The Independent Media Agencies of Australia (IMAA) has marked the success of its biggest-ever Female Leaders of Tomorrow programme, with events with graduates held nationwide.
Graduation celebrations were held across the country over the past week to mark the overwhelming success of this year’s programme, along with plans for a 2026 intake. This year, the highly successful programme was the biggest on record, bringing together nearly 30 mentees, selected from a large pool of applicants, and their mentors from Sydney and Melbourne, and for the first time, Brisbane and Perth, for a six-month mentoring programme.
While the IMAA facilitates the programme, its ongoing popularity demonstrates the commitment from IMAA member agencies to investing in middle-management professional development. Due to demand for the programme, up-and-coming female industry professionals from IMAA member agencies were paired with not only some of the country’s top media and marketing executives but also IMAA media partners to gain valuable insights into the Australian media sector, leadership and professional development across online and face-to-face sessions.
This year’s participants were overwhelmingly positive in their feedback on the programme, with all the mentees stating that post-programme, they had improved in actively applying their new leadership capabilities to their current roles.
Eight in 10 participants (86 per cent) said the programme had lifted their leadership ability and given them greater confidence to use their leadership skills in more difficult situations, and every mentee (100 per cent) stated that they had seen improvement in actively applying new leadership capabilities following completion of the programme.
“I set out to get comfortable with being uncomfortable again, especially when it came to using technology to tackle business challenges. The most valuable insight I gained was from my mentor, who helped me realise I wasn’t being clear enough about what success actually looked like,” said mentee, Ashley Grey, group account director from The Pistol.
“That lack of clarity was fuelling my hesitation and resistance to step into the unknown. Once I defined a clear goal, I found myself more willing to lean into discomfort to guide me toward meaningful solutions…This program was genuinely transformative.”
“I think there is a lot of virtue signaling in our industry. There are a lot of people who say ‘We’re not happy with the pay gap’, ‘We’re not happy that there aren’t enough female leaders.’ And yet, when it comes to the personal cost of carving out some time for someone coming up, that’s not being done enough. You have no choice, because change doesn’t happen unless there is personal cost,” said IMAA chair, The Media Store chief operating officer and mentor, Jacquie Alley.
“If our mentees are representatives of the women that we’ve got coming up in the ranks, in our industry, we are in safe hands. They have a beautiful balance of ambition and self-awareness. They are bravely vulnerable and keen to lead with intention and purpose.”
“This program has been a really positive experience. I’ve learned so much about myself, and I made myself do everything I asked my mentee to do, and I think that was really interesting for me – that I lead by example. Mentoring showed me that setting goals and putting pathways into your career, you actually have to make the time. Mentoring reminded me how important that time is to put aside,” said OMA CEO and mentor, Elizabeth McIntyre.
IMAA CEO, Sam Buchanan, said the programme had continued to support young women future leaders in the independent media agency sector.
“The feedback has been incredibly positive, with graduates saying they feel more confident in their leadership skills and more assured in taking the next steps in their career. Overwhelmingly, participants have told us the programme has given them a more strategic approach to their leadership style, helping them refine their communication, their problem-solving skills and their collaborative approach,” he said.
“I would also like to thank our sponsor, oOh!media, and our mentors who volunteered their time to help develop the leadership skills among our mentees. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a high calibre of senior leaders to draw from.
“This programme is part of the IMAA’s commitment to future-proofing the independent media sector, upskilling women and giving them the tools and platform to progress. Now in its second year
and with plans to announce a third intake soon, we’re proud of the programme’s contribution to addressing both the gender pay gap and the need for female leaders in Australia’s media industry.”
The 29 2025 IMAA Female Leaders of Tomorrow mentee graduates:
– Alana Zanardo – QMS
– Alex James – Assembled Media
– Alizee Berger – Benedictus Media
– Amelia Morgan – Awaken
– Angela Rogers – Audience Group
– Anna Longson – This is Flow
– April Maung – Digital Minds Group
– Avika Bhardwaj – Slingshot Media Ventures
– Ashley Grey – The Pistol
– Berlian Ayudya – Hatched
– Claire Piotrowski – Momentum Marketing
– Georgia Maccan – Red Works Media
– Grace de Cruz – Orange Line
– Holly Dobson – JCDecaux
– Huong Ngyuen, Alchemy One
– Jesse McColl – Enigma
– Lucy Piccolo – Seven Network
– Madeline Begg – TFM.Digital
– Madeleine McConnachie – Half Dome
– Mairead Ryan – YangoMiya Min – Impetus
– Nicole Dipierdomenico – Half Dome
– Sarah Cowie – oOh!media
– Sarah McNeil – Sunny Advertising
– Sharna King – Channel Factory
– Sophie Glasfurd – Bang Digital
– Susan Axford – Slingshot Media Ventures
– Tayla Alkilic – The Media Store
– Tara DeLuccia – operations director
