Nicola Regazzoni, The PR Network and WIPR mentoring programme co-lead

We’re incredibly proud of the mentoring scheme we run with PR Week in which we pair 15 mid-career women with 15 senior female leaders in PR and communications. Now in its fifth year, the programme has seen 60 women gain a wealth of support and advice to help them shape and build their careers. Several scheme alumni are also now integral members of the Women in PR Committee including our Vice President Claire Foster, Sarah Samee and Anna Geffert.

Empowering and creating more female leaders is Women in PR’s mission and the mentoring scheme is a very tangible way in which we are achieving our aim.

We’re always looking at ways to change things up (for example, welcoming men into the fold as WIPR ambassadors as announced in PR Week in November last year). So, for the first time on Wednesday 30 January we held our first ever #PowerMentoring event. This allowed each mentee to spend five minutes with each of our mentors, who are CEOs and heads of communications for some of the UK’s biggest brands and agencies including Direct Line, O2 and Newgate.

This is a fantastic complement to the core programme, where the mentees have a minimum of three 1:1 sessions with their appointed mentor throughout the year. The event allowed them to forge new connections and tap into the experience of all our mentors who collectively have an incredibly broad experience to bring to bear on the challenges and opportunities facing our mentees this year.

We ran the evening just like a classic speed dating event complete with sand timer and ringing bell to keep the meetings focused and on track. We’ve had fantastic feedback from our mentees, who came from all four corners of the UK including Brooke Kenyon, MD of Orchard PR based in Guernsey and Liz Wilmshurst who runs Clever Comms in Leeds. Our mentors were also impressed by the mentees’ attitude and passion for PR, and are confident that together we are helping to shape them into the female leaders of the future.

Thanks again to everyone who made the effort to come out on a freezing January night, and to our President Bibi Hilton who allowed us to host the event at the lovely Golin offices. We’ll be repeating this experiment next year – watch this space for more details of the 2019/20 scheme, which will be launching on the evening of the 14 March, venue to be announced!

#prweekmentoring #powermentoring @prnetwork @prweekuknews @GOLINLDN @guernseyprgirl @clevercommsco