Women in Digital's 2026 International Women's Day Breakfast - Brisbane

The Great Generational Debate | Gen Z vs The Xennials: Let’s Talk About It

Women in Digital's 2026 International Women's Day, powered by Data#3 and Cisco

Same industry. Same goals. Very different ideas about what “progress” and “balance” for women in the workplace really look like.

This year, Brisbane’s International Women’s Day event is turning up the heat with a Gen Z vs the Xennials debate. Because if we’re being honest, we’re not always having the same conversation about equality, careers, or success in digital.

From “pay your dues” to “pay us properly,” from climbing ladders to burning them down, we are bringing two generations together to unpack what progress really looks like, who it’s working for, and where it’s falling short.

Expect bold opinions, generational side-eye, and plenty of “wait… is that still a thing?” moments as we dig into:

• Pay gaps, promotions, and leadership - fixed, broken, or rebranded?
• Visibility and credit - who gets the mic and who’s still doing the work
• Access to opportunity, sponsorship, and networks (and who actually has them)
• Hustle culture vs boundaries, burnout vs balance, ambition vs sustainability
• Building workplaces and digital systems that don’t just say they’re inclusive

It’s a conversation. A debate. A chance to challenge your own thinking… and maybe someone else’s.

No generation-bashing. No polite nodding. Just honest discussion, fresh perspectives, and a shared goal: rebalancing the scales for the women coming next.

Bring your opinions. Bring your curiosity. And come ready to listen, react, and get involved. 

Meet Our Panel

• MC -  Belle Lajoie, Co-CEO, SUBCO

Team Young

• Elouise Gaffney, Junior Salesforce Support, Data#3
• Maggie Morrison, QLD Account Manager, Cisco
• Mimi Nguyen, BCFLIP Intern, Data#3  

Team Experienced

• Angela Ryan, CIO, Auto & General
• Peggy Renders, Chief Customer Officer, Telstra
• Pauline Fetaui, Director, Australian Computer Society

Event format:*

6:45am Doors open & networking begins

7:40am Breakfast service begins

8:00am Formal event commences

9:00am Event formalities finish, networking continues

10:00am Event close

* subject to change

Event details:

Location: Brisbane City Hall, 64 Adelaide St, Brisbane City QLD 4000

Date: Friday 6 March, 7:00am - 10:00am AEST

Event Type: Women in Digital Networking Breakfast + Panel Debate

All ticket holders receive: Sit-down breakfast, coffee/tea

• Sit-down breakfast
• Barista Coffee/Tea
• Networking opportunities

Ticket details:

This year, we’re keeping things a little more personal. Tables will seat 8 guests to create space for genuine connection, great conversation, and an even better view of the formal presentation.

Early Bird (ends Friday, Jan 30 at 5.00pm):

• Early Bird WID Members Admission* - $169.20 + Fees & GST
• Early Bird Admission (no WID membership) - $188 + Fees & GST
• Early Bird Table of 8 - $1,504 + Fees & GST
• Early Bird Premium Table** of 8 - $1,744 + Fees & GST

General Admission:

• General Admission WID Members* - $178.20 + Fees & GST
• General Admission (no WID membership) - $198 + Fees & GST
• Table of 8 $1,584 + Fees & GST
• Premium Table** of 8 - $1,824 + Fees & GST

* This discount is available to all Women in Digital Members who have an active membership with Women in Digital. You can learn more about our Membership Packages here.

** Premium Table Inclusions:

• Premium placement in the event space (priority location close to stage/speakers)
• Company name displayed on table signage
• Networking opportunities with keynote speakers and industry leaders before/after the formal program
• A tangible way to demonstrate your organisation’s commitment to gender equality, diversity, and inclusion within your workplace and community

*** Corporate Members: Please contact us at hi@womenindigital.org to secure your table using your partnership discount.

Purchasing a table and don't know who you are bringing along just yet? That's okay! Please email us full names + emails and any dietaries of guests to hi@womenindigital.org. We'll send you a reminder closer to the event.

We welcome all champions of diversity, manbassadors included!

Meet our Team Experienced Panel:

Angela Ryan, CIO, Auto & General

Angela is an accomplished IT and General Management leader with an accounting background who transitioned into Information Technology many years ago and has never looked back. Leveraging strong commercial acumen, Angela has built a distinguished career leading significant IT teams, delivering large-scale and successful enterprise-wide projects, and contributing as a trusted member of senior leadership teams across successful Australian organisations.

She brings deep experience in developing IT and digital roadmaps and establishing operational frameworks that support the execution of initiatives aligned to business objectives. Known for her collaborative and people-focused leadership style, Angela excels at building and sustaining high-performance teams and influencing organisational change, particularly through complex system and process transformations.

Angela has a strong track record of delivering projects on time and on budget, and more recently has led the development of digital and multi-channel cultures focused on creating exceptional customer experiences. As a CIO, she is driven by a passion for positively impacting the way people work and enabling better outcomes through technology-led transformation.

Peggy Renders, Chief Customer Officer, Telstra

Peggy is the Chief Customer Officer at Telstra Enterprise, where she partners with industry and government to turn digital transformation into measurable customer outcomes. She is focused on connecting people, platforms and purpose to unlock growth, resilience and better customer experiences.

With 29 years of experience in the technology sector, Peggy has led high-performing teams across Enterprise Sales, Presales and Industry, and Professional Services. Prior to joining Telstra, she served as Senior Vice President, Customer Experience Solutions at SAP Asia Pacific Japan, where she scaled the Commerce and Digital Customer Engagement business across ANZ, Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea and India. She began her career in IT Audit and Business Consulting at Arthur Andersen, where her passion for improving business outcomes through technology first took shape.

Peggy is driven by conscious leadership, people-first innovation, and the power of diverse, high-performing teams. She is a committed mentor to emerging talent and a strong advocate for inclusion, believing that the next competitive advantage comes from bold ideas and diverse voices working together.

Originally from Belgium, Peggy has worked across Belgium, Germany, Australia and the broader Asia-Pacific region, bringing a truly global perspective to customer experience and transformation. She holds an MBA in Commercial Engineering and IT Strategy, lives on the Gold Coast, and is a proud mum of two boys.

Belle Lajoie, Co-CEO, Subco and COO, Soda Group

As Co-CEO of Soda Infrastructure and COO of the Soda Group, Belle Lajoie oversees the strategic and commercial decisions for the infrastructure arm, while managing the general operations of the core businesses and functions within the Soda Group. Belle has worked in the telecommunications industry with Soda founder, Bevan Slattery, for over a decade and has deep industry knowledge around delivering large scale sales and operations solutions to a range of peering, data centre, infrastructure and data services organisations.

Over the course of her career, Belle has proven to be an integral member of executive and leadership teams during the growth and commercialisation stages of successful technology startups including NEXTDC (ASX:NXT) as their National Channel Manager, Megaport (ASX:MP1) as their Chief Commercial Officer, Cloudscene as their Chief Executive Officer, and intelliHR as their Non Executive Director.