2025 International Women's Day Lunch

The International Women’s Day theme for 2025 is “#Accelerate Action”.  Collectively, we can Accelerate Action for gender equality.   

The Soroptimist International Theme for 2025 is "March On".

Both of these themes fit in well with the stories our two guest speakers will share with guests at this year's International Women's Day lunch.

Our first speaker, Miquela Riley, is a strategy and organisational improvement specialist and Navy veteran. Miquela served in the Royal Australian Navy for 13 years as a Navigator and continues her service through the Navy reserves.

Some of Miquela’s career highlights include circumnavigating the world as the Navigator of Sail Training Ship Young Endeavour, mentoring and leading junior officers at the Australian Defence Force Academy, leading teams of sailors on border protection operations and a 12-month deployment to the Middle East as part of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO), monitoring and reporting on peace and ceasefire agreements between Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt.  

Since leaving the Navy in 2019, Miquela has worked across a variety of industries and sectors, including construction, management consulting and mining. Miquela has previously sought public office as a candidate in the 2021 WA state election and as a preselection candidate for the 2022 federal election. She maintains a keen interest in politics and public policy. 

Miquela holds a Bachelor of Business and two master’s degrees in Project Management and Business. She has previously been the Partnership Manager of the National Association of Women In Construction (NAWIC), building corporate partnerships to advance the representation of women in the construction industry.

Currently, Miquela works as a Program Manager at Rio Tinto and is the Vice-President and a Non-Executive Director of the Returned and Services League of WA (RSL WA), where she is focussed on increasing the representation of female veterans across the organisation and ensuring that the services and support provided meet the needs of female servicewomen.

Miquela is a DINCWAD (Dual Income with a Dog) with her husband Oliver, and Jack Russell, Obi Wan Kenobi. In her spare time, she enjoys triathlon and competing in Ironman.

Our second speaker, Lieutenant Jane Reptik ANC, was awarded the Australian Navy Cadets National Commander’s Commendation for her outstanding dedication to duty and her resourcefulness in building and advancing Training Ship (TS) Mandurah.

In less than 7 weeks of Jane coming on as Commanding Officer she took TS Mandurah as a Unit of Concern on the brink of recess, to a thriving unit. This is a testament to her stewardship as Commanding Officer and her unwavering passion, enthusiasm and positivity in impacting the lives of young Australians. Jane’s tireless efforts, initiative and foresight in planning and subsequently executing the growth opportunities for TS Mandurah are exemplary and are now a template for all Training Ships with then the Australian Navy Cadet (ANC) to emulate.

As a teenager Jane joined the Navy Cadets which is a youth development organization that is associated with the Australian Navy and also overseen by them. After completing Cadets, Jane stayed on and became a staff member raising through the ranks to the position of Lieutenant Australian Navy Cadets and Commanding Officer TS Mandurah.

In the years Jane has been involved with the Cadets, she has played a very important role in their journey to gaining confidence in themselves and in their personal growth and she believes that this is the key for them to have little doubt about themselves and their abilities which in turn allows them to take initiative, grasp opportunities and to get ready for life’s challenges.  This can also extend to the feeling of them having trust in someone or something.

For $70 per person our guests will enjoy a two-course sit-down lunch, a glass of bubbles on arrival, tea and coffee, as well as hearing from two inspiring young women who have achieved a great deal in their lives to date.

The dress code is Smart Casual and as is usual for our events we will have many prizes to win on the day.

Click on Get Tickets to reserve your seat.