mentor showcase

lollipop has recruited many senior mentors from CEO’s, founders, coaches to media specialists. All have a minimum five years experience and are waiting in the wings to be paired with a lollipop mentee.

We are honoured to have such a talented and willing bunch of mentors on our books. We are always on the hunt for more. Here is a snapshot of just a few of our mentors. 

Tap us up if you want to feature on our site.

Count down to our spring cohort begins….

Ali Proctor-Walsh
Production Director

I’m an Executive Producer / Production Director with 15 years of cross agency experience. My work spans motion graphics, film and print but I specialise in bringing innovative, immersive experiences to life using cutting edge and immersive technologies…

I have worked at agencies large and small and my career has spanned many aspects of production management, experiential and interactive giving me a unique insight into the integration of creative technology driven elements into more traditional agency environments. My career has includes stints at Facebook, Jack Morton, Framestore, Imagination, Nexus Studios, Hellicar & Lewis, Field.io and R/GA working with a wide range of brands across multiple sectors including Jaguar Land Rover, Google, Samsung, Shell, Ted Baker, IBM, Apple, Cartoon Network and many more. I’m passionate about creating lasting and meaningful relationships with every client I work with and creating an empowering and progressive environment for every team member I manage.

Ally Owen
Activist / Founder ​

Ally Owen founded Brixton Finishing School due to the need to create a diverse and equitable talent blueprint for our industry. By the end of 2020 230 talents from multicultural, socially mobile, neurodiverse (& majority female) backgrounds…

passed through this award-winning accelerator that finds, trains and places ‘under-represented’ talent in roles. Recognising the impact that COVID-19 will have on young people’s futures, Ally also launched the game-changing AD-Cademy program which will give over 2500 students a year across the UK a fairer chance to succeed. Allys’ accolades include Campaign 2021 Female Frontiers Championing Change Honouree/Campaign ‘Trailblazer’ 2020/ BIMA 2020 Champion for Change/ AD Age 2020 ‘Woman to watch in Europe’

Martina Lacey
Head of New Bus & Marketing

Martina is most likely to be overheard saying “let’s do this!”. A trained journalist, she dreamt of being a war correspondent and ended up in the deep trenches of international media instead – just as ruthless, tactical, and ever-changing. After gaining experience managing editorial teams, commissioning content, and developing content strategies for multiple platforms, a new challenge in the world of media agencies beckoned…

She has held New Business and Marketing positions in several network agencies in both global and local roles. When not running after her daughter, she is passionate about Manchester United, Coronation Street and her husband – in that order. investment.

Dino Myers-Lamptey
Founder

Dino is the Founder of The Barber Shop, a strategy-led creative company that aims to solve the biggest business problems through data, distribution and disruptive ideas…

a purpose and which strive to enrich culture through the pleasure that they bring. Their clients include Karma Drinks, Triumph, TikTok and Parkinson’s UK. Dino is Co-Chair of The Alliance of Independent Agencies, CAN (Conscious Advertising Network) and is also a board member of the UK Effies, Marketing Society and a NED for the Brixton Finishing School and a member of the Global Snap Creative Council. In 2020 Dino was recognised as a Top 10 Media Planner by Campaign. Dino is also a founding member of MEFA (Media For All), and has recently founded Diverse Speakers.

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David McDowell
Senior Manager / Experience Design HSBC

David is passionate about user centred design and lean/agile methodologies. He started  his career as a digital designer and soon realised that he wanted to get more involved with the ‘why and the how’. In a career that spans over 20 years in both agency and client side, David strives to create holistic design solutions that solve complex business problems. With a deep interest in psychology and human behaviour he uses insights gained from data analysis and usability testing to inform design decisions and iteratively improve customer experience..

David is a mentor for Brixton Finishing school and as someone who has managed people over the years he believes that talent is equally distributed amongst the population but opportunities are not. He would love to offer support and guidance to mentees and hopes he can make a difference.

Jo Valentina -Sinclair
Business & Mindset Coach

Jo is a Life, Business/Mindset Coach & the founder of Create Your Own Story, a coaching service for smart, conscious women, empowering them with the confidence and the exact steps to start or grow their own coaching/consulting business online….

