Mentor Sessions
Shape your future with a mentor session with employees from top UK companies such as BT, Havas and The Premier League.
You can either hear your Mentor’s story, ask questions, and get inspired in a Share Your Story session; or practice and improve your interview skills in a Mock Interview session.
Browse available mentors below and sign up today!
Featured Mentors
Tom Harrison – CEO, England & Wales Cricket Board
Zoe Stern – Community Engagement Lead, Google UK
Luis Buriola – Software Engineer, Google
Pippa Dunn – Founder, Broody; formerly Chief Marketing Officer, EE
Julia Ledina – Subject Matter Expert, Monetization Google Inc.
Available Mentors
How to book a mentor session
First, head to the Training Hub to earn at least 50 credits. Remember to fill out the Reactionnaires to get your credits!
Once you’ve earned at least 50 credits, you’ll receive an email with the link to book your mentor session. Dates will be arranged after the mentor’s availability is confirmed.
Mentor sessions are completely free, and won’t use up any of your credits.
1 Required Step
- Complete 2 sessions to claim this reward
Emily Barratt – Brand Marketing Associate, Clarks Originals
Ask Emily about starting a career in marketing and brand strategy.
Emily works at the global shoe brand, Clarks Originals. She has 3 years’ experience in Marketing and has also spent a year in the Product Design Management team. In her current role as Brand Marketing Associate for Clarks Originals, she manages creative production for the brand, also working closely with the Head of Clarks Originals to determine the overall Brand strategy.
Stephen Bediako – Social innovator, non-profit leader, board member
Talk to Stephen about start ups, fair wages, the future of work, careers in non-profit, living and working in USA
Stephen is an innovator, designer and evaluation expert. He is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Turning Basin Labs, a co-operative employment agency in the Bay Area, California. He is also the founder of design agencies The Social Innovation Partnership (UK) and Path Group (USA) and has advised Nesta, Big Society Capital, Big Lottery Fund, Mayor’s Fund for London, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Marks and Spencer, among others. He is a Trustee for UnLtd and the Barbican Centre.
Euan Blair – Co-founder and CEO; WhiteHat
Ask Euan about tech, startups, digital future, apprenticeships, football
Euan Blair is the Cofounder & CEO of WhiteHat, a tech startup building an outstanding alternative to university and corporate training.
WhiteHat matches school leavers to career-focused apprenticeships at some of the UK’s most exciting companies, from Google and Facebook, to BP and Unilever.
WhiteHat’s mission is to accelerate incredible careers and develop a diverse group of future leaders through their innovative apprenticeship programmes. Prior to founding WhiteHat, Euan was the UK CEO of Sarina Russo Group, an employment and training provider with more than 1,500 staff worldwide and a turnover exceeding £100 million.
Before joining Sarina Russo Group, Euan worked at Morgan Stanley where he helped raise funding of more than £60Bn for FTSE 100 companies. Euan started his career working for the US Congress House of Rules and Homeland Security Committees in Washing DC. Euan holds a BA in Ancient History from the University of Bristol and an MA in international Relations from Yale University. He is a long suffering supporter of Liverpool Football Club.
Tal Brener – Publisher Curriculum Manager, Google
Tal is a Publisher Solutions Consultant at Google. Her job is to engage with top publishers in the UK and Ireland and to identify solutions for their unique needs.
She has been in Google for 5 years, started as a Test Engineer and then as an Integration Engineer. Prior to joining Google Tal was a flight simulator instructor in the Air force, and was a flight attendant, when she had the opportunity to travel the world.
Tal holds a BSc in Bio medical engineering from Tel-Aviv university and her study was advertised in a Medicine & Science journal. Tal loves spending time with her family, traveling and practicing Yoga (particularly being upside-down!)
Emanuele Briglia – Associate Product Marketing Manager, Google
Talk to Emanuele about how to remain motivated to achieve a long term objective. How to be flexible and collaborate well in a multicultural environment. How to positively use rejection as a tool for motivation.
Emanuele Briglia is an Associate Product Marketing Manager at Google in London, where he has worked for the last 3 years. He is part of a global team that supports small-medium businesses to get started with Google Ads, Google’s advertising platform. Before joining Google, Emanuele graduated from a Master in International Management in Italy (Bocconi University) and in the United Kingdom (London School of Economics). He is a true sport enthusiast and, as many Italians, he is mostly a devoted football fan.
Evie Buckley – Executive Producer, Acme Films
Ask Evie about production, digital content, pitching, ideas generation, work experience.
Evie Buckley is one of the youngest Executive Producers in the TV industry, working at Acme Films, an independent production company making TV, films and digital content for all of the major UK platforms. Acme Films is dedicated to telling stories that reflect the richness and diversity of contemporary culture working with A-List talent from Banksy, Danny Boyle and Olivia Colman to Ashley Walters, Akala and Lady Leshurr. Evie has worked in TV Development since leaving university and is responsible for creating new TV ideas, pitching them to platforms and then overseeing them once in production. Prior to working at Acme, Evie has worked at Bauer, Endemol and TwoFour, with experience across all factual TV genres. Evie also has done lots of volunteering work with organisations such as Orange RockCorps and was one of their Youth Ambassadors during her teens. Evie holds a BA in TV Production from Bournemouth University and was recently recognised as a Broadcast Hot Shot 2019.
Robb Buono – Production Designer
Ask Robb about production design and working in the music, TV and film industries and how they differ.
Robb has been a production designer for over 25 years and worked in film, TV, live music and music videos. Working with artists such as Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg, Beyonce and Jay Z. His expertise and passion spans design, film, TV, production, music videos, food and wine.
