New scholarship to grow female leaders in dairy
A new $50,000 scholarship fund designed to support and empower women in the New Zealand dairy industry through leadership development has been launched.
Rachel Usmar was given the Regional Leader of the Year award earlier this month at the organisation’s annual conference in Invercargill, a conference she helped organise.
DWN chief executive and judge Jules Benton says the judges describe Usmar as a ‘poster girl’ for DWN.
“For the judges, they summed up Rachel in one sentence, ‘if you could choose a poster girl for DWN you need to look no further than Rachel’,” Benton says.
“She is a driven woman who has very clear and defined goals which are driven by her strong sense of achievement.”
For Usmar, the win is still sinking in.
“It still doesn’t feel real, I guess. I probably haven’t had time to let it sink in,” Usmar told Dairy News.
“For me, what I do in my everyday life, that’s just my everyday life. I do it because I love it,” she says.
As well as farming near Matamata, Usmar is also an AB technician for LIC. She has also set up a Native Plant Nursery, donating plants to local schools and teaching them about the different varieties and how to plant them onto a nearby dairy farm.
She says of her work with the regional leaders that “you don’t really realise the real impact that it has on other people’s lives”.
She says the programme is about making connections and bringing people together.
“When I first joined [the Regional Leaders programme], I didn’t realise what opportunities would come from it. So, it’s opened massive opportunities for me to grow myself and my business,” Usmar says.
Since joining the programme, Usmar has been made a Waikato Hub Leader, meaning she works with regional leaders from across the Waikato and encouraging them to “be the best they can be”.
She says that for other women looking to get into the industry, she has one piece of advice.
“Just give it a go, the only thing stopping you is you.”
