Rise, the award-winning advocacy group for gender diversity in the broadcast media technology sector, is excited to announce the pairings for this year’s global mentoring scheme.
The initiative spans the UK, Europe, ANZ, APAC and India as well as North America, aligning with Rise’s mission of fostering inclusivity and diversity in the industry on a global scale. The 2024 edition of the programme includes 137 carefully selected mentee-mentor pairings.
Acceptance to the programme grants participants a range of exciting benefits including face-to-face networking events, workshops and seminars. Additionally, each mentee benefits from a minimum of two hours of monthly, personalised guidance from their mentor.
During the six-month long programme, each regional cohort will follow a varied agenda with several shared sessions, with the incorporation of tailored enhancements to ensure its relevance to the unique dynamics of the local territory.
This valuable scheme is made possible due the incredible support from industry sponsors for 2024 including: AWS, BBC, BFBS, Calrec, Clear-Com, Dalet, Envy, Grithaus, Moments Lab, Naviga, NetInsight, Perifery, Pixelogic, Red Bee Media, Ross Video, Sky, Sony Europe, SVDI, Video Progetti and Vubiquity.
Donna Smith, Managing Director at Rise, said: “The impact of the Rise mentoring initiative extends far beyond the programme, fostering a supportive community dedicated to the growth and development of all participants. Seeing new cohorts embark on this unique journey is a source of great pride and inspiration for our team.”
Carla Maroussas, Programme Mentoring Manager at Rise, stated: “I am thrilled to introduce 137 new mentee-mentor pairings in our mentoring programme. Building on the incredible success stories and transformative experiences of our previous participants, we have united a truly global cohort of mentees, embracing inclusivity and diversity. We look forward to seeing them elevate their profiles and reach new heights in their careers in the coming months!”
The mentor and mentee pairings for the 2024 global programme are as follows:
UK Mentor and Mentee Pairings:
- Aura Popa, Marketing Manager, 80six will be mentored by Charlotte Layton, Founder & COO, Racoon Media Services
- Lauren Abramsky, Software Engineer, Adobe will be mentored by Chris Birkinshaw, Technology Principal, UK, Merapar
- Emily Harper, Technical Partner Manager, Apple will be mentored by Anthony Joyce, Director Operations and Supply Chain Technology, BBC Studios
- JahanAra Ali, Business Analyst, Arqiva will be mentored by Natascha Cadle, Creative Director, ENVY Post Production
- Gemma Whalley, Operations Manager, BBC will be mentored by, Alex Redfern, Chief Technology Officer, EVS
- Felicity Norton, Lead Technical Operator, BBC will be mentored by Neave Spikings, Senior Systems Engineer, dB Broadcast
- Libby Patten, Broadcast Mux Specialist & Scrum Master, BT will be mentored by Stephen Stewart, COO, Consultant
- Jessi Fann, Senior Digital Executive, Bubble Agency will be mentored by Michelle Wilding-Baker, Head of Digital & Content, Freesat
- Francesca McGuigan, Lead Project Manager, Channel 4 will be mentored by Jeremy Smith, MD / Project Manager, Backbeat Media Services
- Natalie Dunbar, Senior TV Admin Exec, Clearcast will be mentored by Will Pitt, Head of EU Sales, Techex
- Natalie Cornforth, Head of Global Virtual Production Operations, DAZN will be mentored by Gabby Redfern, Group Content Services Director, Sky
- Brittany MacRae, Broadcast Technician, dock10 will be mentored by Elaine Sampson, Broadcast Engineering Manager, Warner Bros. Discovery
- Savithri Devadas, Programme Manager, DPP will be mentored by Dara Urquhart, COO, Red Bee Media
- Rosie Servat, Inside Sales Manager, EditShare will be mentored by Barney McDonald, GM Business Devs and Partnerships EMEA, Eluvio
- Bridget Young, Operations Manager, Evolutions will be mentored by Ben Davenport, CMO, Beyond the Grapevine
- Samantha Roburn, Head of Media Operations, FooEngine will be mentored by Donna Mulvey-Jones, Director of Post Production, Nonfiction, Netflix
- Yoanna Hristova, Head of Technical Support, Grabyo will be mentored by Jackie Howes, Director Media Infrastructure Architect , Discovery Inc