Josef Burnham – Interaction Designer WearOS | Google
Josef Burnham is an interaction designer at Google. His job is to create products and experiences that help users everyday lives. Currently, he’s improving the user experience on Google’s watches, Wear OS by Google.
Prior to working at Google; he worked at the BBC, small design agencies and co-founded a successful streetwear business. If you’re interested in working in the design / creative industries or thinking about starting up your own business, drop him a message.
Luis Buriola – Software Engineer, Google
Talk to Luis about moving from Brazil to the UK, starting his career in a new country; howhis ability to perform well in interviews improved when I started interviewing candidates; how he failed to get a job at Google for several years until actually getting one; how he understood that failing an interview may not necessarily indicate a problem.
Luis Buriola is a software engineer at Google where he has been working since 2017. He is originally from Brazil, where he graduated in Computer Science and started his career. He then worked a few years in Italy and moved to the UK in 2010.
Ben Cajee – Television Presenter, Event Host & Voiceover Artist
Ask Ben about TV presenting, sports presenting, TV and film industry, motivation.
Ben Cajee is an experienced television presenter, event host and voiceover artist. He’s been a main presenter on CBeebies (the BBC’s flagship children’s channel) since 2015 and also leads their Middle East links.
Ben has presented Match of the Day Kickabout on CBBC since 2016 and has also fronted Blue Peter, BBC Live Lessons and live broadcasts for BBC Sport. He’s a regular on Match of the Day on BBC One, present producing their community features.
Having previously worked for the International Cricket Council, Ben’s got an extensive knowledge of cricket and is an ambassador for the ECB’s All Stars Cricket initiative. He’s also an ambassador for the children’s cancer charity, CLIC Sargent. Ben is the voice of the BBC’s Playtime Island App and numerous BBC’s trailers.
He’s performed in CBeebies Christmas Shows and hosts live events, openings, press conferences and festivals for charities and corporates. Ben’s passion for sport and his desire to reach out to children is evident in his ever expanding portfolio of presenting work = and he’s available for bookings worldwide.
Sai Chand – Strategy Lead, Ads Certifications, Google
Talk to Sai about change, growth and learning in your career.
Sai is a Strategy Lead at Google based in the UK. He has been with Google for the past 14 years and worked across different business units and locations ranging from sales, operations, product expert to strategy roles. Before joining Google in 2006, Sai worked in a startup in India as a research engineer(in electronics). He did his engineering in electronics and switched to business roles since joining Google.
Tom Cheal – Managing Editor, LBC
Tom Cheal is Managing Editor of talk-based radio station LBC . Having joined the station over a decade ago, he built his reputation from the ground up. During this time, he worked as Political Editor, helping to establish agenda-setting programmes with leading figures from across the political spectrum.
Lewis Clarke – Creative Lead, Clarks Originals
Lewis Clarke is an award winning Creative Designer, Conceptual thinker and Art Director based in Bristol, UK. Over the last 15 years he has worked on campaigns for many global brands spanning various industries. At present Lewis holds the position of Global Creative Lead for the much-loved international footwear brand Clarks Originals.
Harrylyne Coleman – Department of Education, UK Civil Service
Ask Harrylyne about communications and engagement, the importance of personal development, working in the Civil Service, and Diversity, Equality and Inclusion networks.
Harrylynne has worked in DfE since 2015 and is currently working in the Higher and Further Education Group (HEFE) as part of the Director General’s Office, leading on the Working Better Together Programme.
Harrylynne is a communications professional and has delivered excellence in engagement across a wide range of organisations for over 10 years and has led communication strategy development at a national level, along with hands-on delivery. Harrylynne was previously Head of Strategic Communications at the Cabinet Office and more recently in Capital Directorate as Communications lead for the School Estates Capability Project.
Harrylynne is extremely passionate about Diversity, Equality and Inclusion and has initiated the development and implementation of new initiatives to encourage innovation, improve employee engagement and provide visible role models for staff. Her focus has been on supporting the career development of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff, by promoting goal setting, self-managed development and has created several fast-track coaching and development programmes and reverse mentoring schemes.
Kema Davies – UK Early Careers Recruiter, Microsoft
Ask Kema about her personal journey, culminating at Microsoft
With over 7 years’ experience in early career recruitment, Kema joined Microsoft in 2017 with three goals in mind. One to work with the biggest technology in the world, two to show up at work every day as her true authentic self and three and probably the most important create opportunities for every person no matter where they came from. Since working at Microsoft Kema has had countless chances to bring her passions to work through projects with Microsoft’s employee resource groups such as Women at Microsoft and BAME, collaboration across HR and other business segments and philanthropic work. Outside of Microsoft Kema loves travelling, being active and spending time with family and friends.
Magnus Djaba – Global President & CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi
Ask Magnus about being a CEO; media and advertising, leading a global business.
Magnus Djaba, Global President & CEO, Publicis Groupe Creative Practice UK Magnus has led the transformation of Saatchi & Saatchi London for the last 8 years, expanding the services we offer our clients and ensuring we are focused on creativity and business results.
During this time, the agency has won numerous creative and effectiveness awards and welcomed new clients such as EE (the biggest mobile network in the UK) HSBC, Direct Line Insurance Group, BT, Britvic and the Global Expedia Business. He was formerly the MD at the start-up Fallon London, which became one of the UK’s most awarded and best-known creative agencies, famous for groundbreaking campaigns for the BBC, Cadbury, Skoda, Sony and FCUK. Magnus was appointed UK CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi in November 2011 and promoted to CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon UK Group in April 2014.
