckland suburb of Henderson and her iwi is Ngati Porou. "We visit family who live on the East coast at Tokomaru Bay as much as we can as it's such a beautiful part of the country. I live in west Auckland with my husband, our ten year old daughter, mum and a couple of dogs." Bev left Kelston Girls' High School and began working in accounts at an Auckland law firm in 1987. She then ran a small family business and learnt to be resilient during tough financial times. "I then had an opportunity to do some contract work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where I focused on branding and marketing. I realised to continue with my career I needed to [attain] a degree." Bev describes her time at Massey University's Albany campus as busy due to the fact she took her baby daughter to lectures as well. "It was different being an adult student as during breaks I would go and tutor students who were completing a WINTEC equine course. I didn't know much about horses! My role was to tutor the teenagers on how to conduct themselves in interviews, write a CV and communicate." Bev would run tutorials while 24 | www.h e rmagaz i n e . c o. n z her daughter lay in her carry cot beside her desk. After three years, Bev graduated with a Bachelor of Business studies majoring in Communications and Marketing. Bev and her husband took turns being the primary caregiver of their growing girl and this flexibility gave her the opportunity to work for the Auckland Chamber of Commerce as a marketing, relationship and sponsoring manager. After several years Bev became the Corporate Marketing Manager at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise in 2006. "Following that I worked from home so I could be a more hands on mother and at the same time be the executive director of the New Zealand Youth Mentoring Network. "I became more involved in social development and helping charitable trusts that were sometimes struggling." Last year, Bev took up full time work again at the Auckland Chamber of Commerce as a consultant to the chief executive as well as juggling other work. "The opportunity came up to work for the EEO Trust and here I am working full time as its CEO and loving it." Bev plans to focus on encouraging small and medium sized businesses to have a diversity programme in place for their staff, even if there are only one or two employees. "These smaller businesses can't be expected to have the necessary resources or expertise in work/life programmes or unconscious bias, so that's where the EEO Trust will step in and help. We have a large library that focuses on diversity, lots of other resources and run workshops." Bev will also encourage individuals to learn about diversity initiatives through the EEO Trust if they are interested. "For example I want women who are interested in investigating director roles, anyone who wants to learn about anti bullying policies, or a wellness programme, to come along to some of our events. They don't have to be a HR specialist or part of a large organisation." Bev believes more employees are now speaking out about workplace bullying and says it's essential that businesses know how to prevent harassment and bullying in the first place, or deal with it properly if it occurs as not doing so can result in expensive legal cases. "This will be a growing issue next year along with pay equity which is also gaining more traction." Bev has a simple aim for her role as the Trust's CEO – to promote and enhance equal employment opportunities for a diverse range of employees and educate employers about how to get it right. www.eeotrust.org.nz

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