- Riyana Kasmawan, Vision Engineer, Gravity Media will be mentored by Sara Shepherd, Head of Transmission, BBC
- Faye Curran, Live Operations Supervisor, IMG will be mentored by Lorraine Panman, Head of Programme Delivery, Pulselive (Sony Sports)
- Norah Almola, Senior Salesforce Administrator, ITV will be mentored by Amy Jones, Content, Editorial & Streaming, Consultant
- Shania-Jo Billett, Systems Operator, ITV Daytime will be mentored by Chrissie Collins, Head of Production Operations, EMG UK
- Amelia Lodwick, Planning and Scheduling Coordinator, NEP Connect will be mentored by Thalia Crone, Global Head of Media Supply Chain Operations, Freemantle
- Olivia Boswell, Technical Program Manager, Paramount will be mentored by Lorna Hughes, Managing Director, Harvard Comms
- Chloe Ward, Resource Scheduling Manager, Picture Shop will be mentored by Abigail Hughes, Director of Sales Operations for Global Partnerships, ITV
- Ellie Robinson, Marketing Manager will be mentored by Leanne Tomlin, Marketing Director, Perifery
- Tamsin Cram, Senior Playout Director, Red Bee Media will be mentored by Cora Spear, VP Product | Streaming, DAZN
- Manju Sundaram, Lead Project Manager, Channel 4 will be mentored by Roz Bennetts, Global Account Manager, AWS
- Victoria Butt, Operations Manager, Red Bee Media will be mentored by Natalina Manni, Global Head of Publisher Operations, TikTok
- Ilona Valent, Head of Professional Services, Riedel Communications will be mentored by Nicki Fisher, Chair, Rise
- Nadia Noormohamed, Software Engineer, Roku will be mentored by Sue Farrell, Technologist, Channel 4
- Rebecca Light, Group Head of Content Management & Quality Control (Operations), Sky will be mentored by Camilla James, Director, TechEx
- Scarlet Carpenter, Exhibition Logistics Project Manager, Think Expo Logistics will be mentored by Mark Wynter, Client Services Manager, Picture shop
- Leily Radseresht, Junior DI Assistant, Twickenham Film Studios will be mentored by Vanessa Walmsley, Global Head of Customer Success, Vizrt
- Kerry Stavri, Senior Product Manager, Vizrt will be mentored by Stephen Tallamy
- Katie Osterholzer, Account Manager MEA/APAC, Vubiquity will be mentored by Alex Coakley, Commercial Director, JW Player
- Emily Wood, Broadcast Graphics Developer, Warner Bros. Discovery will be mentored by Mike Ward, Head of Growth, Reality Check Solutions and Marketing, Singular Live
- Cristina Gomez Levano, Content Coordinator, Warner Bros. Discovery will be mentored by Alexandra Coulson, Global Vice President Marketing, Disguise
- Lydia Bird, Marketing Manager, XroadMedia will be mentored by Clare Butler, VP Marketing, Grabyo
EU Mentor and Mentee Pairings:
- Mariia Lesonen, Business Development Representative (Sales), Bitmovin will be mentored by Michael Gamböck, Principle Partner Manager for Adobe Video, Adobe
- Shorouq Mustafa, IT System Engineer, Proximus Media House will be mentored by Delphine Calvini, Manager of Broadcast Technology Solutions, BeIN Sports
- Eloïse Ngangura, TVOD Manager, Proximus will be mentored by Isabelle Pasquesoone, Director of business development and partnerships, Qwant
- Hileny Maduro, Product Manager, Paramount will be mentored by Remi Beaudouin, Chief Strategy officer, Chief Strategy officer
- Ecaterina Caprari, Content Marketeer, TinkerList will be mentored by Liesbeth Wyns, Head of Sport, Proximus Media House
- Isabelle Denis, Head of Sales, DREAMWALL will be mentored by Katty Van Maele, Director of Business Development, intoPIX
- Carlie Bonavia, Content and Communications Director, Newsbridge will be mentored by Claudine Cecille, General Manager – Marketing & Communications & PR Consultancy, Golden Acacia Consulting
- Emilie Trémoureux, Sales & Marketing Ops, Newsbridge will be mentored by Noëlle Prat, MaaS Business Development & Sales Manager, BCE – Broadcasting Center Europe
- Amandine Doucet-Flick, Project Manager, Aski-da will be mentored by Vincent Loré, Regional Sales Manager French speaking countries, Ross Video
- Suekriye Ludwig, Software development engineer, Adobe Systems Engineering GmbH will be mentored by Louisa Von Lenthe, Director Inhouse Operations Sport, Sky Deutschland
- Monique Woolen-Lewis, Production Manager, Gravity Media will be mentored by Christel Jaekel, Senior Manager EMEA Pre-Sales, Avid