She worked for the BBC for 10 years in Editorial Strategy, but after falling out of love with her job, 6 years ago she left the corporate world to follow her purpose and retrained as a Lifecoach & NLP Practitioner.
Jo now writes for Thrive Global and has delivered corporate trainings for Google, Red Bull, The Wow Foundation & The Songwriting Academy

Andrew Goldsmith
Commercial Consultant

I have worked in media sales for over 20 years and have been incredibly lucky to have represented iconic brands such as NME, Capital, Heart and the Guardian. In that time I have learned how different media platforms work together, including digital, audio, print, out-of-home and events…

I now work for an audio-first company, helping to devise and launch podcasts and help podcast creators realise their full potential. I am passionate about the future of the media industry, to make it as inclusive and diverse as it needs to be in order to truly reflect the society that it aims to represent. I am proud to be a NABS Fast Forward mentor, a member of the NABS 100 Club and mentor for Media Trust’s Hidden Talent programme.

Eleanor-Laurie
Founder and Coach

Mum of 2, founder of digital talent agency, Roome. Certified Coach and Reiki Master, part time hill walker/ kayaker , passion for helping people live their best lives, passion for self-care and self-belief…

A belief that this world is wonderful and for each individual to make their own.

Sam Finlay
Executive Coach

Following a 25 year commercial career within print and digital media, which culminated in holding the chief revenue officer position at TI Media, I now work as an Executive coach, NED, consultant and mentor…

By combining everything I learnt from my commercial leadership career I now work with senior leaders and their teams to help them be the best they can and achieve the goals they set for themselves.

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Amy Gaertner
Marketing Planning lead at O2

Amy is an award-winning senior marketer with 15 years of experience and a mission to help people and brands grow, in that order…

A leader of high-performing teams, Amy has worked with some of the best brands around the globe, delivering strategic and creative integrated campaigns.

Julia-Arenson
Head of Creative Operations at Specsavers

Julia joined Specsavers in September 2019 as Head of Creative Operations where she’s working with the senior leadership team to build a future-proofed in house agency. Prior to Specs, she was Head of Creative Production at VCCP Blue where she helped treble the agency in size and build integrated creative and production departments…

She’s worked on brands such as Kimberly Clark, Compare the Market, Molson Coors, Macmillan, Kellogg’s and HSBC. Julia has also held positions at JWT, Leo Burnett, a bakery, a law firm, a health clinic, a paper route, and various lemonade stands. She works in Guernsey, was born in Russia, grew up in Canada and lives in North London with her husband Alex and two kids.

 

Kelly Jacobson Collins
Privacy Compliance & Data Protection Director

With more than 20 years of experience in advertising, media and technology at the biggest agencies and senior roles at Microsoft and the Guardian, Kelly has used her ability to simplify privacy to write for titles including New Digital Age…

and ExchangeWire and spoken at Programmatic Punch, ATS and for Quantcast.

Kelly is a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals and holds a CIPP/E.

Vicky Foster Commercial Digital Leader - Strategist

Senior commercial digital leader, strategist & culture champion
Over 20 years digital experience ranging from working in an ad network, publisher, agency and approached directly to work on transformation projects…

I have built strong foundations across business strategy, leadership and team culture which are all central to my interest and expertise.

Marco Bertozzi
Ex Spotify VP EMEA , President Publicis Media

Marco Bertozzi has worked in the media industry for 20 years, he was an early founder of Publicis Groupe’s Digital operations in 2000, the founder of their Programmatic Trading desk AOD in 2010 and most recently ran all sales for Spotify across EMEA.

He is now running his own consultancy Bertozzi49.

Madeline McQueen
Founder and Executive coach

Madeline McQueen is a Forbes featured, outstanding Executive Coach, Trainer, Speaker and Host who empowers and encourages her clients to explore and reach their full potential.
She has over 15 years of experience in sales, customer service and business growth, building leading sales teams, securing contracts at the million-pound level and at one point selling the highest number of laptops in the UK for a leading IT company.

Madeline knows the importance of sales, systems, processes and operations in building business success…

Madeline is a TEDx Speaker and has reached thousands with her vivacious, humorous and down to earth honesty. She is a sought-after Conference Host, particularly within the tech industry where she has shared the stage with industry heavyweights such as Steve Wozniak, Garry Kasparov, John Romero to name a few.

Madeline’s clients include MC Saatchi, Ogilvy, Prezzi, O2 Telefonica, Sopra Steria, Twilio, Adobe, Salesforce, WeAreDevelopers, GoCardless, Havas, Police Scotland, NHS, Asos, Virgin Management, Investec to name a few.

