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PRWeek's mentoring scheme, designed to tackle the lack of female leaders in communications.
The PR industry is losing talented women at a rate of knots, generally about the time they reach their thirties and attempt to juggle children with the demands of 24/7 media. PRWeek is matching up fifteen women identified as having the potential to reach the top with senior female mentors for a year of support, challenge and the benefit of a more experienced perspective.
Throughout the year, mentors and mentees (plus others) will be sharing their insights, questions and learnings here. Is it possible to balance a demanding comms job with family commitments and live to tell the tale? Can you work flexibly in a client-facing environment? Are women holding themselves back from power, as Sheryl Sandberg believes? Read on for inspiration, and join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #prweekmentoring
The value of role models
Being mentored has given me the confidence to succeed, says Katherine Wright
Closing the confidence gap
Lisa Day and her mentor on the PRWeek Mentoring Project, Christine Johnson, discuss how women in comms can let lack of confidence hold them back.
Lose the wingman
All PR people love working a room, right? Not always. Talk Talk's PR manager Clara Biu shares what she has learnt about how to become a more active networker (and even enjoy it).
"We can do this on our own terms"
International chairman of MHP, Sally Costerton, talks about the value of mentoring in encouraging women to believe they can lead according to their own style.
Challenging the flexi-working stereotype
Let's stop being apologetic about wanting to reduce our hours, says founder of LMC PR Lara Molins Caplin. Project work is the future of comms and is perfectly suited to flexi-workers.
Taking the fear out of networking
Ex-european director of external communications at Coca-Cola Enterprises, Debbie Spitz, shares her tips on how to get the best from, and even enjoy, networking.
Know your value
Women are often paid less than men but it's our responsibility to make our case, says Hotwire director and member of the PRWeek Mentoring Project, Kate Hamilton.
Switching to part-time
London Communications Agency director Suzi Lawrence has worked three days a week since returning from maternity leave in May 2013. Here, she and LCA co-founder Jonny Popper discuss the process by which they have both made this work.
What drives you?
Marketing Birmingham head of communications Amanda Lowe has been matched up with Four Communications CEO Nan Williams as part of the PRWeek Mentoring Project. Their first meeting gave Lowe plenty to think about.
Don't work to rule (and have the Scooby DVDs on hand)
It is possible to work part-time as a PR leader, says Mary Whenman, managing director, corporate, financial and public affairs at Weber Shandwick. You just need a watertight plan.
Leave your ego at home
Grayling UK & Ireland CEO Alison Clarke is a mentor on our Mentoring Project. To mark tomorrow's International Women's Day, we asked her to write about how her gender affects her management style.
Battle of the sexes: the ongoing PR gender pay gap
The cold, hard fact is that men are paid more than women at every level of the industry.
How I juggle my separate lives
Visa Europe head of policy and issues Amanda Kamin is one of 15 women being mentored as part of PRWeek's Mentoring Project. She writes here about she combines the life of an 'always-on' comms professional with being a mum.
An enforced break from your team is a chance for staff to grow
Maternity leave offers your team a chance to prove themselves while you prepare for your next role.
Behind every successful female leader there are countless women and men making the path easier
The World Economic Forum's drive for gender equality places the issue at the top table of power, but there is much to be done at Davos and elsewhere to make sexual discrimination a thing of the past.
An industry stressed to kill
Substance abuse, adultery and health problems are the common results of an industry pushing too hard.
For more information email john.harrington@haymarket.com