Pictured above is the launch of the Fostering Ethnic Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace Bank of Ireland Report, which Laura, pictured left, was a part of in 2025
For Laura O’Donovan Calvert, diversity and inclusion is not an abstract concept or a corporate trend. It is something shaped by lived experience, professional curiosity and a career spent working with people across every level of an organisation.
Now head of business development at the Irish Centre for Diversity, Laura combines a strong commercial background with a long-standing commitment to equality and human rights. Ahead of hosting a panel at this year’s CIF International Women’s Day Summit, she talks to AIDAN PRIESTLEY about diversity as a business imperative
Laura O’Donovan Calvert has spent the past five years working across diversity and inclusion programmes with organisations of all sizes. “I work across diversity and inclusion and the business development side of our business,” she says. “That means working with organisations from the inside out so that change isn’t just policy based but felt day-to-day by employees.”
Her route into the sector was far from traditional. She studied hotel management and began her career in hospitality, working in restaurants, bars and hotels from a young age before moving into hotel operations and later sales and marketing roles.
Alongside her professional life, she was also shaped by deeply personal experiences that would later influence her career direction. “I grew up with a brother who had a severe disability, and from my teenage years I was volunteering at summer camps and in schools,” she says. “I also always had a strong interest in human rights and inequalities. I could see from a young age that certain people were simply treated differently.”
A pivotal moment came when Laura came out as a gay woman in her early thirties. While personally supported, she found navigating professional spaces more challenging.
“For a long time, I hadn’t come out in the workplace and I found that really difficult,” she says. “Eventually when I did come out, I was embraced with open arms, but it showed me how important it is that people feel safe enough to be themselves at work.”
Volunteering with organisations such as Belong To and ShoutOut further reinforced what structured, well supported organisations can achieve when it comes to social change. When Laura was approached about a role in diversity and inclusion almost a decade ago, she admits she did not even know such a career existed.
“I honestly didn’t know you could have a job in diversity and inclusion,” she says. “But once I got into that work, I never looked back.”
The launch of the Irish Centre for Diversity in Northern Ireland with Grant Thornton
One of the key challenges Laura highlights is the difference between visible and non-visible forms of diversity. While progress can sometimes be easier to track for visible characteristics, many employees are dealing with experiences that are not immediately apparent.
“Things like being LGBTQ plus, neurodiversity or having a hidden disability are not visible to the naked eye,” she says. “If people don’t feel safe to disclose those things, they carry that burden with them at work. Inclusion needs to be broad enough to benefit everyone.”
At the Irish Centre for Diversity, this philosophy underpins their accreditation framework, which looks beyond policies to lived experience. Senior leaders must undergo inclusive leadership training before accreditation is awarded, and employee feedback plays a central role.
“It’s not enough to put a policy in place,” Laura says. “You have to ask your own people how included they feel, what’s working in practice and what’s not. Then you have to act on that feedback.” Turning to construction, Laura is clear that while challenges remain, particularly around gender, the industry has made significant progress in other areas of diversity.
“Construction has actually been diverse for a long time,” she says. “From Eastern Europe post-crash to African and Brazilian communities more recently, sites are now incredibly multicultural.”
The challenge, she says, is ensuring those diverse cultures can work together productively and feel included on site. Gender remains the most significant gap, particularly in STEM roles and onsite trades, but momentum is building.
Laura presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Bernie O’Connor from ESB at the 2026 National Diversity & Inclusion Awards
“There has been big progress in the last few years,” she says. “That’s down to organisations like CIF going into schools and colleges, mentoring girls and working together with them, to give them options that make construction a viable and rewarding career.”
She is realistic about the pace of change, however, when she says: “This is generational. When I was in school, woodwork wasn’t even an option for girls. Access to education has to come first, and that takes time.”
Despite this, Laura believes the construction sector has embraced diversity and inclusion with enthusiasm, “like a duck to water”.
Laura, second right, is pictured at the 2026 National Diversity and Inclusion Awards with some of the Irish Centre for Diversity team
At this year’s CIF International Women’s Day event, Laura will be hosting a panel of female leaders in the industry exploring the topic of why investing in others strengthens us all, and she is keen that attendees leave with practical takeaways.
“We want people to walk away with actions they can take, whether they’re a three-person business or a large firm,” she says. “Diversity and inclusion shouldn’t be led only from the top. Innovation comes from everywhere in the business.”
“This is a business imperative now,” Laura says. “You are building homes, hospitals and infrastructure for a diverse population. If you don’t have diverse voices in your workforce, you won’t understand the people you are building for.
“If you don’t act now, you will miss out on business opportunities, ideas and ultimately the projects that allow your company to grow.”