Amelia Torode
Co-Founder the Fawnbreak Collective

Fascinated by brands, technology, culture and ideas, Amelia Torode is one of the UK’s best known strategic planners. Campaign magazine described her as a “trailblazer in the advertising industry, a brilliant strategic thinker and leader.”

She’s worked at agencies in the US and UK including Naked, OgilvyInteractive, VCCP and her most recent agency job was Chief Strategy Officer at TBWA\London. She launched strategy consultancy…

The Fawnbrake Collective, in 2017 and has worked around the world for brands such as Google, Carlsberg and many others.

Amelia has a mixed race background with Indian-German ancestry, and a mother who was one of the key drivers of the Black Power movement in the UK in the 1960s. She’s now married to a French husband so her children have even more diversity in their lives.

Duncan Dick
Founder, Editorial Director

The former editor of Mixmag magazine, Duncan has been active in the media as a journalist, editor and creative for nearly two decades, visiting clubs and festivals in 50 countries, hosting and creating panels, exhibitions and events, partnering with brands…

on culture-shaping projects, and generally building up a cumulative sleep deficit of truly epic proportions.

During his stewardship of the magazine he was committed to an agenda of inclusivity, positivity and empowerment and, as a natural extension of this mission, diversifying the coverage and contributing voices in its pages.

It’s a mission that he continues to this day with content agency, Devil’s Ivy Creative and by working with organisations like Lollipop. He hopes to advise mentees on life as a freelancer, navigating the codes and arcana of the media and publishing industry, identifying and nurturing the core skills that allow creative diversity and freedom, maintaining independence and integrity (as a key to success, rather than an obstacle), and, of course, developing and excelling as a writer. 

 

Cherie Williams
Change Management Consultant

I am a  Change Management Consultant, blogger and avid traveller! with over 15 years of communications and business change experience. I’ve helped to implement finance transformations programmes, I’ve rolled out new ways of working, and ensured that new technologies are not only delivered on time – but are actually being utilised.  I’ve also had the opportunity to work across multiple industries including oil & gas, retail. tobacco, local and central government.  So I have a real insight into how different industries and companies operate, and I do have a preference  🙂

 
 
I’ve also received Mentoring! It ultimately changed my career path (and life!). Years ago I spent a lot of time thinking about making the shift from Communications to Change Management, and setting up my own consultancy. Mentoring gave me the confidence push I needed, and since then I’ve helped others to achieve their career ambitions. For instance, I’ve provided general career advice, a CV service and helped people to improve interview skills.      
 
Mentoring opens doors! and I’m really happy to be a Mentor for Lollipop Mentoring x   

Cyreta James
Founder, CEO

I have been an HR/People professional for over 12 years with half of that time working as a People Manager for various companies in the UK and the UAE. I am also the Founder/CEO of the Resourceful Human, an HR consultancy business helping businesses with the HR needs as well as individuals who want help with…

CVs, LinkedIn profiles, job applications and interviews practice.

Passionate about using my knowledge and experience to help empower and inspire the next generation of People professionals.

Katy Walsh
Head of Operations

Katy is a Production & Operations specialist with over 20 years’ experience in creative & digital agencies. Over the years Katy has worked for top tier agencies and delivered most things for many brands.

Currently specialising in rebuilding businesses & transforming teams, Katy has a passion for helping people and supporting them to bring the best out in themselves.

Amanda Pitt
Founder, Editorial Director

Amanda brings 25 years’ experience across the digital media industry having held senior leadership positions within executive search firms, media owners and agencies – including BBC Worldwide, Havas Media Group, Time Inc.

She started her executive search career over ten years ago and…

has worked at Korn Ferry as well as smaller boutiques. She now heads up the Media Practice at Saxton Bampfylde and advises clients on how to attract, retain and develop talent.

Amanda is a trustee of NABS, she won the Ron Miller award for her outstanding service to the charity and gives time to their mentoring scheme and fundraising committee. She is also a mentor to other industry bodies and passionate about supporting people during their career development. 

