Reflections from mentor Dee, Product Manager at Investec, who mentored on our 9th Mentoring Programme.

Written by Routes Co-Founder Daisy Jacobs, 20th March 2023.

From the time I remember, I have always wanted to be an architect. I have always been attracted to art, design, and drawing. I arrived in the UK in 2010 and got my bachelor’s degree in 2014 in Business of Arts…

Starting with our fifth cohort back in 2021, our Head of Programmes Wieke has written poems to celebrate the end of the journeys of each graduating cohort of mentors and mentees.

It is an early September evening and the dark is settling in earlier than it has for the past few months. As it does, a dozen people gather in the Broadgate offices of UBS, dressed ready for a celebration…

We celebrated the end of our 8th cohort’s mentoring journeys at the end of August, bringing together mentors and mentees in person (and online, for those who couldn’t join us!) to reflect, share and celebrate their mentoring. Routes Mentoring Programme Manager, Wieke Vink, wrote and shared this poem for the cohort, to mark the end of their journeys…

“One of the joys of the Routes programme has been getting to know a diverse group of women who share a common set of goals: to embrace community, to lift one another up and to leave no-one behind.”

Ishmatu and Ellie were paired on our April - August 2022 cohort. Together they worked on Ishmatu’s goals. In this piece, Ishmatu speaks about her growth in confidence.

Ellie and Ishmatu were paired on our April - August 2022 cohort. Ellie works as Senior Campaigns Manager at Nesta. In this piece, she shares her thoughts on mentoring, and how to support someone else to find their confidence.

Migerjana & Tiffany were paired as Mentor and Mentee on our April - August 2022 cohort. In this blog, they explain why being a mother won’t hinder your ability to join the Routes programme. And Migerjana shares her top tips on how to juggle motherhood and being a mentee.

“I discovered that we have a lot in common, as women we are going through very similar challenges in this male-dominated capitalist world, and we can challenge perspectives collectively by supporting each other.”

Having studied law in Albania, mentee Florida is faced with the challenge of learning a whole new legal system. Emily is an associate at Milbank LLP. She joined the mentoring programme to support someone else, whilst learning and developing in her own right.

Mentee Xiaojuan shares her thoughts and reflections on her mentoring journey so far - the new relationship she’s made, the confidence she has built, and the new experiences she’s had as a result.

Routes Mentoring Programme Producer, Wieke, shared this beautiful spoken word piece with our 2021 cohort of mentors and mentees at their end of programme celebration last month.

Teri-Ann Bobb Baxter is an actor and trainer, who is the founder of Speak Up. She’s also a long-time Routes facilitator, delivering the Public Speaking Workshops on our Mentoring Programme. In this blog, you can read her top tips to get ready for any gathering, presentation or public event!

Mentor Silva and mentee Halima write about their time together on the Mentoring Programme. They describe what it’s like to get started, and what the journey across the four months of the Programme can feel like.

“I never had a mentor before. Meeting my mentor for the first time was the best thing ever. It was like meeting a doctor - that’s how I felt. This is someone who can help me heal - the old me who was passive and felt left behind in this modern world…”

“If there is one thing I have learned over the last 15 months, it is the importance of connecting with and supporting others. But I wasn’t sure what to expect. What if we didn’t connect or have anything in common? What if our time together didn’t meet Lili’s expectations of the programme? What if we didn’t achieve what she had set out to do?”