15 moments from Routes 15th Mentoring cohort
Routes 15th Mentoring cohort mentees and mentors with Routes Mentoring Programme Managers Shunn and Tamana at the end of programme celebration event.
In the first week of February 2026, we came together at St Margaret’s House The Gallery Cafe to celebrate the journeys of our 15th mentoring cohort, who began their mentoring experience with Routes in October 2025. Over four months, mentors and mentees shared time, stories, challenges, and growth. As the programme came to a close after 4 months, Mentoring Programme Manager Tamana Safi reflect on what unfolded, not just in outcomes, but in the many small, meaningful moments that shaped this journey for women from different backgrounds.
As we come to the end of our 15th mentoring programme, we are ending this programme with 15 mentors and mentees, we’re pausing, as we always try to, to notice what really happened, reflect, what we have learned and what are our key take-aways from the programme.
Not outcomes alone, there is a lot that happened and we all have a lot of moments.
Because mentoring doesn’t move in straight lines. It moves in conversations, in pauses, in small shifts that are easy to miss unless you’re paying close attention.
Regeena (alumni mentee) and fellow Mentoring Programme participants at the end of programme celebration event
Below are fifteen moments from our 15th programme. None of them belong to just one person. They belong, in different ways, to everyone who took part in our 15th cohort.
1. It begins, as it often does, with a two line introduction and three words on personality, held without needing to be fixed or to be changed.
2. A first meeting started with excitement plus nervousness, with names spoken carefully and loudly, with expectations laid down, like a table we agree to share.
3. A story of studying by candlelight, shared slowly, with care and passion.
4. A confidence shaken at a job centre, and slowly rebuilt somewhere safer.
5. A CV is opened, closed, and opened again - revisited and rewritten, until it finally feels like it belongs to the person whose name is at the top.
6. A mock interview turns into laughter. Not because it is easy, but because it is safe.
7. A session where the goal steps back, and listening takes its place.
8. An unexpected email that quietly opens a door of opportunities
9. A first TikTok video was posted, and pride allowed it to land without apology.
10. A strength exercise that changes how someone speaks about themselves and tells their story with pride and autonomy.
11. An in-person meeting that makes everything feel more real.
12. A boundary named, around work, family, time, or energy, and respected.
13. A qualification passed amid childcare, pain, exhaustion, and persistence.
14. A mentor learning alongside, not ahead.
15. A closing moment where someone says, simply:
““I feel closer now.”
“I feel connected now.”
“We’ll stay in touch.”
And someone reads aloud a “Letter to Your Future Self.””
Closer to confidence.
Closer to clarity.
Closer to themselves.
In the words of Tamana this is what Routes 15 Mentoring Programme have taught us: change doesn’t always announce itself loudly. Often, it arrives quietly, through trust, consistency, and being met where you are.
We’re grateful to every mentor and mentee who brought their full selves into these spaces, and to the many moments, seen and unseen, that shaped this journey.
As we close our 15th programme, we carry this with us: progress can be gentle, and still be real.
As we close this chapter, we’re already looking ahead. Each cohort teaches us something new, and we carry those learnings into the next group of mentoring relationships. This is not the final closure, we look forward to welcoming all our 15th graduate pairs in our alumni community and we look forward to the moments that will unfold there, in their own time and in their own way.
Routes 16th Mentoring Programme starts in March 2026. We can't wait to welcome a new cohort onto our Programme and we're hoping to almost double the size of the next cohort. Stay tuned for stories from current and future participants!
Please do reach out to tamana@routescollective.com if you are interested in supporting our Mentoring Programme.
