On January 31st, Wonder Women CIC held a launch event to connect this year’s industry mentors and mentees who will participate in the 2024 Wonder Women Mentoring Programme, the industry’s only year-long, nationwide mentoring programme that supports the retention and elevation of diverse, female leaders who are at mid-senior level in their careers in Television and the Creative Industries.

The event was held at the headquarters of the Film and TV Charity, the organisation that supports the mental health and financial wellbeing of behind-the-scenes workers while also championing greater equity and inclusion for workers at every stage of their careers. An assembly of 30 highly-influential industry leaders with representatives from BBC Studios, All3Media International, Amazon Studios UK, Fremantle UK and UKTV among others, will now collectively embark on a 12 month journey of 1-2-1 mentoring and online masterclasses taught by leading executive coaches as a strategic intervention to retain and elevate the industry’s top, female future leaders.

Reflecting on this pinnacle moment, Founder and CEO, Ria Hebden commented: “People are the heart of any business and freelancers are the backbone of the creative sector. Investing in their training and development is key to retaining the workforce during such challenging times. I’m so proud of how Wonder Women CIC is developing the next generation of conscious leaders through our year-long transformational Mentoring Programme, making the sector more inclusive, equitable and creative for all to thrive.”

Marcus Ryder, CEO,  Film and TV Charity, said: “It’s an absolute pleasure and honour to host the Wonder Women mentoring event here, we love working with you all and want to work with you more. We look after the mental, social and financial wellbeing of everyone working in Film and Television, but most importantly, we are a space, we are a community and we want the Film and TV Charity to be your home. We are so happy to support the work you are doing and that Ria is doing in any way we can”.

Now, officially a Community Interest Company, Wonder Women CIC, steered by an distinguished  advisory board which includes; Orchard Studios Managing Director, Nicola Hill, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, Legal partner, Hayley Brady, Media Relations expert, Sharon Ezzledin and Systemic Leadership Coach, Remi Olajoyegbe, is expanding its current offering, scaling the transformational leadership programme from 20 to 30 women, who’ll receive free, year-long leadership and development training. The course masterclasses, which equip and empower freelancers with the necessary skills and tools required to navigate and overcome the multitude of adversities many in the freelancing community are currently facing, will now be available to all freelancers with subsidised access via the website.

Founded in 2016 by Ria, the Wonder Women TV brand has since evolved to become a diverse community of freelancers and women who work in Television and the Creative industries who connect at a series of live events produced by Wonder Women CIC that include the prestigious all-day Wonder Women Conference held at BAFTA; Wonder Women Live held on International Women’s Day at Westworks in White City, and through the inspirational Wonder Women podcast which features interviews with leading female trailblazers that include; the late Kay Mellor, perfumer Jo Malone and former CEO of Banijay, Lucinda Hicks who share insights and advice from their career journeys.

●   Amanda Lyon – Executive Producer, BBC Studios

●   Angela Ferreira – Managing Director, Douglas Road Productions

●   Anjani Patel – Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Pact

●   Babita Bahal – Group Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Fremantle UK

●   Clare Mottershead – Head of Factual & Formats, Orchard Studios

●   Donna Taberer – Training and Development Consultant for Amazon Prime and Amazon Studios

●   Elizabeth McIntyre – Director of ScreenCraftWorks

●   Emma Thomas – BAFTA award-winning Script Editor

●   Fiona Lamptey – BAFTA award-winning Film Executive

●   Fozia Khan – Head of Unscripted, Amazon Studios UK

●   Gemma Thomas – Deputy Head of Production for BBC Studio’s Factual Entertainment & Events

●   Jasmine Dotiwola – Producer & D&I Specialist

●   Judith Hay – Series Producer

●   Kate Thomas – Executive Producer

●   Katie Benbow – Director of Strategy for BBC Studios

●   Lara Akeju – Former Commissioning Editor for Entertainment and Daytime at ITV

●   Mandy Chang – Creative Director, Undeniable

●   Meera Thavasothy – Live TV Director BBC

●   Melanie Bines – Production Executive, 72 Films

●   Nicola Hill – Managing Director, Orchard Studios

●   Rachel Job – SVP Non-Scripted Content at All3Media International

●   Ria Hebden – TV Presenter, ITV

●   Ruby Kuraishe – Commissioning Editor, BBC Entertainment

●   Samantha McMillon – Chief Operating Officer, Quay Street Productions

●   Samantha Lawrence – Managing Director, Box To Box Films

●   Samantha Stewart – Managing Director, 72 Films

●   Sarah Asante – Comedy Commissioner, UKTV

●   Sidra Khan – Assistant Commissioner, BBC

●   Sonal Patel – Series Producer

●   Vicky Bennetts – Head of Talent for non-scripted at Wall to Wall & Twenty Twenty Productions

●   Alia Naushahi – Writer/Director

●   Alice Coulson – Producer

●   Anu Bains – Producer

●   Charlotte Smith – Exec Producer

●   Cherry Sandhu – Series Producer

●   Claudia Webster – Series Producer & Director

●   Deniz Kevalali – Editor

●   Eleanor Mignoli – Screenwriter

●   Georgina Bobb – Production Manager

●   Jacqueline Baker – Development Producer

●   Katie Crawford – Senior Producer

●   Katrina Inkster – Producer/Director

●   Louise McNab – Commercial Director

●   Louise Pirie – Producer/Director

●   Makon Bessala – Producer/Director

●   Michaela Storm Moir  – Producer/Director

●   Michelle Eagleton – Regional Presenter

●   Natalie Zinbung – Production Supervisor

●   Naveed Chowdhary-Flatt- Showrunner

●   Nicola Leddy – Producer/Director

●   Rachel Dupuy – Director

●   Rebecca Coley – Director

●   Remi Morrison – Producer

●   Ruchika Tagore – Development Executive

●   Sarah Connor – Producer/Director

●   Sarah Granville – Script Editor

●   Soul Nazemi – Edit Producer

●   Sylvia Mukasa – Production Manager

●   Tulasi Das – Assistant Producer

●   Taira Akbar – Film Producer