Cohort
Session Details
Thursday 14th March 2019
In the first session of the fifth iteration of Meet a Mentor, the cohort met up in the Airbnb UK offices. Mentors and mentees were paired with each other for the first time and spent a significant amount of time getting to know each other and setting goals. After becoming acquainted, the mentors and mentees listened to a short talk from programme four alumni Cass Kyeyune on how networking during Meet a Mentor took her from A to her next role at Channel 4. This led into a networking session where the wider group were tasked with networking with each other and moving out of their comfort zones. The evening finished with a talk from Abraham Asefaw, the Co-Founder of The Pop Up Agency, who divulged top tips for working and thriving in the creative industry.
Wednesday 17th April 2019
Our second session took place at The Photographers' Gallery in Soho where some mentees and mentors met before the session started to visit the exhibitions in the gallery. We kicked our session off officially with mentee/mentor catch ups across the building as the pairings reflected on their set goals and caught up on the month. One of our mentors, Jayshree Viswanathan, a Copywriter at FCB Inferno, led an insightful workshop called 'What's your story?' on how to succinctly tell your own story. We then ended the session with a talk and probing Q&A with Rania Robinson, CEO & Partner of Quiet Storm. Rania spoke candidly about breaking barriers, being strong and trusting your talent and ideas.
Wednesday 15th May 2019
For our third session of the programme, we were kindly hosted by FCB Inferno in Central London. We began the evening by delving straight into mentor/mentee catchups, focusing on meeting targets and redefining goals. We then moved on to the workshop session called, 'Branding Yourself' led by Create Jobs. The evening ended with a talk from Jason Carter, Director of Get On Music Media, who discussed the projects he'd led and worked on, from BBC Radio 1 Hackney Weekend to BBC Introducing, and the core values and skills that have been integral to his success and now what he looks for in creatives making their way in the creative industries.
Wednesday 5th June 2019
In our fourth and final session of programme five, we were hosted by Cheil London. The session started with a look back at the goals that the mentees had created before they had met their mentors. The mentors and mentees reflected on the goals and discussed their development over the four months of the programme. The group came together and celebrated as well as redefined their successes. They talked about what they had learned about themselves and about working and being a creative in London's creative industries. We rounded off our final session with a fascinating talk by Bianca Manu, a Curator at the Nubuke Foundation, Ghana. Bianca discussed her journey from taking part in an A New Direction programme to working at Invisible Dust, to leaving the UK.