In 2017 he was appointed Global President of Saatchi & Saatchi, responsible for global clients, new business and brand positioning for the network. In 2020, he took on the additional role of UK CEO of the Publicis Groupe Creative Practice in the UK for the Publicis Groupe Agencies, responsible for 5 creative agencies.
Magnus is a keen sportsperson having previously played rugby for England Students. He is also passionate and vocal about Diversity. Magnus combines both these passions as a member of the English Premier League Equality Panel since 2017 which holds the Premier League soccer clubs to account over their Inclusion & Diversity policies and actions. Magnus and Saatchi London have also played a leading role in Operation Black Vote, an organisation that encourages ethnic minorities to exercise their right to vote.
He is also a member of the Institute in Practitioners in Advertising Council and a member of the Marketing Group of Great Britain Council.
Pippa Dunn – Founder, Broody; formerly Chief Marketing Officer, EE
Talk to Pippa about media, marketing, communications, sponsorship, management and start ups.
A lawyer turned west end theatre producer who became CMO of EE. Knows how big businesses work and how to get the best out of people, commercial incentive and gets things done.
Alex Edelstein – Product Marketing Manager, Google
Ask Alex about getting into technology, product marketing, working with empathy, building diverse teams, and what it’s like to be an expat.
Alex Edelstein is a Product Marketing Manager looking after Google Search for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He works on developing new and innovative features for Google Search through rigorous research and user interviews as well as develops advertisements to highlight these new and helpful features.
Before moving to London in 2019, Alex worked as a Product Marketing Manager in San Francisco at Google on Google Ads with a focus on events for Small and Medium Businesses and a consultant for Ernst & Young covering clients ranging from Oil and Gas, Higher Education and Product Management. Alex holds a BBA in Management Information System and minors in Japanese Language and Literature as well as Personal and Organizational Behaviour from the University of Georgia.
When not cheering on his university’s American football team (Go Dawgs) you can find him biking around London looking for the best ‘hole in the wall’ restaurants to eat at.
Janine Edgerton-Avin – Commercial Project Manager, Android | Google
Ask Janine about: working abroad, the United Nations, international business, finding meaningful work
Janine grew up on a small island in Canada and always wanted to see the world. Following this desire, she has built a career in international business, making large, hard projects happen. She has worked on projects worth billions of dollars that affected hundreds of millions of lives.
She started out on a project building a gold mine in the Caribbean, where she helped the mining company purchase machines and building materials to build a processing plant.
Next, she worked for the United Nations in Yemen buying millions of dollars worth of wheat and flour, and helping her colleagues to deliver it to those in need. She then moved to Egypt and Tunisia and rented warehouses and organized trucks to get food, tents, medicine and other supplies to those in need during the Arab Spring in North Africa.
She moved to London and spent some time advising British companies on how to export goods, then started working at Google where she helped Google navigate the legal challenges of building the infrastructure of the internet in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Janine now spends her time with Google engineers, tax specialists, accountants, lawyers and sales people, getting them to work together so you can buy apps, games, books and content from the Google Play store.
Brad Fairhead – Marketing Expert
Speak to Brad about marketing communications, team & culture building and entrepreneurship.
Brad is a an experienced communications practitioner with a unique background, having worked in Media, Creative and Digital Agencies in both the networked environment (e.g. WPP) as well as smaller, more entrepreneurial environments. More recently he has worked within the tech start-up space and as an advisor to a select number of businesses. He has also successfully launched and sold an agency business, working through a sale process and subsequent earn-out.
She started out on a project building a gold mine in the Caribbean, where she helped the mining company purchase machines and building materials to build a processing plant.
Sean Famoso – Co-founder of LVRN
Ask Sean about staring a creative agency and record label; A & R, entrepreneurship, music industry.
The son of a Jamaican father and English mother, Sean Famoso was born in Boston but spent his elementary school years in South Florida. Sean was surrounded by Reggae, RnB, and Motown classics. At 12, his family moved to Atlanta where Sean emerged into a bourgeoning party promoter. After High School, Sean enrolled at Georgia State University with a focus in marketing.
There, Famoso linked Tunde Balogun, where the team hosted parties, flipped an internship with rapper Ludacris’ Disturbing Tha Peace record label into co-A&R roles for DTP’s publishing arm, and began managing acts like Que, whose “OG Bobby Johnson” was a smash in 2013.
Soon after, Balogun and Sean connected with GSU trio Justice Baiden, Carlon Ramong, and Junia Abaidoo, who were managing Atlanta acts as Love Renaissance (LVRN) – a name intending to penetrate the standardized ‘tough guy trap’ scene with consiouss and emotional music. Baiden invited Balogun and Famoso to the team as they signed their first artist, Raury and earned a deal with Columbia Records in 2014.
Next, the team inked 6lack and helped him out of a contract that inhibited him from releasing music. LVRN independently released what would become his multi-platinum single “Prblms” in 2016. When Interscope took an interest in 6lack, they signed LVRN to a joint venture deal. Their first proper release from LVRN Records was his debut album, Free 6lack. Lead by Famoso’s powerful branding strategy, it reached mainstream success.
Nick Farnhill – CEO, Publicis•Poke
Nick joined Publicis Worldwide in 2014 as founding partner and CEO of digital agency Poke. He was promoted to the additional role of CEO of Publicis London, and further promoted to CEO, Publicis Worldwide UK in 2018.
Last year he brought together Publicis Worldwide UK’s four businesses; Publicis London; Poke; Arc & August to become one integrated agency named Publicis•Poke, bringing technology and creativity together to focus on brand communications, brand experiences and brand commerce.
