“I had just assumed when I started it that it would be a passion project, a side project, that I would be able to do very much in conjunction with my day-to-day role,” says Vanessa Murray, an asset manager at developer Stanhope, who one year ago on International Women’s Day founded Mentoring Circle. 

The idea of asking senior women to boost the confidence of more junior staff began on a small scale, with just a handful of colleagues and friends taking part. “I identified a few women that I worked with who I thought were brilliant but they just weren’t putting themselves forward for the opportunities that they should be. And I equally knew some brilliant women who I knew would be good mentors.”

But from those small beginnings the mentoring scheme has ballooned in numbers just through word of mouth. 

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