The Independent Media Agencies of Australia (IMAA) has unveiled its 2024/25 Female Leaders of Tomorrow mentoring programme. The initiative was launched at a 'speed dating' event in Sydney, where mentors and mentees had the opportunity to meet. This follows the successful inaugural programme last year.

The event took place at the oOh!media offices in North Sydney on October 30. Sydney-based mentees had the chance to interview each of this year’s mentors in a 'speed dating' environment, before selecting the top five mentors they would like to be paired with for the programme. The final pairings are set to be announced in the coming weeks.

"We are excited to launch the second round of our Female Leaders of Tomorrow programme, with a fantastic line-up of Australian media industry leaders who are generously volunteering their time to help mentor our industry’s up and coming female talent. We’re incredibly lucky to have such a high calibre of senior media executives bringing their expertise, skills and career learnings to this year’s programme – I am certain their insights will be invaluable to our mentees," said Sam Buchanan, IMAA CEO.

This year’s 14 mentors and mentees also heard from IMAA CEO, Sam Buchanan, WeGrow CEO and Female Leaders of Tomorrow programme facilitator Wendy Gower, and oOh!media National Head of Sales – Direct Clients, Independent Agencies and Boutique Agencies, Tim Elder.

"The inaugural Future Leaders of Tomorrow programme was highly successful, both for the participants and the broader media industry. The feedback from mentors and mentees was that the programme was groundbreaking, well-executed and critical in terms of future-proofing the national media sector. The value of the advice provided by our mentors, particularly to women pursuing senior-level careers in media, cannot be underestimated – we’re hoping it helps encourage our industry’s emerging leaders to be confident to take on bigger roles as they continue their careers," said Wendy Gower, Programme Facilitator.

The programme offers IMAA members the opportunity to be paired with some of the industry’s top leaders for mentoring and professional development. The inaugural programme, which launched in August last year, matched 16 media industry leaders with up-and-coming agency talent in a six-month structured mentoring programme. Participants described the pilot programme as 'life-changing', providing them with newfound leadership skills and confidence.

"I watched the Female Leaders of Tomorrow programme with interest when it launched last year and really admired not just the idea to support our future leaders, but also how well the programme was received. I’m so delighted to be a mentor this year and provide the advice and counsel I was lucky to receive on my career journey. I can’t wait to meet my mentee!" said Leanne Cartwright-Bradford, Mentor from Audible.