Elizabeth Anyaegbuna
Co-Founder

Elizabeth or ‘Buna’ to her industry friends, is a popular and respected media executive with years of experience gained in commercial, operational and management roles in the TV and digital advertising industry across the UK and Africa…

She has super strong commercial credentials approaching all her endeavours through an entrepreneurial lens supported by grounded lateral thinking and a huge laugh. She’s passionate about the need for diversity and inclusion in the media industry and is a member and mentors for MEFA , Bloom UK and Creative Access. She is Co-Head of Allyship , part of the Leadership Team at Bloom and cofounded Bloom in colour – a network within Bloom representing WoC in 2010.

Having worked at big broadcasters such as Sky Media, Viacom, Turner & A+E Networks she has built up a reputation of being a tough and accomplished negotiator with creative vision and a smile. She has delivered high value commercial solutions growing business across TV partnerships, digital, social & branded content. Elizabeth has spear headed inventive partnerships for a variety of clients from Masterfoods and Fox to ad-funded programmes for NFL, Nike and Adidas and has extensive kids market expertise. Elizabeth applied her entrepreneurial approach to her role Sales Director for GTV – an African Broadcaster of premiership football where she set up a commercial department. She set out on her own and is now Cofounder of Sixteenbynine – a TV and video centred media planning, buying and production agency backed by Goodstuff and recently co launched Black Corner – a black business directory, marketing, and mentoring support platform.

Kiessé Lamour
Global Head of Media at Wunderman Thompson Commerce

Before joining WTC, Kiessé was Head of Industry for CPG, Travel, Auto and Entertainment partnerships at Pinterest UK, where she was responsible for building and leading a team to help marketers drive business growth on the platform… 

In parallel, she was also the Regional Lead for Blackboard EMEA, Pinterest’s ERG for Black and Mixed Race employees.

Prior to joining Pinterest, Kiessé held various leadership roles in programmatic, paid search, social and brand safety within Omnicom Media Group UK, where she worked for 8 years. At Omnicom Media Group UK, Kiessé has been responsible for establishing operational excellence, driving commercial efficiency and pushing the standards for brand safety, fraud prevention and viewability. She also led strategy and planning for Programmatic and Paid Search across a vast portfolio of clients whilst building Omnicom’s Programmatic Audio offering from the ground up.

Early in her career she worked at Google in Ireland, as well as in product marketing at Unilever and Société Générale in France.

Kiessé studied British, American and Afro-American studies at the Université Grenoble Alpes, and also holds a Master’s of International Business from the Grenoble School of Business. 

She is married with 2 daughters (10 yo and 4 yo) and enjoys African fashion, traveling, reading, cooking with her husband, going out with her girlfriends, binging on Netflix and spending time doing lots of kids fun with her daughters. 

 

Lauren Ogúndèkó
Chief Digital officer

Lauren is a digital specialist with many years experience across various channels and verticals.

A computer scientist by academic background, her experience covers deep leadership and practitioner expertise across all digital in particular SEO, Biddable, Performance Content, Organic Social, Affiliates, Display, Martech and Web Analytics. 

in particular SEO, Biddable, Performance Content, Organic Social, Affiliates, Display, Martech & Web Analytics.

Lauren has helped small and large brands and businesses leverage digital media marketing from strategy-to-acquisition-to-measurement-and-retention and under her leadership, programmes have experienced growth upwards of more than 400% YoY return on investment.

Tonya Hepburn
IntInternational Project Dev Creative & Consultant

I initially pursued a career in acting, starting out at the Brits Performing Arts school London, then moving onto the USA, attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and various acting roles within theatre and television. I then began work in New York for a multipurpose venue within the events & marketing department, working with clients such as; WOLF Entertainment USA, Zoom Media & Goldman Sachs…

My passion grew for people management, training & development, matched with a career in media production in the Caribbean where I produced a number of pieces for film and television and also began an agency dedicated to actors training development &international work based opportunities.

I also founded of one of the East Midlands first mentoring schools and co-managed a youth organisation…TBF

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Barnaby Cardwell
Investor and Entrepreneur

I am an investor and entrepreneur, also dad of two, wannabe surfer (still on a soft board unfortunately), with interests in personal psychology, mindset, yoga, and self-development.

I am lucky to have already one successful career in the City having traded the world’s financial markets for over 20 years and founded a quantitative fund. I have had the opportunity to live and work in Gibraltar, Spain, and France as well as the UK.

I have also invested in several companies including start-ups and property companies…

 

I have seen the highs and lows of running my own business and have also helped the founders of my investments cope with their own volatile situations in growing their businesses.

