Foodstuffs North Island entered the New Zealand Rainbow Excellence Awards for the first time and had three nominations with our very own Shayde Young taking Chorus Ambassadorship Award. The awards celebrate workplace leadership, innovation, best practice and collaboration with organisations committed to rainbow diversity and inclusion.

Foodstuffs North Island was a finalist for three of the awards, the Chorus Ambassadorship Award, the ASB Emerging Award and the Partners Life Supreme Award. 

The Chorus Ambassadorship Award recognises internal heroes and role models in formal or informal leadership roles who are actively driving improvements with rainbow inclusion. 

The ASB Emerging Award recognises organisations who are early in their Diversity and Inclusion journey but have taken steps to clearly signal their commitment to rainbow inclusion in one or more facets of their organisation 

The Partners Life Supreme Award recognises organisations that have demonstrated wide-ranging programmes, policy, and practices across the organisation, both top down and bottom up that are making a measurable impact and set a new standard and example for others to follow with rainbow inclusion.

We’re beyond proud Shayde Young, store finance vendor analyst and Rainbow Ambassador at Foodstuffs North Island won the Chorus Ambassadorship Award. Shayde has been part of the Diversity and Inclusion working Group, playing a huge role in rainbow inclusion The initiatives Shayde was involved in include: -becoming Rainbow Tick accredited, launching FSNI’s Gender Affirmation Policy, encouraging the use of pronouns - and raising money for a local charity (Village Collective) through a clothing drive. 

Shayde says “Being a finalist in these awards was a privilege on its own, but to actually win the Chorus Ambassadorship Award means a lot to me because it shows that the work we have done in the rainbow space has made an impact and is being recognised. My goal is to create a safe workspace for everybody, so all feel welcomed - and to pave the way for our rainbow rangatahi showing them they can be themselves and we welcome them as they are.”

Shayde’s People Leader Jamie Watson could not be prouder of Shayde’s passion and commitment to our Diversity and Inclusion programmes, “As a manager and an ally, many of us are still on the journey to understand how we can show our support and bridge the gap of inequality in its various forms. Being able to show up to work and be comfortable being who we are unapologetically should be an option everyone has to take. Shayde’s courage to stand up and fly her Rainbow flag with pride has been very inspiring and we can’t wait to see what comes next!”