Advanced Television

Wonder Women reveals 2025 mentors and mentees

January 30, 2025

Wonder Women CIC, the inspirational women’s network that champions the elevation of diverse women into senior leadership in Television and the Creative industries, has announced its 2025 cohort for its annual year-long Wonder Women Mentoring Programme.

The Wonder Women Mentoring Programme is the industry’s only year-long, nationwide mentoring programme that supports diverse women (cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, ages, LGBTQ+, abilities, geographic origin, socioeconomic status) at mid-senior level in their careers in Television and the Creative Industries, bringing mentees together with leading industry executives. Supporting social mobility, employability and diversity & inclusion in TV, the game-changing programme is designed to aid industry retention and to develop the next generation of female leaders.

This year’s mentors are:

  • Angela Ferreira, Executive Producer and MD, Douglas Road Productions and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Ambassador, Banijay UK
  • Babita Bahal, Group Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Fremantle UK
  • Beth Pattinson, Executive Producer, New Regency
  • Camilla Lewis, CEO, Curve Media
  • Caroline O’Neill, Assistant Commissioner, Daytime & Early Peak, BBC
  • Clare Mottershead, Head of Factual and Formats, Orchard Studios
  • Daisy Scalchi, Head of Religion and Ethics, BBC
  • Dawn Beresford, Director of Talent & Skills, BBC Commissioning
  • Emma Bell, Executive Producer and Media Consultant
  • Emma Thomas, Freelance Continuity Script Supervisor
  • Fatima Salaria, Executive Producer, Dancing Ledge
  • Fliss Williams, Freelance Line Producer
  • Fozia Khan, Head of Unscripted, UK Originals, Amazon Studios
  • Helen Alexander, Managing Director, Formosa Group UK
  • Helen Veale, Freelance Development Executive
  • Kate Devlin, Director of Development, Boom
  • Katie Benbow, Director of Strategy – Factual, BBC Studios
  • Kirsty Hanson, Senior Commissioning Editor, UKTV
  • Lara Akeju, Executive Coach & Executive Producer
  • Lauren Ellis Jones, Managing Director, Picture Shop Bristol
  • Liz McIntyre, Director, ScreenCraft Works
  • Mandy Chang, Freelance Executive Producer
  • Natascha Cadle, Co-Founder and Creative Director, ENVY
  • Nicola Hill, Managing Director, Orchard Studios
  • Sarah Asante, Commissioning Editor, Scripted, UKTV
  • Seetha Kumar, Non-executive Director/ former ScreenSkills CEO
  • Soleta Rogan, Managing Director, Rogan Productions
  • Sophie Leonard, Creative Director, Samphire Films
  • Sue Walton, Commercial & Development Executive, ITV
  • Tara Erer, Head of Northern Europe Originals, Prime Video & Amazon Studios
  • Vicky Bennetts, Head of Talent, Wall To Wall & Twenty Twenty Productions
  • Amit Kaur, Produce/Director
  • Anna Chacko, Producer
  • Anna Thomson, Series Producer
  • Bisola Elizabeth Alabi, Screenwriter
  • Carol Harding, Producer
  • Chantal Barnes, Development Executive
  • Clare Fisher, Series Producer
  • Claudia Sermbezis, TV Reporter/Presenter
  • Despina Ladi, Screenwriter
  • Ella Natalia Hopkins, Senior Producer
  • Ellie Durak, VFX Editor, GFX Editor
  • Eva Edo, Screenwriter and Film Writer/Director
  • Gail Jenkinson, Director of Photography
  • Grace Viora, Amateur Writer / Company Director
  • Jessica Boyd, Actor/Writer/Director/Audiobook narrator
  • Julia Bond, Senior Development Producer
  • Kath Pick, Series Producer / Senior Content Producer
  • Leanne Chuter, Producer/Director
  • Misan Aviomoh, Assistant Producer
  • Nadine Tayar, Deputy Series Producer
  • Paula Hines, Script Consultant, Editor & Writer
  • Rachel Ivy, Online Educator / Teacher / Presenter
  • Rosa Rogers, Director
  • Saleyha Ahsan, Freelance Broadcaster and Filmmaker
  • Shakira Akabusi, Presenter / Speaker / Women’s Health Expert
  • Sobha Bhatia, Senior Edit Producer
  • Tamsin Eames, Producer/Director/Reporter
  • Vanessa Coates, Series Producer
  • Venita Kidza, Senior Producer
  • Vicky Matthews, Producer Director
  • Zuelika Brown, Series Editor

The career-enhancing mentoring programme takes place over 12 months, the longest industry mentoring programme of its type, to aid retention and elevation of the industry’s top, female future leaders. Over the course of the year, participants will take part in a transformational programme featuring monthly 1-2-1 mentoring, online masterclasses taught by leading executive coaches, networking opportunities within the Wonder Women community, and access to Wonder Women’s annual live events, that brings together leading industry speakers for inspirational panels, keynotes and Q&As.

