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Goals / Mission

Our vision is an Ireland where everyone’s skills and potential are recognised by a society that champions workplace equality and fair remuneration.

Our mission is to provide innovative, targeted services and programmes to help people (re)entering the workplace to reach sustained economic independence. Our goals include:

  • Increasing the number of people that we support into employment each year;
  • Increasing our range of services, tailored to the evolving needs of people in Ireland;
  • Providing more of our services online to make them more accessible to a greater number of people; and
  • Using our voice to encourage people to take the next step toward economic independence.

The goal of our advocacy work is to achieve full gender equality in the workplace through meaningful engagement with Government, business and civil society leaders. For more info on our advocacy and campaigning work, go to our campaigns page.

Teams / Partners

Su Duff

Chief Executive Officer

Nuala Smith

Chief Operations Officer

Martina Quinn

Campaigns & Events Manager

Laura Barnes

Client Coordinator

Scroll down to meet our board members

History

Our  organisation was founded in 2011 by TV presenter, designer and social entrepreneur Sonya Lennon to provide professional workplace styling and career consulting to women in the Dublin region.

Since then, we have evolved into a national organisation, providing our services to women across Ireland, partnering with relevant networks, agencies and employers nationwide. We have grown into a team of around 40 highly skilled volunteers.

These partnerships, together with public donations and our fundraising initiatives, have supported us in delivering our services to thousands of women across the country.

Advocating for workplace equality and fair remuneration is an integral and urgent part of our work today. We engage with Government and elected representatives at local, national and EU level, policy makers, employers and civil society leaders to shape legislation, public policy, employment policy and societal attitudes to achieve gender parity in the Irish workplace.

Meet Our Board

Aideen Cardiff

Aideen Cardiff

Aideen is an experienced director and business leader who has operated at senior management levels in three of the world’s leading technology companies. She was listed in the top 30 most influential female channel leaders in Europe. Aideen has been a chairperson at WorkEqual since 2023.

Shane Dempsey

Shane Dempsey

Shane specialises in working in trade organisations where he helps create industry propositions and deliver communications strategies. He is the secretary general of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland. Shane has over a decade of experience in communications and has been a WorkEqual chairperson since 2020.

Trisha Wilson

Trisha Wilson

Trisha is vice president at JP Morgan where she also serves as a relationship sales manager. She is a client advocate who helps clients identify opportunities to maximise efficiencies and increase partnership. She has been a board member of WorkEqual since 2019.

Leon Diop

Leon Diop

Leon is a social activist and community builder. He is also a social entrepreneur and he founded the company Black and Irish where he is also the CEO. He is an award-winning author for his book Black & Irish. Leon is a global DEI speaker.

Tristan Deschler

Tristan Deschler

Tristan runs EMEA Sales at Fairmarkit. He has over 5 years of experience in enterprise sales, customer success, and value engineering. He has been a board member at WorkEqual since early 2023.

Sonya Lennon

Sonya Lennon

Sonya is the founder of WorkEqual. She started this company over a decade ago and has helped allow it to grow into what it is today. She is an entrepreneur, founder, board director, and public keynote speaker. She is the founder of Lennon Courtney womenswear where female empowerment, equitable society, and positive social impact is emphasised.

Patrick O'Donnell

Patrick O'Donnell

Patrick is a global technology and transformation leader at Onesto Consulting Limited. He has worked in a wide range of business sectors including public sector, pharma and finance, and brings his knowledge of strategy development and governance to WorkEqual. He has been a board member of WorkEqual since 2023.

Chryssa Dislis

Chryssa Dislis

Chryssa is an experienced leader who specialises in business transformation with specialties in organisational health, programme management, diversity and inclusion, as well as data analytics, to name a few. A long time volunteer and chair of the Dress for Success Cork board of directors, Chryssa became a director of Work Equal in 2022.

Su Duff

Su Duff

CEO

Su spent her formative career as a retail buyer before moving into marketing, media and advertising for over 20 years. She has a long history in using her skills in leadership and for cross-industry projects as she loves the sense of achievement from helping make great things happen! Su joined WorkEqual as Chief Executive Officer in January 2024.

Nuala Smith

Nuala Smith

Company Secretary

Nuala is chief operations officer of WorkEqual and is highly skilled in innovative programme design, implementation, and evaluation. She began working at WorkEqual in 2018.

Our Governance

We are a Registered Charity and a member of the Charity Institute of Ireland. We adhere to the Charity Regulator Code and Audit our accounts to SORP standard.

The majority of our fundraising has a corporate focus although individual donors do kindly provide us with donations through our website and donation platforms. We treat all donors, sponsors, fundraisers, and corporate partners with the utmost respect. We meet our corporate partners regularly and provide updates on our operations. Where we are provided with funds from a foundation or grant, we submit reports according to the agreed schedule.

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