His focus is on growing digital communications and experiences for clients including EE, Virgin Voyages, Google, Tourism Ireland, Renault, Heineken, Morrisons, Nestlé and Garnier.
In 2010, Nick launched The Lovie Awards to celebrate the wonderful and inspiring things connected by the web’s many tentacles. He continues to Co-Chair the Awards that is considered as the most prestigious, and the only, truly pan-European awards honouring online excellence. Nick is also an advisory Board member of indy film streaming service MUBI.
In 2015, he was awarded with a Lifetime achievement award for his contribution to the industry.
James Frapwell – Global Head of Marketing, Clarks Originals
Ask James about working with brand partners/ PR/ Social media partnerships.
James oversees the total Clarks Originals brand with a small team globally. With a strategy including… creating collabs with brands like Bape, Stussy and Carhartt WIP, campaigns with brand fans like Raheem Sterling, PR and events with individuals like Skepta, Kano and Maya Jama, all social media and media partnerships with titles like High Snobiety and Hype Beast, and all key account activations with stores like End, Selfridges and KITH.
Ivo Gormley – Founder & CEO, GoodGym
Ask Ivo about social impact, starting a charity, sponsorship, entrepeneurship, growing a company.
Ivo Gormley is the Founder of GoodGym, a growing movement of runners who run to do good. Previously, Ivo consulted and advised on user participation for technology startups and public services in the UK and US. Ivo directed the documentary film Us Now, an exploration of participatory culture. The film has been broadcast around the world, including Channel 4 in the UK, translated into 24 languages and watched by millions online. He has presented his work to governments worldwide including the French National Assembly, The Hague, the European Union, The Houses of Parliament (UK) and Washington DC.
Tamara Greene – Global Brand Director; Havas
Speak to Tam about marketing, communication, media, diversity, equity and inclusion
Tamara is currently a Global Brand Director at Havas. She leads global initiatives for RB (Reckitt Benckiser) looking after 14 brands across 17 markets; building and scaling strategies, implementing campaigns, developing inspired teams and instituting best practices.
Throughout her career, Tamara has successfully managed the agile needs of brands with complex product portfolios and organisational structures; while also injecting them with a defined brand purpose and categorical distinction. She is passionate about culture and strives to embed her brands with it.
Prior to joining Havas she worked at KBS+P on Avon global fragrances, and at Berlin Cameron United where she launched the Boost Mobile brand which drove substantial growth form 500k to 5MM+ subscribers making the brand a cultural icon amongst urban youth. Her experience also includes working on iconic global brands such as; Burger King, UPS, diet Coke, Sprite, Belvedere Vodka and Stella Artois.
Tom Harrison – CEO, England & Wales Cricket Board
Ask Tom about LEADING a National Governing Body, DRIVING Revenue to ensure sustainability for game
INSPIRING Generations, increasing participation and diversity and CREATING legacy from Men’s and Women’s World Cup wins.
Tom joined ECB as CEO in January 2015 and brings over 20 years of sports business experience across the world after a career as a professional cricketer..
Renowned as a progressive, value-led, authentic leader, Tom firmly believes team sport can be an enormous force for good in any community. He is passionate about the role sport can play to inspire current and future generations as players, volunteers and fans.
Six years into the role, Tom is driving transformational, positive change across the ECB and the wider game, through commercial excellence and by building strong partnerships in and outside the game, delivering landmark partnerships with Sky and the BBC which will enable cricket to grow and thrive for all communities in the future. Along the way, England have become both the Men’s and Women’s Cricket World Champions, both events providing watershed moment for the sport in the UK.
Tom also led the formation of ‘Inspiring Generations’, the game’s strategy for 2020-24, which sets out a bold plan for growth across the country into younger and more diverse audiences by seeking to increase participation.
Before joining the ECB, as a leading expert in global sports media rights, Tom was Senior Vice President at IMG, where he ran the company’s media rights business in the UK. Prior to that Tom was IMG’s lead in Singapore where he managed IMG’s business in South and South East Asia.
He also spent four years with pan-Asian broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) and was responsible for the syndication of multiple major sports properties, including the Olympic Games. This experience has given him a global perspective on the future business models for sports and media rights.
Outside his role as CEO of the ECB, Tom sits on the National Citizens Service (NCS) Board of Patrons.
Hendrikus van Hensbergen – Chief Executive, Action for Conservation
Ask Hendrikus about conservation, education, climate change, writing books, starting a charity, campaigning and entrepreneurship.
Hendrikus van Hensbergen is the Founder and CEO of Action for Conservation, a young environmental charity with a mission, to bring the magic of nature to young people’s lives and inspire a youth movement committed to conservation and the earth. Hendrikus was recently awarded the Postcode Local Trust’s ‘Rising Star Award for his inspirational leadership. Through a programme of workshops, camps and an ambassador programme, the charity supports young people, aged 12-18 and from diverse backgrounds, in building transformational connections to nature, leading their own environmental projects that have a positive impact in their local area and having a voice in environmental decision making nationally. Their values, Wonder, Hope, Action and Change, are at the heart of everything they do. Hendrikus has written a book for young people, How You Can Save The Planet, which will be published by Penguin in March 2021
Jason Hocking – Co-Founder & Managing Director, CC-Lab
Ask Jason about TV production, concert and event produciton, being a founder, international business.
