Marketing and advertising female empowerment group WACL, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, has launched the latest round of its Talent Mentoring Programme, as it continues its work to support the next generation of female leaders into senior roles.
The nationwide scheme involves over 100 WACL members gifting their time, and sees participants get up close and personal with some of the UK’s most experienced and insightful women, each sharing their own personal experiences and life lessons. In addition, each mentee will be able to champion their potential with the support of not one, but four, WACL mentors.
Now in its seventh round, this year’s programme is claimed to be the most far-reaching to date, with over 3,000 hours of mentoring time donated by some of the most inspiring and high impact marcomms leaders in the industry, including Karen Blackett OBE, Dame Cilla Snowball, Lucky Generals founder Helen Calcraft, Publicis Media CEO Sue Frogley, Brixton Finishing School founder Ally Owen, Dentsu X CEO Beth Freedman and YouTube UK managing director Alison Lomax.
Past and present WACL presidents are also offering their time, including Nishma Patel Robb, Rania Robinson, Carol Reay, Stevie Spring, Amanda Walsh, Lisa Thomas, Kerry Glazer, Lindsey Clay, Camilla Harrisson, Roisin Donnelly and Tess Alps to name a few.
The four-month programme enables mid to senior-level female leaders engage with some of the industry’s most inspiring role models, with the aim of the programme being to inspire women in advertising and give them a forum to discuss barriers to progression in the workplace.
Mentees are matched with four mentors, meeting each of them once for a one hour virtual session over four months, while each mentor provides professional and emotional support as well as an independent perspective to support mentees to identify and champion their potential.
WACL Talent Committee chair Shelley Macintyre, who is also chief brand officer at Allplants, said: “We hear how transformative mentorship is for mentees and their mentors and it has never been more crucial to ensure we support the next generation of female leaders in the industry.
“This time around we have more mentors than ever before. Thank you to each and every one of them for offering their time and enabling us to deliver our farthest-reaching programme to date; impacting even more mentees so positively.
“Women are still woefully under-represented at the most senior levels in advertising and communications. By leading for change, we aim to improve female representation in key roles, address the industry’s persistent gender pay gap, create more inclusive cultures, and ultimately create more equitable and more productive workplaces for everyone.”
The cost of the programme is £100 and £50 for sole traders, with all profits going to charity.
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