Industry leader and commentator Sunita Gloster, the founder of Gloster Advisory and a former CEO of the AANA, has been honoured in the King’s Birthday list.
She has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for “significant service to the media and marketing industry, and to gender equality”.
The active non-executive director, who started her advertising career in Adelaide, is also an advocate for women’s rights. This honours list is the first since the Order of Australia was established in 1975 that the majority of recipients are women.
This is a proud day for Sunita Gloster and her family. Her father, John D’Souza, was awarded an OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia) in 2017 for 45 years of community service work.
“My parents Betty and John D’Souza OAM brought me from India to Australia in 1974 after the final vestiges of the White Australia Policy were abolished, for the promise of a better life for me,” she told AdNews.
“We left Bombay to settle in Mt Gambier. I can’t imagine the courage that took. I’m so grateful for all the sacrifices my parents made for my future.
“And I must acknowledge the community of Mt Gambier, which 49 years later my parents still call home, for welcoming us into their lives and to Australia.”
At the March for Justice in 2021, Sunita Gloster saw a young woman carrying a placard on which she had written “When Will She Be Right?”
“That was the rallying cry from the UN Women Australia campaign that I helped create and launch nationally only a few weeks prior,” she says.
“It was the brilliant work of The Monkeys.
“To see a line that was created and shared through such enormous industry generosity, run on TV ads and billboards and then resonate and motivate people in the street is a reminder of the enormous impact the media and marketing sector can and does have.
“And how it can be a force for good.
“That kind of impact is why I love our industry.
“I love being a catalyst to drive change. With that comes great responsibility, especially in marketing.
“How brands go to market and how they use creativity, has the power to dismantle some of society’s biggest problems.
“Inspiring and galvanising people to play their part in that process, is what gives me energy.
“To be told that someone out there nominated me because they thought I’d made a real difference and to then have that considered, is very special.”
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