Susie Williams usually avoided doing anything with groups of women. The long-held perception that this situation could be dangerous or intimidating and could possibly get her in fight or flight mode had kept her away.

But last year, Susie came across WoTL’s Stepping into Leadership (SiL) Program on social media and chose to stretch herself outside her comfort zone. Luckily, she did because she was able to turn that perception completely on its head. Six months since the completion of the SiL program, she is now processing her remarkable feat as a 2024 South Australian AgriFutures Rural Woman of the Year finalist, an opportunity she never considered as being a possibility.

“I can honestly say, hand on heart, that I can attribute participating in the SiL Program with my decision to apply for the award”, laughs Susie.

“I think it was just the right time for me, at the right stage of my life. I was starting to lose my mojo a bit with my business and had begun asking questions about what I was doing.”

Susie’s passion for connecting communities and supporting local businesses is what earned her the well-deserved accolade, which recognised her passion project, the Fleurieu App. The app brings together news, sports and business, as well as things to see and do on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island, all in one place.

Susie grew up on a sheep and cereal farm. After leaving school, she knew she wanted to do something in agriculture. Following the completion of tertiary education she settled working in precision viticulture, a career which has taken her across Australia and New Zealand with her husband, who also works in the wine industry, and their three daughters. It’s also a field which can be very ad hoc. The problem with that is Susie likes to stay busy, one of many traits she believes she inherited from her late father, a farmer.

“I don’t like to sit still. Like me, he was always doing something, thinking outside the square. He was quite stubborn, which I think you do need to have a little bit of when you’re running your own business, but he also had a love of learning.”

Moving back to South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula and frustrated with not knowing where anything was, Susie decided to do something about it. Hence, the Fleurieu App was born.

WoTL’s Stepping into Leadership Program

WoTL’s Stepping into Leadership (SiL) Program is an eight-month, personal and professional development journey offered to 15 women connected to agriculture every year. Participants take part in face to face workshops, and individual online coaching and mentoring sessions supporting them to take the next steps on their leadership journey. Friendships and networks are also made over the course of the program.

“When I was accepted into the program, I found this amazing tribe of women. I was made to feel completely safe to be able to explore ideas and ask questions about myself and my business. This type of environment gave me the confidence to share openly. There was a lot of growth that happened over that time,” explains Susie.

“Obviously, there is a certain amount of vulnerability that comes with sharing some of our challenges and life experiences but being held by this group of women, and feeling seen, was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

“I now have this group of women behind me that are giving me the confidence I need and have my back. I can just pick up the phone and run an idea past them, which is a network I didn’t have before. The whole program is a real confidence builder. I learnt to not be so hard on myself, which isn’t always easy.

“Many of these women will be mates for life.”

Working closely with her coach, Jeanette Long, and mentor, Anna Fisher, Susie built up the courage to address something that had been holding her back. She hosted her own networking event.

“Jeanette was amazing and a real wealth of knowledge. To grow my business, I knew I needed to put myself out there and get out of my comfort zone, but I found networking and talking in front of people really hard. It would always hold me back.

“Jeanette did a really great job in preparing me for the event, to give me the confidence to go in and tackle it.

“SiL has given me so much. As women, especially mums, we always keep reinventing ourselves. Having access now to this incredible group of women, and the SiL alumni is such a privilege.”

Understanding the incredible power of networks was a motivation for Susie to put herself out there and nominate for the SA AgriFutures Rural Woman of the Year Awards.

“After my experience with SiL and finding my tribe, if I could then tap into the alumni of the Rural Womens Award, imagine what I can do?”

About an hour east of Adelaide on South Australia’s Murray Plains, lies “Thornby”, a historic large scale lamb feedlot and broadacre cropping enterprise run by the McGorman family.

Fiona McGorman has lived two very different lives. Not so long ago she was working as a nurse, a career she absolutely loves. With a clear path and direction of where she was heading, Fiona was working her way up the ladder and doing lots of great things within the health sector. However, there came a point following some structural and operational changes within the family farming business, and juggling raising three boys, that she eventually decided to hang up her scrubs and put on her work boots.

Stepping into the farm business full-time was a big learning curve and light years away from her life on the hospital ward.

“I didn’t stop nursing completely straight away. I took some leave, some without pay, to give myself time to make a decision. I feel with nursing, to be good at what you do you need to be competent to keep your skills up. I don’t like to do things in halves, and I like to do things well. But I just felt like the farm was where I needed to be.””

Despite knowing this was the right decision for her and her family, it has still been a lot to process.

“To be honest, I do feel like I am grieving that part of my life in a way. Nursing is all I’ve ever known. Realistically, I know I will likely never go back,” says Fiona.

Fiona knows any perceived pressure she may have felt to leave nursing and come on to the farm was completely her own. Her husband, Alex, has been fully supportive of whatever she wanted to do. Together, they now operate Thornby as a team which has had some unexpected benefits.

“It’s been really good for our relationship and our marriage actually, as I know more of the day-to-day stuff and what’s going on. The change has definitely been a positive thing. I wouldn’t change it.

“Now I can be around a lot more. The boys get off the bus at the end of the farm driveway, and Alex and I are both here.”

Since being involved in the farm business, Fiona is particularly proud of the high rate of female employees that work within the Thornby team.

“Some of the girls that we have on board may have no ag background experience, but their attention to detail is really good. It’s always great to encourage women and girls to get in to ag. Moving wool bales is probably the only thing they may potentially ask for help with!”

Stepping into Leadership

Despite working with students and junior staff as a leader in her nursing life, Fiona recognised that running your own business is very different to working for someone else. With the farm business now employing over 25 staff, there was a responsibility to ensure that her management and leadership skills were up to speed.

“I knew what it felt like to work under some not-so-great managers, and I know what it feels like to not be valued, and I didn’t want to be that person for our staff or our team,” explains Fiona.

Fiona found out about WoTL’s Stepping into Leadership Program through an email that was forwarded to her by a WoTL Ambassador.

“I remember looking at it and thinking it was probably right up my alley in what I needed at the time. Coming from a non-ag background I felt that this could be beneficial for me having not previously had much to do with the farm.”

After putting in an application, Fiona was pleasantly surprised when she was accepted into the 2022 Program.

“Stepping into Leadership was wonderful. I’m very grateful for the mentorship I received, the friendships made, and for the personal growth I was able to achieve.”

Her newly acquired leadership skills have complimented many of her nursing attributes which have been transferrable into her farming role.

“I try and have empathy for people and insight in to how they are going, try to make things more tolerable in an environment that can be pretty harsh and challenging sometimes. Farming life can be tough.”

Not surprisingly, Fiona’s nursing skills are still proving to be useful.

“I have come in handy as a nurse from time to time. I’m usually the person that people go to when they hurt themselves!” laughs Fiona.

As a passionate ambassador for women in ag, Fiona is also a strong supporter of WoTL’s Thriving Women Conference and is planning to bring all her female staff to the 2024 event to be held in the Adelaide Hills.