We need to prepare women and millennials to be our future leaders now.
Melanie Beirne is an energetic and insightful leader dedicated to transforming the modern workplace. Passionate about helping organisations thrive across generations, she challenges outdated perceptions about millennials and equips leaders to foster collaboration, engagement, and success in today’s evolving world of work.
As the founder of Women Step Forward, Melanie has become a powerful advocate for gender balance and inclusive leadership. She believes that unlocking the potential of women—particularly millennial women—is key to building a sustainable pipeline of future leaders. Her work focuses on reshaping organisational culture to attract and retain women and younger generations, ensuring workplaces where everyone can contribute and grow.
With more than 22 years’ experience in leadership and transformation across New Zealand and the United Kingdom, Melanie brings a wealth of practical insight to her work. A senior leadership practitioner and Gallup-certified strengths coach, she has led complex transformation programmes and is a pre-qualified facilitator for the Leadership Development Centre, delivering programmes for new and senior public service leaders.
Today, Melanie spends her time empowering emerging women leaders and coaching leadership teams to build capability, collaboration, and trust. Her sessions are known for their energy, humour, and authenticity—drawing on real-world experience, research into generational dynamics, and deep understanding of leadership behaviour. Through her dynamic approach, Melanie inspires leaders to think differently, act inclusively, and create workplaces where every generation can thrive.
Talking Points
Women and Leadership Workshop: Leadership starts with you
This session gives participants the chance to plan and drive their own career growth. It enables women to reflect on what is important to them, appreciate and lean into their talents and accomplishments and self-initiate and create positive change that will increase their leadership impact. The session allows for learning, reflection and the generation of ideas that empower and inspire action. Participants leave with a personal action plan.
Women and Leadership Workshop: Leadership starts with you
We engaged Melanie Beirne as the anchor and keynote speaker for the FENZ 2025 Volunteer Leadership Conference in Te Kei. Her presentation, as the opening session, set an incredibly positive ... keep reading Te Kei Region Leadership Team
