Breaking Barriers: How Ellen and Nora are creating a more even workplace
When Ellen Sullivan and Dr Nora Koslowski first met in 2020, they were both juggling demanding executive roles and raising young children. Nora had just joined Melbourne Business School as Executive Director of Organisational Learning and Ellen was in charge of Digital Learning, supporting employers to upskill at scale.
Their shared experiences sparked an instant bond. “From the get-go we talked a lot about the balancing act of holding down an executive role, being married and looking after young kids,” says Nora.
Together, Ellen and Nora went on to spearhead a three-year digital transformation at the business school and launch its online brand, Melbourne Business School Online. While the platform’s flexible and accessible design was a success, they noticed the proportion of women benefitting from it was less than they expected.
“That’s when Nora and I started to build on our early conversations,” says Ellen. “We asked ourselves: how can we shift the dial and remove the barriers holding women back and create a more even workplace?”
Unlocking economic potential
Addressing these barriers became a mission. “By removing the obstacles to women’s participation and advancement, organisations can unlock substantial economic potential,” Nora explains.
“The Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce showed that $128 billion can be unlocked by removing persistent barriers to women’s participation in economic activity.”
She says there are signs of hope and progress across many organisations such as the extension of parental leave, seeing companies adopt progressive grandparents' leave, menopause leave, and other kinds of fertility leave.
“But it is the persistent barriers that Ellen and I are concerned about. The broken rung continues to be broken and the number of women hired into leadership has started to decline, not increase.
“Women of colour, those living with a disability, those who identify as LGBTQI+ and/or are from other intersecting diverse backgrounds encounter further barriers,” she adds.
Upskilling and reskilling
Determined to drive meaningful change, Ellen and Nora co-founded EVEN Careers in 2024.
EVEN Careers is an online community and a professional development platform by women and for women and solves the problem of closing the leadership divide where it occurs.
It enables upskilling and reskilling in the most in-demand areas such as digital, AI and innovation, while supporting women holistically with career and life skills.
It helps accelerate women’s potential through access to evidence-based online education and a supportive online community of peers, coaches, role models and impressive experts including CEOs and professors.
Dr Nora Koslowski
Ellen Sullivan
Ellen says: “One of the greatest joys in co-founding EVEN is being surrounded by an incredibly supportive community of inspiring women. Women who guide each other, share hard truths, and who become each other’s career and life networks.
“Nora and I are so excited to have opened this community and delighted with the response from employers and individuals,” she adds. “Work and leadership are not even yet, and women have so much more to offer.”
The first cohort of women on the platform went live in late 2024, with representation from leading employers including BHP. The cohort has given raving reviews about the weekly masterclasses on diverse topics such as life skills (e.g. investing, managing the juggle), career skills (e.g. negotiation, making career decisions), and future skills (e.g. digital, data, AI).
“I love that the masterclasses are super practical and fit easily into my life and work – and that the platform auto-schedules the one hour sessions in my outlook, which makes it so easy for me to find time for development,” one member says.
But, perhaps most tellingly, the women on EVEN most value joining this community and finding out that “they are not alone – other ambitious women are grappling with similar issues,” as another member shares. They now have “a trusted network” they can go to for advice and support.
Connect with Ellen and Nora or visit EVEN Careers