I have a wealth and breadth of knowledge across many business sectors and can quickly understand new ones. I would say “listening” is my biggest quality.

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Toby Kanetsuka
Talent Builder / Operations

I’ve made my career out of helping individuals with their careers, and enhancing hiring capability at various organisations.

I’m passionate about people, culture & data, and have 13 years’ global experience across: agency, search, embedded, and in-house Talent teams.

Each time someone has supported me at various stages in my career, the feeling has endured even until today; I’ve experienced first-hand how it can make you feel and the effect that it can have, and as such I’m a huge proponent of ‘paying it forward’…

 

Currently I‘m leading Talent & People at a Series A software startup.

 

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Lou Nylander
Founder / Marketeer

Wildflowers of London, Marketing Consultancy, founded by Lou Nylander in Spring 2021. Lou has 15 years of experience  holding  down  influential positions, managing global marketing teams and shaping the course of some of the world’s leading digital advertising companies, including PubMatic, MediaCom, AOL/ The Huffington Post and Zenith.

 

Five years ago, Lou founded ‘Wildflowers of London’- Women’s Circle, a social enterprise and events business focused on empowering women in South East London, where she resides. She fosters an inclusive culture across everything she does, champions women, drives change, and leads from the front with a positive and inspiring attitude.

Lisa Gully
Head of Planning

Lisa has 20 years’ experience in advertising and a little insight into the barriers facing bright women deserving of great opportunities who don’t ‘fit the mould’. Short, female, working class, she’s not the classic ad strategist…

Now Head of Planning, she’s especially passionate about diversity, ensuring those with the EQ to match their IQ get the chances they deserve.

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Monique Brown FCIPD
Global HR Director

Monique is an experienced Human Resources professional. A former Partner, Global Head of Human Resources and Management Committee member for BlueBay Asset Management in addition to the Chair of BlueBay’s Diversity and Inclusion Forum.

 

Monique is a board member of the UK’s City HR Association and holds a BA Hons in European Administration, a PG Dip in HRM and is a chartered fellow of the CIPD.  Board memberships include BlueBay’s US LLC, LLP board and Remuneration Committee. A recent board appointment to the UK’s City HR Association in 2018 provided further opportunities to support D&I within the profession.

Monique contributes to various volunteering opportunities within the financial services sector; mainly mentoring the young through reading for schools and the primary and secondary education developing young networks. Energised by inclusion and opportunity for all.

Kristianah Fasunloye
Public relation specialist

I am Kristianah Fasunloye and I am the Founder of Astraea PR. I named my business after the goddess of justice Astraea, as I’m committed to doing what’s right, which is why many of my clients are within the public sector. I’m driven to support organisations who want to do the best for their clients.

 

Our most recent clients have included Donna Ockenden Ltd, the Chair of the Ockenden review which is the largest single NHS review into maternity services, we provided strategic communications, stakeholder and media support.

 

As well as Waltham Forest Council where we provided strategic stakeholder management (local, regional and national) and communications to support their private sector licensing application to government.

Over the last 20+ years I’ve worked across a cross-section of the public sector, which means that I have a broad range of experience and operational knowledge, from influencing and changing Government policy, to managing complex issues and high profile media and communications campaigns. There’s hardly a scenario I’ve not faced before, which I can draw learnings from, in order to provide clarity on the way forward for my clients.

 

We work alongside Exceeding Your Potential in a strategic partnership. Check out my LinkedIn profile to find out more.

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Shaline Manhertz
Marketing Comms Specialist

I am Shaline Manhertz – the founder and Managing Director of Exceeding Your Potential. For as long as I can remember I’ve loved communicating and connecting with others. Over the past 25+ years I’ve honed my communication skills:

  • as a marketing communications specialist with experience gained in public sector communications at both central and local government; and
  • as a professional performance coach and Neuro Linguistic Programming

 

‘Exceeding your potential’ works in partnership with our clients to understand what makes them different and how this difference can support them to engage their audiences effectively to make a difference in the world..

Previous clients include:

Donna Ockenden Limited – this clinical consultancy conducted the Independent Review of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. This is the largest review ever of a NHS service. Our work for this organisation included strategic stakeholder management, project management, event management and communications services.

Sue Ryder – where we supported this national bereavement and palliative care charity with change management strategy and training to integrate new teams to ensure they worked effectively as one.

We work alongside Astraea PR in a strategic partnership.