- Christine Resch, VFX Coordinator, Netflix will be mentored by Stefan Heimbecher, Director Technology and Production, SWR (ARD)
- Nathalie Haverland, Audiovisual Technician/Video Editor, ZDF will be mentored by Michael Pfitzner, VP – Newsroom Solutions, CGI
- Hélène Loubeau, Inside Sales Representative EMEA, Lawo AG will be mentored by Aditi Pandey, CTO Advisor, NRK
- Roswitha Rothenfusser, Teamlead Video Marketing, ARRI Arnold & Richter Cine Technik GmbH & Co. Betriebs KG will be mentored by Verena Steib, Senior Manager Video Editors, Red Bull
- Melita Halilovic, Regional Marketing Manager DACH & NL, Sony Europe will be mentored by Alex Maier, Director of Global Marketing – Media Solutions, CGI Deutschland B.V. & Co.KG
- Lauren Bellenie, Event Streaming Manager, G&L Systemhaus will be mentored by Kathleen Schröter, Co-founder and Co-CEO, ootiboo GmbH
- Ophélie Boucaud, Principal Analyst TMT, Dataxis will be mentored by Nicolas Ley, Vice President / Head of Vidispine, Vidispine / Arvato Systems
- Victoria Campolongo, Business Development Manager, BB Media will be mentored by Anastasia Bournelli, Practice Manager, Bain & Company
- Catherine Webb, Corporate Communications Lead, Vizrt will be mentored by Giorgiana Verdonk-Sim, Vice President, Marketing & Human Resources, Caton Technology
- Kseniya Tsyhanok, Product Owner, Grass Valley will be mentored by Steve Russell, Vice President, Video Entertainment Solutions, Irdeto
- Marta Roman Fernandez, Production Manager (Localization, Subtitling & Accessibility), Sublime / Transperfect will be mentored by Diana Sanchez, Business Development, Access Services, Red Bee Media
- Lina Sofie Nilsson Holmstrom, Project Manager, Codemill will be mentored by Ricki Berg, Staff Engineer at Live Technology, TV2 Denmark
- Naomi Jones, Support Engineer, Vizrt will be mentored by Maria Hellstrom, CEO, Codemill
- Irene Nadal, Broadcaster Services Specialist, UEFA will be mentored by Elizabeth Hughes, Organisational Development, OBS
- Ksenia Rabinovich, Product Marketing Manager, Unified Streaming will be mentored by Larissa Görner-Meeus, CTO, Proximus Media House PMH
- Alma Mudri, Multiplatform Operations Coordinator, Paramount Global will be mentored by Colin Morrison, Chief Revenue Officer, Ovyo
- Marta Edebol, Global Head of SaaS Business Development, the British Board of Film Classification will be mentored by Giovanni Piccirili, CTO, RTL
- Azka Malik, Contract Product Manager, Glyde Digital will be mentored by Paula Rigby, Founder, PG Productions (France)
Australia and New Zealand Mentor and Mentee Pairings:
- Samantha Goss, Production Resource Coordinator, Australian Broadcasting Corporation will be mentored by Alexandra Rydberg, Production Manager, Telstra Broadcast Services
- Brittany Maxfield, Digital Production Team Leader, Fremantle Football Club will be mentored by Monica Forlano, Head of AFL Studios, Australian Football League
- Sheila Ngo, Sales Admin, Riedel Communications will be mentored by Sean Curran, GM Partnerships & Business Development APJ, Eluvio
- Yenny Tjong, Asset & Logistic Manager, Gravity Media will be mentored by Tanya Rai, Marketing Manager, Telstra Broadcast Services
- Emily (Hirth) Armstrong, Senior Digital Product Manager, Formula E will be mentored by Mike Lewis, GM Operations and Technology, MKTG
- Laura Aghajanian, Business Development Manager, Nine will be mentored by Nina Walsh, Head of Business Development, APJ & Americas for Media & Entertainment, AWS
- Rachel Copp, VFX Producer, Rising Sun Pictures will be mentored by Will Munkara-Kerr, Enterprise Sale Manager, Avid
- Rosalinde Czysnok, Client Solutions Director, News Corp Australia will be mentored by Anna Lockwood, Global Head of Media & Sport, Telstra Broadcast Services
- Agostina Garola, Head of Corporate Subscriptions & Licensing, Nine will be mentored by Mike Whittaker, Chief Operating Officer, Telstra Broadcast Services
- Rachel Jedwood, Production Manager, National Rugby League will be mentored by Ben Madgwick, Director – Media Services & Facilities, Gravity Media
- Emily Osborne, Business Manager, Red Bee Media Pty will be mentored by Tanya Kelly, Managing Director APAC, Xytech Systems
- Marcelle Quinn Williams, Strategic Account Director, Memnon NZ will be mentored by Richard Kelly, Company Director & Owner, ATOMISE