Jason is the co-founder and Managing Director of CC-Lab. CC-Lab are award-winning creators of exciting, innovative and engaging television and digital content, specialising in music and the arts, live events, factual and branded content
Louis Howell – Co-founder, Revolution Hive, Founder; Exponential Marketing
Louis Howell is a dynamic and rounded professional with experience that pans the voluntary youth sector, education sector and the world of small business. Today, he co-runs an educational social enterprise, Revolution Hive, that equips young people for life by running programmes focused on Personal Development, Social Responsibility and Global Awareness at schools, colleges and universities. Louis’ experience has also led to him setting up an expert consultancy, 7PK, that helps charities, social enterprises and corporate organisations to improve their approaches to Youth and Community Development, Diversity and Inclusion and their Social Mobility Initiatives. His other commitments include being a trustee and council member of two UK based charities, and he is a proud member of the 100 Black Men of London. Louis’ central belief is that young people are the leaders of today.
Nick Hurd
Ask Nick about starting NCS, Running for Parliament, Life in Politics, being a Government Minister.
Nick served as the Minister for Civil Society from May 2010 until July 2014, during which time he led the work on setting up the National Citizen Service and Big Society Capital. He was a Minister in the Department for International Development from November 2015 until July 2016, where his portfolio included climate/environment, and leadership of the Energy Africa campaign.
Before entering Government, Nick was a member of Environment Audit Select Committee and led work on climate change policy for the Conservative Party Quality of Life Policy Group, chaired by Lord Deben. He served on the House Of Commons Climate Change Bill Committee and the Joint Committee on the Draft Climate Change Bill. He was a member of the Globe International Parliamentary network for Climate Change and sponsored the Sustainable Communities Act as a Private Members Bill.
Mat Ilic – Chief Development officer, Catch22
Talk to Mat about advising a Prime Minister, working in Charity, youth development, creating new programs, working with Government funding.
15 years’ experience working across the public and non-profit sectors with a focus on social justice. Mat is Chief Development Officer (CDO) at Catch22, a national charity and social business that designs and delivers services which build resilience and aspiration in people and communities. Catch22 works across the social welfare cycle, from cradle to career, delivering services including alternative education schools, family interventions, vocational training and employability programmes, and prisoner rehabilitation. Catch 22 is one of the largest charities working in this space in the UK, with an annual turnover of over £45 million.
He spent two years at No10 Downing Street as Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, covering Home Affairs and Justice Policy. He advised on issues from immigration, to violence reduction and probation reform. He was involved in seminal moments such as the response to the Windrush scandal and the rescheduling of medicinal cannabis in the UK. Mat started his career in the private sector, in PWC’s public sector audit business. He is a Churchill Fellow, a Fellow of the RSA, and holds a degree in Modern History from the University of Oxford and a Master’s in International Relations from the London School of Economics. He
recently joined the Board of JE Delve, a youth project set up by Jamal Edwards MBE, and based in Acton (West London), where Mat grew up after his family emigrated to the UK.
Pete Jeavons – Marketing Communications Director for BT, EE & Plusnet
Ask Pete about brand strategy, brand management, and all things Marketing.
Pete is responsible for BT, EE and Plusnet’s brand strategy, brand management and all marketing activity including media buying, social and digital, advertising, retail marketing and demand generation. Prior to this position, Pete held a number of senior brand marketing roles within EE, including EE Brand Director where he delivered a number of successful and high- profile campaigns such as the launch of the EE TV service, 50% Faster Network and the Wembley Cup. He is responsible for BT and EE’s sponsorship portfolio; BAFTA Film Awards, Glastonbury Festival and Wembley Stadium and the FA Partnership. Before this he was Head of Brand Strategy at EE and led the highly successful creation and delivery of the EE brand and the ongoing strategy that has resulted in it becoming market leader in the UK.
Sandy Ko – EMEA Consumer Search & Apps Marketing, Google
Ask Sandy about product marketing, user research, balancing work and serious hobbies, career development, and growth mindset.
Sandy Ko is a Consumer Product Marketing Manager for Google Search. Her job is to highlight opportunities for Google to create helpful product experiences that people will love, and share them with the world in a memorable way. Her Google adventure started in 2003, where she’s accumulated expertise from roles across New York and London — from managing an advertising platform support team, to strategy and operations, to her present role in product marketing. Prior to Google she was an electrical engineer in Silicon Valley.
Through the evolution of her career, the common themes are (1) a love of problem solving, (2) being energised by solving for the unknown and the unexpected, and (3) sparking curiosity and creativity to identify solutions. She believes that personal and professional growth is constant and plentiful.
She’s also an avid fine art photographer. See her work on her Instagram.
Christelle Kupa – Founder and CEO of an impact investing fund
Ask Christelle about Impact Investing, start up in Africa, venture capital, starting a business.
Christelle Kupa is a founder and CEO of an impact investing fund with over 15 years of experience in investment banking, alternative investments and development finance.
Multi-lingual, as a Belgian national of Congolese heritage, with the majority of her career in the City of London, she’s acted and continues to do so, as a “bridge” to ensure that the combination of social impact and financial return can be achieved. After years in investment banking where she worked on complex financial assets and instruments, Christelle decided to reorient her career towards impact investment in order to serve the people who really matter. As a result, she founded Uhusiano Capital as an enterprise devoted to “real people, real projects, real impact”.
She is committed to touching the lives at the unbanked or at the bottom of the pyramid while ensuring that investors can also have a financial return from quality bespoke structures. She has a degree from the University of Westminster, a BA in Business Studies and Finance. Throughout the span of her career, Christelle has held senior positions in many organisations in financial services including J.P.Morgan and Deutsche Bank, amongst others. Christelle speaks French, English, Flemish, and basic Swahili, which enables her to work more intimately across a wide variety of markets.
She is committed to the diligent governance of financial developments and philanthropic endeavours throughout Africa, including acting as a trustee, for a foundation that focuses on maternal health for African women.
