Helen Tran, is HR Business partner for Corporate and Operations.
Helen facilitates Paramount ANZ’s relationship with Reconciliation Australia, helping to drive our Reconciliation Action Plan. Helen also sits on the Women on Boards Cultural Diversity Committee.
How long have you been working at Paramount, and what’s been your highlight so far?
I’ve been with Paramount ANZ for a little over two years.
The highlight is the amazing people in my team that I get to work with every day. They are such a fun and supportive bunch – the best I have worked with!
What is your role in Paramount’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP)?
My role is Co-Chair of our RAP Working Group (RWG).
I am responsible for managing the relationship between Paramount ANZ and Reconciliation Australia and to develop and implement our RAP with our leaders.
Once implemented our dedicated and amazing RWG team are responsible for leading and driving the objectives of our RAP in our workforce, in community and on-screen.
Why is working on our RAP important to you?
Working on our RAP is personally important to me and my role here at Paramount.
A RAP is a powerful commitment in acknowledging the wrong doings of the past and taking real action to create a reconciled and unified Australia.
I am a proud Wiradjuri woman and didn’t learn about my identity until later in my adult years.
I often ask myself, “Had I had the opportunity to grow up with Aboriginal culture and family, would I be where I am today and would I have had the same opportunities I have had?”
This is the question that drives my passion to develop a RAP that creates real change, provides equal opportunities and contributes to reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
You have been on a very emotional and personal journey over the past two years discovering your Aboriginal identity. Would you mind telling us a bit about this?
Yes, my mother was a child of the stolen generation and was forcibly removed at the age of three, along with her other siblings.
Her father (my grandfather) was Aboriginal and her mother (my grandmother) was from Spanish/Irish decent.
My mother and her siblings were forcibly removed and my mother was placed with an Anglican Church family.
She grew up never knowing of her Aboriginal identity or that she had siblings.
It was not until her late forties that my mother was reunited with some of her surviving siblings and learnt the truth of her past.
The last two years have been a personal journey of discovery of what lands my grandfather and his ancestors came from and the very difficult task of trying to get hold of records that may still exist.
It has also meant I have met some amazingly proud Aboriginal people, have had exposure to a beautiful culture and most importantly finally being able to identify which land and tribe my ancestors came from.
What are you looking forward to in our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan?
There are four RAPs, and Paramount is about to start on its second RAP, Innovate. Innovate is about making further gains in reconciliation and creating greater outcomes and opportunities for our First Nations Peoples.
Innovate will see us ‘taking action’ whereas our first RAP, Reflect, was more about ‘building the foundations’ to deliver on our RAP actions.
I really look forward to continuing to strengthening the relationships we have built with Aboriginal and Torres strait Islanders Peoples and the broader Australian community.
Over the next two years we have some strong and powerful actions we are committed to delivering on. I am super proud to work with a cross section of leaders and staff across our workforce who are genuinely committed to our RAP goals.