- Jessica D’Ali, Supervising Animation Technical Director, Animal Logic will be mentored by Elaine Beckett, Owner, Trackdown
- Maddy Ellabban, Senior Service Desk Specialist, Nine Entertainment will be mentored by Max Dabrowski, Major Events Broadcast Engineer (Transmission), Telstra Broadcast Services
- Laura Hunt, Production Technician, Sydney Opera House will be mentored by Kahleah Webb, Head of Operations, Gravity Media
- Christine Kim, Senior QA Engineer, Accedo will be mentored by Michelle Ng, Professional Services Practice Manager, AWS
- Kyung Min Kim, Fulfilment Specialist, Deluxe Media will be mentored by Dylan Van Dyke, Key Account Manager, Vizrt
- Yang Lu, Support Manager, Qvest Australia will be mentored by Julien Pinchon, Senior Customer Solutions Manager, Amazon Web Services
- Juliet Payne, Technology Support Engineer, NOVA Entertainment will be mentored by Pip Warren, Manager – Workflow Consultant, Avid
- Lisa Phanthavady, Broadcast Captioner, Red Bee Media will be mentored by Andrew Chow, Solutions Architect, Avid
- Sammy Pinto, Theatre & Precinct Duty Technician, Sydney Opera House will be mentored by Manda Hatter, Head of Operations, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
- Maria Romas, Post Production Coordinator (Placement), Fremantle Media will be mentored by Jessica Paynter, Audio & Communications Engineer, Gravity Media
- Boey Song, Engineering Manager, Qvest Australia will be mentored by Trupti Patel, Head of Program Management, Telstra Broadcast Services
- Emily Wood, Broadcast and Content Systems Assurance Lead, Foxtel will be mentored by Doxia Brownlow, Head of Broadcast Services, Tabcorp
APAC and India Mentor and Mentee Pairings:
- Marjory Sy, Solutions Sales Specialist, Telstra International will be mentored by Peter Bruce, Senior Manager Channel Sales, APAC, Harmonic
- Yu Fang, Production Finance, Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios will be mentored by Jyothi Nayak, Executive Vice President, Prime Focus Technologies
- Nusrat Lovely, Application Engineer and Presales Support, Axle.ai will be mentored by Paul Shutt, Deputy Global Head of Customer Success, Vizrt
- Nahid Bhat, Office Manager, Grass Valley will be mentored by Sharifah Ahmad, CMO, Torque Video
- Ankita Verma, IE, Ericsson will be mentored by Jai Daga, Vice President Technology, Sony Pictures Networks India
- Chandni Kaithavalappil, Products and Platform Manager, Accenture will be mentored by Asha Kulkarni, Vice President – Partnerships & Ecosystem, ZEE
- Rajal Bhatt, Business Development Manager, Techseria will be mentored by Nupur Saxena, Senior Vice President, Viacom18 Media
- Priyanka Singh, Software Development Engineer, Adobe will be mentored by Rakhi Sundar, Sr. Director: Project Operations, Deluxe
- Deepalika Bhatnagar, Project Coordinator, Deluxe Entertainment Services will be mentored by Ganesh Kaushic, Consultant | Advisor, Ganesh Kaushic
- Yugansha Malhotra, Team Lead, Scripting Operations, Deluxe Entertainment Services will be mentored by Shivani Kochhar, Senior Manager Sales System APAC, Warner Brothers Discovery
- Pallavi Rajpurohit, Senior Content Writer, Amagi Corporation will be mentored by Sonam Dave, Marketing Director, Incivus
- Shubhra Saxena, Account Coordinator, Deluxe Entertainment Services will be mentored by Sulina Menon, Founder, Mediapower
- Ashwini J Shetty, Manager Projects, Deluxe Entertainment Distribution India Private Limited will be mentored by Sreelakshmi Sanjit, General Manager – Corporate Communications & Brand Management, Larsen & Toubro
- Richa Vatsala, Co Founder, Digibrandshake will be mentored by Gayathiri Guliani, Vice President, Lionsgate
North America Mentor and Mentee Pairings:
- Graziana Mirabile, Director of Production, 2 Market Media will be mentored by Elodie Powers, Service Line Director, Audio Dev, Streaming & Broadcast at Keywords Studios, Keywords Studios
- Eliza Tan, Product Manager, Adobe will be mentored by Jane Sung, COO, Cinedeck
- Courtney Henig, Renewal Specialist, Adobe will be mentored by Katie Fellion Business Development Manager, Post Production – Production Strategy & Operations, Netflix
- Wynne Tang, Product Manager, Adobe will be mentored by Carin Forman, Global Partner Lead, Media & Entertainment, AWS