Julia Ledina – Subject Matter Expert – Monetization Google, Inc.
Julia is a Monetization expert at YouTube. Her job is to help prominent media companies and top YouTube creators to find the right revenue strategy. She works with the biggest YouTube business partners advocating for smart business optimization. Before this role Julia was in charge of YouTube operations for European partners getting to know the creators ecosystem and artist management.
Julia has extensive interview experience and regularly participates in the hiring process for Google. Julia is passionate about online media and leadership diversity. She is a winner of the SIFE award for project Encouraging teenage girls from rural areas to pursue a university education and develop professional career. Julia holds two master degrees from European law & Business. Privately, she is a pianist and plays in a London-based music band.
Frank Lampen – Co-founder and CEO; Distill Ventures
Frank has set up several businesses and helped raise over £100m for startups in drinks and eCommerce. He mentors founders and helps them work out their business and brand propositions.
Outside of his day job he volunteers as a project leader at the Kilburn branch of Foodcycle foodcycle.org.uk.
Sara Lord – Senior Vice President, Concord Music
Ask Sara about music publishing, music management, artist management, music industry
Sara started making the tea at Sony Music way back – then went on to managing some incredible artists and bands with a bit of music supervision thrown in. For the last three years Sara has been at Concord as SVP of International Synchronisation and Project Development which is a very long way of saying she tries and makes sure that lots of people who make visual content pay us lots of money to use our wonderful music.
Michael Lynas – Founder, NCS Trust
Ask Michael about starting the NCS Trust, running a not-for-profit, working at Number 10 as an advisor, and management consulting.
Experienced executive with passion for purpose. Michael has worked across all three sectors – for Bain in the private sector, for No10 in the public sector, and founded a not-for-profit with annual income of £180M. He’s excited by working with great people to scale big ideas. Most proud of founding National Citizen Service Trust, building a new national institution enshrined in legislation and by Royal Charter that has created billions of pounds of social value by supporting 600,000 young people – building bridges across social divides and ladders to opportunity. Michael continues to serve NCS as Patron and sits on the Board of the John Browne Charitable Trust.
David Mahoney – Chief Operating Officer; England and Wales Cricket Board
Ask David about Sports management, becoming a lawyer, being Chief Operating Officer, Englands cricket world cups in 2019 (Men) and 2017 (Women).
David is currently chief operating officer at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
Prior to this, he oversaw the strategy, insights, HR, integrity and public policy teams as ECB’s Chief Strategy Officer. Before joining ECB, David held a number of senior roles at Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, including director of policy and chief advisor to its CEO.
He was also seconded into Government in 2009 as a director of the Digital Britain Report, which examined the transformational nature of digital technologies and the policy responses needed as a result.
A qualified lawyer who specialised in competition and media law before joining Ofcom, David is a keen sports fan who enjoys cricket and golf as well as following West Ham United. He joined the Sport England Board on 28th October, 2019, and is serving his first three-year term.
Mike Malak – Senior Agent; Paradigm. Founder, Kid Talks
Talk to Mike about the music business, live concert industry, entrepreneurship.
Mike Malak is a Senior Agent at the global booking agency, Paradigm, where he strategically builds the careers of both emerging and established artists in the live space. Working hand-in-hand with management and labels, Mike ensures that the progression of his artists is complemented by their live work, by locating, negotiating and facilitating shows at some of the world’s most renowned locations and events.
Most notably, over the past 4 years, Mike has worked with and developed the live career of Gen-Z megastar, Billie Eilish, taking her from small stages in East London to sell-out arena tours and festival headlines. In addition to Eilish, Mike represents the likes of Jess Glynne, Finneas, Normani, Girl in Red, Denzel Curry, Alec Benjamin, Powfu and more. He is also heavily invested in the A&R space, currently with a role at Polydor Records and recently launched his label and publishing company, Coldpress Music as he builds further into this area.
Mike started his career 18 years ago working with the Black Eyed Peas, learning all facets of the music industry from tour managing to content creation in sessions with legends such as James Brown, whilst watching the group achieve global dominance in the live performance sphere. It was thanks to this opportunity that Mike progressed into a booking role with the band, scheduling and negotiating the group’s club shows.
Working with the Black Eyed Peas spring-boarded Mike’s career in the live events industry, allowing him to start his own booking agency at the age of 25. With the Black Eyed Peas club shows as one client, and superstar DJ duo LMFAO as the other, Mike moved to CODA Agency one year later, retaining both groups on his roster.
A couple of years later, Mike was named as one of the 30 Under 30 on Musicweek’s annual list. In 2019, CODA Agency merged with US agency Paradigm, where Mike has remained for 9 years. Mike is passionate about the music industry as a whole, and strives to explore every opportunity that lies between music, technology and social media. In 2016 he launched KID Talks, a social enterprise inspiring the youth to join the Music Industry through talks, panels and workshops.
Mike is on a mission to inspire others with his work process and push the live industry forward, by developing new models the integrate live performance with technology, broadening the artist’s reach, whilst furthering revenue streams.
He was nominated for Agent of the Year twice in both 2019 and 2020 by the European Festival Awards and Musicweek respectively.
Mike Malak Socials & Notable links:
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn
How to Stay Ahead of the Curve IQ Magazine
The Innovators IQ Magazine
Musicweek Awards 2020 Shortlist
Ben Miller – Enterprise Account Director, Google Cloud
Ben Miller is an Enterprise Account Director at Google Cloud working with clients in the gaming industry.
Google’s mission statement is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. As part of the Google Cloud team, Ben works with customers to make sure they are using their data in the most exciting ways to deliver great experiences for their end users, including some of the biggest gaming & igaming companies in the UK.
