Congratulations Jayati Gulati on being the Shining Star Partner for 2022

Congratulations Jayati Gulati on being awarded the Shining Star Partner Award

ARN has announced the winners of the Women in ICT Awards (WIICTA) 2022, honouring female excellence within the technology channel following an industry-defining celebration in Sydney.

blueAPACHE's Jayati Gulati was among the winners, taking the Shining Star Partner Award.

The scale of the 2022 programme

Finalists spanned partner, telco, vendor and distributor businesses.

What those numbers mean for a win

The ratio is the part worth reading carefully.

More than 325 nominations produced 240 finalist placements, from which 25 winners were selected across eight categories — with a further 14 highly commended acknowledgements.

So roughly one nomination in thirteen resulted in a win. And the selection was made following an intensive judging process by an executive panel of more than 150 industry leaders.

A panel of that size is not ceremonial. It means each submission was assessed by multiple practitioners with direct knowledge of the relevant discipline, rather than by a small committee applying general impressions across every category. It also means the outcome cannot be influenced by an organisation's marketing reach — this is a judged programme assessing submitted evidence, not a public vote.

Winning under those conditions is a substantive third-party assessment of the work.

The Shining Star category

The Shining Star award recognises individuals whose contribution stands out within their organisation and across the channel — the people whose work is visible to peers, partners and customers beyond their own team.

It sits alongside categories covering different career stages and contributions: Innovation, Technical, Entrepreneur, Graduate, Rising Star, Achievement, and awards recognising diversity and inclusion. That structure is deliberate, allowing the programme to recognise people early in their careers alongside those with long-established records rather than defaulting to seniority.

About Jayati Gulati

The Shining Star Partner Award was not Jayati's only recognition. She was also honoured with the ARN 30 Under 30 Sales Excellence Award in that programme's inaugural year — a separate programme recognising outstanding early-career performance in the Australian channel, judged by a team of emerging leaders across six categories spanning management, entrepreneur, sales, marketing, technical and human resources.

Being recognised in both is notable, because they measure different things. 30 Under 30 assesses performance relative to career stage. Shining Star assesses visible contribution and standing within the channel as a whole, without an age or tenure qualifier.

blueAPACHE at WIICTA

This win sits within continuous representation across the programme's recent years:

• WIICTA 2022 — Jayati Gulati, Shining Star Partner Award winner
• Representation in two categories in an earlier year, with Rahwa Salew as a Rising Star and Renata Di Stefano as a Shining Star finalist
• WIICTA 2023 — Renata Di Stefano, Shining Star – Partner winner, from a record field of 230 finalists across 148 organisations
• WIICTA 2024 — Angelina Priya, Quinita Lindley and Renata Di Stefano, finalists, from a field of 178
• WIICTA 2026 — Ellie Sarabi, Wireless SME Network Engineer, finalist in the Partner – Technical category, from a field of 222

Two Shining Star Partner Award wins in consecutive years, by two different people from the same mid-market organisation, is an unusual result in a national field of that size.

Why the programme matters

WIICTA addresses a persistent and well-documented characteristic of the technology sector: women remain significantly under-represented, and the imbalance is most pronounced in the deeply technical and the most senior roles.

Its practical function is visibility. Most work inside a technology business is invisible from outside the team that does it. Independent assessment, published nationally, changes what the industry can see — and changes what is visible to people deciding whether the field has a place for them.

Congratulations

blueAPACHE congratulates Jayati Gulati, and all 25 winners and 14 highly commended recipients recognised in the 2022 programme.

Frequently asked questions

What did Jayati Gulati win? The Shining Star Partner Award at the ARN Women in ICT Awards 2022, announced following the awards celebration in Sydney.

How competitive was the 2022 programme? More than 325 nominations produced 240 finalist placements — 220 individuals and 20 companies from over 120 organisations — from which 25 winners were selected across eight categories, with a further 14 highly commended. Roughly one nomination in thirteen resulted in a win.

Who decided the winners? An executive panel of more than 150 industry leaders, following an intensive judging process. The page notes that a panel of that size means each submission is assessed by multiple practitioners with direct knowledge of the discipline, and that the outcome cannot be influenced by marketing reach — it is a judged programme assessing evidence, not a public vote.

What does the Shining Star category recognise? Individuals whose contribution stands out within their organisation and across the channel — people whose work is visible to peers, partners and customers beyond their own team.

What other recognition has Jayati Gulati received? The ARN 30 Under 30 Sales Excellence Award in that programme's inaugural year, judged by a team of emerging leaders across six categories spanning management, entrepreneur, sales, marketing, technical and human resources.

Why does the page treat both awards together as significant? Because they measure different things. 30 Under 30 assesses performance relative to career stage, while Shining Star assesses visible contribution and standing across the channel with no age or tenure qualifier.

What is blueAPACHE's wider record in the programme? Representation in two categories in an earlier year with Rahwa Salew as a Rising Star and Renata Di Stefano as a Shining Star finalist; Renata Di Stefano winning Shining Star – Partner in 2023 from a record field of 230 finalists across 148 organisations; Angelina Priya, Quinita Lindley and Renata Di Stefano as 2024 finalists from a field of 178; and Ellie Sarabi as a Partner – Technical finalist in 2026 from a field of 222.

Why does the page describe the 2022 and 2023 results as unusual? Because two Shining Star Partner Award wins in consecutive years, by two different people from the same mid-market organisation, is an uncommon outcome in a national field of that size.

Related

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Additional information

• Full list of 2022 award winners — published on the ARN website
• Women in ICT Awards programme information — arnnet.com.au/wiicta

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