The Aunties Join Forces To Empower The Next Generation of Leaders

The Aunties, a support system that inspires, protects and champions women of all ages and backgrounds across creative industries, has announced a senior mentorship program involving 100 incredible industry powerhouses.

Following the enormous success of its launch program for grads and junior women across the Melbourne industry, The Aunties, has announced the launch of its second phase.

The Aunties Senior Mentor Program is designed for women with around 5-10 years’ industry experience, who are looking for wisdom, guidance and support as they navigate their way towards leadership.

Coming from a range of disciplines, phase two will have 100 incredible industry executives as Aunties to inspire, support and protect the next wave of emerging leaders.

Aunties, including Emma Robbins, ECD, M&C Saatchi, Margie Reid, CEO, Thinkerbell, Nomfundo Msomi Head of Strategy, WhiteGrey, Sonia Von Bibra, Executive Producer, Clemenger BBDO and Elly Hewitt, Co-Founder & MD at Alt/Shift.

The Aunties will help deliver a special experience for mid-level career women to learn from a diverse range of backgrounds to shape their leadership styles and support them through situations at work.

The six-month program will kick off on Thursday, the 11th of August, with a fabulous launch event at the State Library of Victoria. In partnership with The Producers & Peach, mentors (Aunties) and mentees will be treated to a networking event tailored to meaningful conversations through “Speed Auntie-ing,”

Speed Auntie-ing will have mentees pre-matched with four Aunties based on the interests and experience indicated in their application forms. From there, if Aunties feel they have a connection on the night, they can request who they’d like to mentor – otherwise, the program will play matchmaker and pair up organically.

Other matches will be confirmed by a steering committee that will determine individual matches and preferences. The Senior program comes off the back of the successful launch of the junior mentorship program in early 2021.

Phase one saw 88 young women paired with 88 mentors across creative, production (agency and post), strategy, client management, PR and social. The feedback from the program was overwhelmingly positive and the Aunties from phase one will form the majority of mentees for phase two.

All 88 Aunties of phase one and the steering committee have been shortlisted in the Mentor of the Year and Champion of Change categories in B&T’s Women in Media Awards (announced August 19). *non-binary, a-gender, gender-nonconforming, and all marginalised genders.

Sarah McGregor, Aunties co-founder and executive creative director, Dentsu Creative, said: “This era in our careers, when many are on the cusp of stepping into leadership positions, is of vital importance.

“This is where we typically see the numbers of women dwindle, so mentorship at this stage could make a real difference to retaining excellent female talent.”

Huei Yin Wong, Aunties co-founder and senior creative at Clemenger BBDO adds, “Since starting The Aunties in our bedrooms last year, we have been dreaming of hosting an event that connects and empowers women.

“To have 200 senior and executive women in a room historically reserved for men—is going to be electrifying. We’re very thankful to The Producers and Peach for supporting us and making this wonderful event happen.”

The O.G Auntie, Esther Clerehan, said: “It has long been known that our industry has a problem attracting and retaining female talent. The Aunties is an incredible network of support that has had an immediate positive impact, not just for mentees, but for the Aunties themselves. Phase one was a game-changer. Phase two will be the next level. ”

The launch campaign created by Izzi McGrath & Mads Catanese, Creative Team at WhiteGrey, celebrates the collective power and strengths of these 100 women. Using data collected from the application forms to showcase the combined achievements and experiences of this impressive cohort.

Mads Catanese, Creative at whiteGREY added, “Individually, these women have achieved a lot. Together? Well, that’s almost impossible to fathom.

“We put our rusty math skills to the test to showcase just how much experience, knowledge, and ambition will be under one roof on the night. And trust us, these figures will wow even the most number averse.”

With 100 Aunties, mentee spots are limited, so get involved and be mentored by some of Australia’s leading voices apply with this form.

Applications close on 29th July 2022. The Aunties acknowledge that there are so many more amazing women in the industry. To help keep up with extra mentee demand, they welcome and encourage any extra Auntie registrations (women with 10+ years experience and based in Melbourne).To register interest, get in touch at hello@the-aunties.com.

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Esther Clerehan Sarah McGregor The Aunties