Before Google, Ben spent 6 years in the Cloud Technology industry, working closely to support customers in delivering technology change within their organisations. He has a BA in History from the University of East Anglia, and has recently begun study through Harvard Business School
Keith Morgan – CEO, Young Camden Foundation
Ask Keith about leading a charity; youth work; working at a local authority and leadership.
Keith is an ambitious leader with extensive experience of developing corporate and directorate strategy/plan. Keither is experienced in stakeholder engagement, service design/redesign, project management, and building diverse networks. He enjoys using innovation to create new systems and processes that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. Particularly experienced in delivering large scale projects focused on improving young people’s outcomes.
Damien O’Donohue – CEO, Ikon Talent Management & Carribean Premier League
Ask Damien about entrepreneurship, working in the music and sports industry, starting a professional sports league from scratch.
Damien O’Donohoe trained as a lawyer before going to work in the entertainment business. He started his new career with MCD/Live Nation. He promoted shows with some of the worlds biggest bands including Coldplay, Jay Z, Lady GaGa and U2. He then went onto to set up his own business – IKON media and entertainment. Through this vehicle he has represented talent in the music and sport space and done a number of big sponsorship deals. Damien was the co-founder of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in 2013. The CPL is the second biggest T20 cricket league and this year it will exceed 500m tv viewers globally. IKON is also an investor in esports. They started the first city based franchise league in Australia and also run the esports programme for Formula 1. IKON has a production company called Trombone which produce documentaries and short form content. Damien is also a board member of Quinta do Lago and PGA Catalunya – two of Europe’s most exclusive resorts. Damien is a graduate of Harvard Business School.
Rahul Patel – Associate Product Marketing Manager, Google
Talk to Rahul about his process from GCSEs to where he is now and all the different hurdles he went through.
Rahul Patel is an Associate Product Marketing Manager at Google. He looks after elements of the Consumer Hardware business at key retailers within the UK. He also leads the Go To Market for Google’s Create and Wearable portfolio for the UK. Additionally he has a 20% Project (which is an opportunity to work on something outside of your core role) in Stadia Marketing, which allows him to follow his creative aspirations of working in Marketing.
Rahul didn’t finish his A Levels or University Degree, but managed to land a role at Google via an Apprenticeship. Before joining Google, Rahul worked in a technical consultancy which he got into from his raw passion of technology shortly after leaving school.
Nick Perchard – Head of Community; The Premier League
Nick is Head of Community at The Premier League. The Premier League has organised the top-flight football competition in England since 1992. In that period, attendances have grown by 60% and media rights are now sold to every territory in the world, making it the world’s most watched regular domestic sporting competition.
Nick is responsible for the delivery of the Premier League’s community strategy, which aims to use the appeal of the Premier League and professional clubs to inspire children and young people to realise their potential.
Nick is currently Chairman of the Football Foundation’s National Football Facilities Strategy Advisory Group. In 2016 Nick was appointed as a Trustee of the National League Trust as the Premier League’s representative and also sits on the English Football League Trust’s Board.
Before joining the Premier League Nick was CEO of Hertfordshire FA (2009-2014), and County Development Manager at Essex FA (2006-2009) where he also sat on the Board of the County Sports Partnership. His early career was spent at Watford FC’s Community Sports and Education Trust and QPR FC in the Community.
Keeza Ramzan – Account Manager, Google Cloud
Ask Keeza about a career in sales and retail, and life at Google.
Keeza grew up and went to school in east London. She was the first to go to university in her family, studying economics at Warwick. After this, she took a year out travelling and then started a sales graduate scheme at IBM because she likes working with people and thought she’d be good at it. 4 years later, she moved to Dublin and Google in the process, where she is now a cloud seller to tech companies. Keeza enjoys travelling, good food, movies and playing with her dog Nala.
Simon Redfern – Director of Public Affairs, Europe | Google
Simon is the Director of Public Affairs, Europe for Google. His first job was in a department store in Bournemouth selling saucepans and microwaves which taught him a lot about being a consultant. A great mentor and a passion for politics helped him get a leg up into a consultancy called Connect Communications where he was able to develop his political campaigning skills before jumping into a bigger corporate communications role. This led him to the world of coffee and Starbucks where he drank way too many frappuccinos while heading up the comms team for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Then he uploaded his brain into the tech world at Salesforce and now Google, where he helps build campaigns to explain the company’s values and products to key opinion formers.
Laura Roberts – Head of Brand and Marketing Insights EMEA, Google
Talk to Laura about working in media and technology, building a brand, what is marketing? Life at Google
Laura is Head of Insight for Google EMEA. Laura’s first job was actually in Music, at Ministry of Sound, helping launch the brand Internationally. Much as travelling around and putting on parties was lots of fun, she then decided to move into brand consultancy. Over the next 10 years, she built up the agency she’d joined – Sparkler – into an award winning consultancy and became their Managing Director. The agency worked with clients such as Channel 4, Diageo, Unilever, Amazon and Facebook, helping them understand their consumers and build strategies to drive their marketing and product development. Then 5 years ago she decided to leave agency-life and join Google.
Jonathan Schwarz – Research Scientist, DeepMind
Talk to Jonathan about AI, working at Google, the things you can do now to fulfil your career dreams, and what working as a scientist looks like.
Jonathan Schwarz is a Research Scientist at DeepMind, a company dedicated to building artificial intelligence and using it to solve some of the world’s most important problems.