- Paige Ford, Studio Engineer, Apple will be mentored by Terri Davies, President,, Trusted Partner Network
- Sonia Hernandez, Audio/ Network Engineer, Apple . will be mentored by Christine Duvall, Solutions Architect – North America, Ross Video
- Katie ORourke, Content Coordinator, Media Resources, A+E Networks will be mentored by Em Donald, Special Projects Manager, Ross Production Services
- Meag Cherry, Assistant Editor, Brooklyn Underground Films will be mentored by Amy Bloom, Business Executive/EP, Practical Magic
- Petra Dubravcova, Co-Founder & Product Manager, Cloudamai will be mentored by Magdalena Jagucka, Owner, Founder, currently self-employed
- Nova Meza, Recording engineer, Deluxe Media will be mentored by Karol Urban, Re-recording Mixer/Sound Supervisor, Global Urbanization Through Sound
- Veronica Pineda, Account Coordinator, Deluxe Media will be mentored by Michele Gauthier, Senior Director of Production, Americas, Shutterstock Studios, Americas
- Tiauna Davis, Account Coordinator, Deluxe Media will be mentored by Jodynne Wood, Account Director- Media & Entertainment, 3Play Media
- Carla Prates, Product Manager, Digital Anarchy will be mentored by Melanie Ciotti, Marketing Manager, Studio Network Solutions
- Olivia Taylor-Butler, Coordinator, Live Action & Unscripted Series, Disney Branded Television will be mentored by Letia Solomon, Entertainment Director Program, Fellow Disney
- Stephanie Haycock, Senior Manager Product Management, Disney Entertainment and ESPN Technology will be mentored by Wynne Nevins, Vice President, Strategic Operations, SiriusXM
- Celine Viravong, Post Production Coordinator, Flawless AI will be mentored by Alexis Martinez, Systems and Tooling Manager, Localization Operations, AWS
- Valeria Sosa, Staff Video Distribution Engineer, Fox Corporation will be mentored by Marcy Lefkovitz, Media Technology & Workflow Executive, Consultant
- Kate Harrell, Broadcast Engineer will be mentored by Gaylen Clutter, Live Media Program Manager – Studio Production, Evertz Microsystems
- Kelsey Coffin, Project Manager-Global Client Solutions, Iron Mountain Media & Archiving Service will be mentored by Liz Guenther, Senior Account Director, Deluxe
- Yvette Sityar, Client Manager, IYUNO will be mentored by Daniela Bocchetti Senior Vice President, Client Solutions, Keywords Studios
- Geetanjali Dogra Mehta, Events & Content Manager, Magnifi will be mentored by Meghan Ross, Director of Partner Relations, Ateliere Creative Technologies
- Swetha Sridhar, Software Application Engineer, NEP Group will be mentored by Allison Martin-Fong, Content Planning Director, Global Operations, BBC Studios
- Jasmine Hope Veridiano, Assistant Video Editor, Paramount will be mentored by Michelle DeLateur, Digital Storyteller, Boston University
- Alexandra Nevins, Sr. Technical Program Manager, Paramount+ will be mentored by Jill Porubovic, Global Operations Leader, Take 2 Games
- Jillian Hutt, Manager, Commercial Operations ,Business Operations & Data Analysis, Ross Video will be mentored by Hilary Roschke, Vice President of Strategic Operations, SDVI Corporation
- Gina Witzke, Business Development Manager, Robotics, Ross Video will be mentored by Kira Baca, Chief Revenue Officer, Ateliere Creative Technologies
- Jamie Manley, Production Travel Coordinator, Ross Video will be mentored by Elizabeth Jones, Master Control Operator, Warner Brothers Discovery
- Lauren Schwartzbard, Production Coordinator, Sphere Entertainment Co. will be mentored by Lori Schwartz, CEO & Principal, Story Tech
- Marie Kittler, Video Producer, StudioNorth will be mentored by Danielle Evenson, Social Media Marketing Manager, AM/PM
- Yawa Degboe, Director of Demand Generation, Vimeo will be mentored by Sheevani Raikundalia, Head of Financial Advertising Sales, North America, Bloomberg
- Emily Butcher, Operations Coordinator, Ross Production Services will be mentored by Carin Mazaira, Marketing Manager, Media & Entertainment, Leica Geosystems
- Hillary Lewis, Post Production Manager, CatFace will be mentored by Marisa Mikrut, Director of Product Marketing, Freewheel
To find out more and to discuss how you can get involved, please contact Donna Smith, Managing Director at Rise on donna@risewib.com.