We are delighted to have successfully delivered 3 iterations of Meet a Mentor. Phase 3 took place over four months from April to July 2017 at agencies and creative spaces around London, from Somethin’ Else to Reading Room, Somerset House and Made by Many. Other venues to have generously hosted us include: Karmarama and Launch 22.
“I’ve enjoyed witnessing my mentee gain confidence and become a professional in a short amount of time” — Mentor — Phase 3
The Meet a Mentor Format
The programme takes place over four months. Through a structured series of workshops and meetings, mentors offer mentees support, encouragement and advice on how to get that bit closer to employment in their chosen field in the creative and digital industries.
Each evening’s structured sessions comprise time for the mentor and mentee to spend together working on the mentee’s goals, a group task led by a creative professional — e.g. creative problem solving, pitching & presenting techniques, digital skills training that all take part in, and end on a short ted-type talk from an inspirational speaker who has a tale to tell about their job and their journey to get there.
Our last session took place at Innovative Design Agency Made by Many where Head of Learning Charlotte Hillenbrand and Studio Manager Vivienne Berryman led a session on Brand Values and CEO of advertising and customer agency TMW Unlimited, Chris Pearce gave a talk about his career titled ‘And You May Ask Yourself, Well, How Did I Get Here?’ (with thanks to David Byrne). See mentee Janice Woyo’s blog on the session.
School of Logical Progression’s Meet a Mentor programme was created in response to the lack of diversity within the creative industries. In 2016, the Creative Industries Federation reported that BAME workers made up 11.4% of the workforce in the creative industries but the average BAME workforce for a sector should stand at 17.8% to match the diversity of the population in London. It is clear that there is still work to do to redress this balance.
Our mentees — aspiring professionals — are carefully recruited and matched with creative professionals — mentors — who are already working in the field they want to get into. Over the past year and a half we have worked with 76 mentors and mentees and all three programmes have had exciting outcomes ranging from internships and work experiences to actual jobs and contracts. Softer outcomes include: positive relationships and friendships formed, networks and support systems started and continued mentoring.
“One of the best things about Meet a Mentor is the honesty with which people can talk about their career journeys and conundrums. Instead of high-gloss stories we can talk about the realities of building a creative career, and some of the barriers to success.” — Charlie Duffield, Meet a Mentor Phase three mentee
We are immensely proud of all of our mentees. Some notable successes include:
- Lola Nezianya, who paired with Amy Jones, Content Producer at The Pool, went on to secure a role as a Content Producer for King’s College London
- Antonia Odunlami, who is a Music and Founding Editor of gal-dem, was paired with radio producer Nikita Chauhan from content company Somethin’ Else. Nikita gave Antonia the opportunity to help out on shows for BBC Radio 1 Xtra, Asian Network and Radar Radio, and since completing the programme Antonia has been offered a full-time role as Assistant Producer at Somethin’ Else
“Hearing about different career paths and roles, being amongst likeminded people, meeting new people and having a support network of people sharing ideas, advice and tips is really invaluable.” — Kevin Allen (Mentee — phase 3)
Dates for Phase 4 of Meet a Mentor are yet to be announced, please sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear when these go live, or download an expression of interest form (make sure you fill in the correct form — (Mentor/Mentee) and send it back to info@meetamentor.co).