At DeepMind, he has been interested in building algorithms that can learn from a stream of increasingly more complex problems, similar to how we learn skills as children. Eventually, his goal is to create an AI that can rapidly learn on completely new problems, allowing us to collaboratively work with algorithms: For instance in deciding how to respond to a global pandemic, helping with manual labour or finding new strategies for ancient board games. His work has been published at several internationally renowned scientific conferences and journals.
Prior to joining DeepMind, Jonathan was a PhD Student in AI and Neuroscience at UCL, but also worked on autonomous robots in Germany and climate research in Japan. He graduated top of the class from his Master’s degree at the University of Edinburgh and also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering. In his free time he enjoys long distance runs, playing the piano and cooking. He’s been a supporter of Arsenal FC since his childhood.
Amani Simpson – Social Entrepreneur and youth coach
Amani Simpson is an award-winning social entrepreneur and youth activist. His social enterprise is called Aviard Inspires CIC. It exists to empower young people through personal development, digital media and enrichment opportunities.
He is also the producer and protagonist of the ‘AMANI’ Short Film starring Joivan Wade (The First Purge, Shiro’s Story and Doom Patrol) which amassed 1 million views in 4 days and has been widely acclaimed by both youth and adults. It has now been viewed just under 3 Million views! Amani is using his lived experience and expertise in youth engagement to transform lives across the country.
Kurt Spence – Program Specialist, Employee Referrals, Google
Ask Kurt about interview interview, life at Google, the world of recruitment, advising on career decisions/ choices.
Kurt is a Program Manager in the Recruitment team at Google. He studied Sports Marketing at The University of Northampton before deciding that it wasn’t the path he wanted to follow. Change is ok.
Kurt has been helping people and find the right role for over 5 years. Including supporting people through interview processes, it’s as important to learn about yourself when interviewing as the company you want to work for. He has helped hundreds of people during his time in recruitment.
In his personal time he loves playing Golf & Football and is a life-long Aston Villa fan!
Google is a corporation that was formed to provide internet-based search services, providing accessibility to the world’s online information. Founded in 1998, Google expanded from their initial search-based services into providing advertising, applications and services for mobile internet devices.
Zoe Stern – Community Engagement Lead, Google UK
Ask Zoe about working in broadcast and in the tech industry
Zoe started as a runner in local television, and found that putting her hand up to help out on random projects led to opportunities to travel the world, meeting presidents and movie stars along the way. After a fun and varied career in TV and live news, she brought her black book to Google to help curate content for their big events. Zoe now leads the tech company’s community work in London, which reminds her a little bit of the buzz of live broadcasting in terms of the immediacy of the impact.
Matt Stevens – Chrome Enterprise Sales Lead, Google
Talk to Matt about influencing upwards, networking, and sales approaches.
Matt has been at Google for almost 5 years, initially bringing Android Enterprise to the EMEA market. After success in this go to market drive, he is now introducing Chrome Enterprise to the workplace. As Chrome Enterprise Lead, his core remit is advocating Chrome Enterprise as a viable, alternate platform for enterprise. His experience covers platforms, cloud solutions and manufacturers. He now leads the Public Sector business in the UK and is passionate about what Chrome Enterprise can bring to this space. Before joining Google, Matt has spent time living in Sydney, Australia running a restaurant before coming back to the UK and stints with BlackBerry & Samsung as well as with a B2B startup. Matt holds a BSc (Hons) in Business Information Systems from Portsmouth University.
Jonathan Trimble – Co-founder and CEO; And Rising
Jonathan has over 20 years creative brand and marketing experience. He began his career at the world famous Adam & Eve DDB (six times Campaign’s Agency of the Year), he then joined Fallon (twice Campaign’s Agency of the Year).
From there, he led a breakaway to form And Rising that invests in and is creative partner to some of the world’s fastest growing scale-ups. It is also the UK’s first B Corporation creative agency using business as a force for good.
He has been voted Sunday Times Debrett’s most influential people in advertising, is a Marketing Society Fellow, and B Corporation Ambassador. Talk to Jonathan about marketing, advertising, brands, start-ups, entrepreneurship, and drumming.
Ben Turner – Founder & Owner, Graphite Media
Ask Ben about music management, live music, entrepreneurship, dance music, music supervision, global music industry and booking acts for Apprentice Nation.
Ben Turner is the founder and owner of Graphite, a music management and brand services company, based between London and Los Angeles. Turner is the artist manager for techno and technology icon Richie Hawtin aka Plastikman and the company also represents leading female electronic artists Anna (from Brazil), Nastia (Ukraine) and Sama Abbduhadi (Palestine). Graphite also has a long history of assisting and advising brands in the music space. Turner is the head of an influential global network in the music industry. He is a co-founder with Pete Tong in the International Music Summit in Ibiza (every May), a powerful networking and discussion platform described as ‘the TED of music conferences’. In 2013, he also formed the Association for Electronic Music, a not-for profit trade body to represent the genre. Its concept is to preserve, protect and promote electronic music worldwide. Turner also heads up a technology investment fund called Plus 8 Equities which has invested in Endel; LANDR; Splice and others. Finally, he is a partner in Earworm Music Supervision – overseeing music for TV shows and films for the likes of Amazon; A24; Fox; HBO and Netflix.
Mike Yerou – Software Engineer, Google
Talk to Mike about working at Google, life at a tech company, software engineering, programming, coding, apps, Android.
Mike is a software engineer working at Google. Currently, he is in the Google Play team creating software that Android developers around the world use to publish their apps in the Play Store.
Before joining Google, he did an internship at Amazon Music in San Francisco. He studied Electrical & Computer engineering in Athens, Greece and Computer science in Los Angeles, USA.