To celebrate the 2025 cohort, last night Wonder Women held a launch event for this year’s industry mentors and mentees participating in the 2025 Wonder Women Mentoring Programme. The event was held at the headquarters of the Film and TV Charity, which welcomed both mentees and mentors to meet and celebrate the start of the programme.

Wonder Women is one of the recipients of the Film & TV Charity’s Reel Impact fund to support mid to senior level Black and Global Majority individuals, as well as Black and Global Majority-led production companies and organisations working behind the scenes in film, TV, and cinema. This funding is contributing towards the running of the year-long Mentoring Programme.

Wonder Women founder and CEO Ria Hebden said: “We are at a significant time of change within the industry – with tightened budgets, a reduction in jobs and a decline in DE&I focus. It is more important than ever to provide impactful and transformative training and mentorship to help maintain the workforce, at a critical time when so many women – particularly from underrepresented groups – are on the brink of leaving the industry. It is vital that we cultivate and nurture pathways for diverse women to have thriving careers in the industry and rise up into senior leadership, which in turn helps improve representation across the industry and in the stories that are told on-screen. We also know how this positively impacts workplace culture, diversifies content and gives women a voice at the table in senior leadership decision-making. We are now in the fourth cohort of the Wonder Women Mentoring Programming, and the results produced so far have demonstrated what a transformational experience it is for the mentees, many of whom have proceeded into more senior industry roles as a direct result of participating in the programme. It is my hope that the programme, along with our inspirational live events, podcast and online membership, continues to drive making our industry more inclusive, equitable and creative for all.”

Anita Herbert, Reel Impact Programme Manager Film & TV Charity, added: “The Wonder Women Mentoring Programme is a brilliant example of the best kind of collaboration – with a wide variety of industry stakeholders coming together to give women access to opportunities that they often do not have, for a host of different reasons. Having met some of the mentees and mentors at the launch, I feel incredibly proud that the Film and TV Charity’s Reel Impact programme was able to support Wonder Women with an award that will elevate women from all areas of the industry. I was also pleased to accept the invitation to join the organisation’s “sisterhood”, an amazing group of women, and I’m very much looking forward to hearing how the mentees’ progress and thrive as a result of the programme. I wish Ria and the team at Wonder Women every success as they help to build women, sustain their careers in the industry and create lasting legacy.”

Since participating on the Wonder Women Mentoring Programme previous mentees have gone on to new roles and career progression milestones. Examples include:

  • 2024 mentee and Director, Ali Naushahi has directed a regency drama for the BBC
  • 2024 mentee and Writer, Eleonora Mignoli has signed a shopping agreement with Studio Cook to adapt Hannah Persaude’s Codes of Love novel for TV
  • 2022 Mentee, showrunner SueMay Oram’s Netflix series Sprint has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary
  • 2022 mentee & presenter, Sharuna Sagar has been nominated for Best Presenter in the Regional RTS Awards in the Northeast & the Borders
  • 2021 mentee and executive producer, Sidra Khan is now a Commissioning editor at the BBC

Founded in 2017 by television presenter Hebden, Wonder Women was born out of an industry need to build a diverse and supportive community among women from underrepresented and marginalised groups and to share the collective wisdom from the most experienced women in Television and the Creative Industries. Wonder Women’s vision is to champion, inspire, empower and connect the next generation of diverse, female leaders from all backgrounds and identities, through a unique, intersectional approach, that supports their professional and personal development. This is accomplished through a series of activities including the annual Wonder Women Live! and Wonder Women Conference live events, the inspirational Wonder Women TV podcast, the monthly online Wonder Women Power Hour session, a year-long, nationwide Wonder Women Mentoring Programme and the recently launched Wonder Women Membership.

Wonder Women is a Community Interest Company (CIC), steered by a distinguished advisory board of female leaders from Studio Lambert’s Senior Production Accountant Nicole Marie Joseph, Orchard Studios MD Nicola Hill, Systemic Leadership Coach Remi Olajoyegbe, Media Relations Expert Sharon Ezzeldin, Legal Counsel Hayley Brady from Herbert Smith Freehills and Anne-Marie Douglas, Founder & Co-CEO Peer Power Youth.

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