The 2020 She Mentors award winners have been announced and we’re celebrating all our winners for their achievements during this pandemic year!

There are hardly words to describe the transformative year our community of women has had inside the She Mentors membership! Individually, we’ve faced pitfalls, changes and challenges. Collectively, we’ve seen each other through them. Through the power of mentoring and friendship, we’ve navigated through redundancies, pivoted businesses and career directions, and rallied over critical moments of failure and triumph.

What 2020 has taught us is that we are so much more than a business networking group – we are friends, family and sisters! We’re here to support one another’s career goals, but we’re also there for each other, through the tears and the laughter.

This year, instead of gathering together under one roof for our usual Chrissy party, we held a different kind of celebration – a Goodbye 2020 Awards Night (yes, live on Zoom!). So, let’s wave goodbye to the strangest year of our lives and celebrate each other’s resilience, support and incredible achievements!

Bring on 2021, ladies! 💪

She Mentors Awards Night Video 2020 from Ali on Vimeo.

Mentor of the Year

Ann Pocock

We’re thrilled to present the winner of our Mentor of the Year 2020 award: the amazing Ann Pocock! When Ann faced the challenge of being made redundant last year, she did something incredible: she upped the number of Mentor Hours she GAVE to support others! It’s no surprise that Ann has been described as “magical” “generous” and someone who puts others at ease. We absolutely admire Ann’s generosity to #GiveBack and make this community feel even stronger!

“Having a community of like-minded ladies by my side this year has helped me navigate my career change. My last role was made redundant at the end of last year and with COVID19 significantly impacting the job market, giving me more time and space to reassess what was important to me, I made the decision a few months ago to stop applying for jobs and not go back to a full-time marketing leadership role. This year, I have met so many go-getting entrepreneurial She Mentors members who have helped me to see the possibilities and get some oomph in my stride to create my own path and not look back.”

“You made space for me when I didn’t know where my space was." – Ann Pocock

Biggest Win of 2020

Sarah Kerr

Sarah Kerr has been an integral part of our membership from day one. Not only did we have the pleasure of interviewing her on the podcast this year, we’ve watched her business journey as co-founder at The Customer Agency go from strength to strength.

Her commitment to She Mentors has been incredible and she has shown enormous strength, resilience and generosity in 2020. In recognition of all this, our community all voted and named Sarah for Biggest Win of 2020 in our private Facebook group!

“Even the smallest wins have been wins and we’ve gotta acknowledge that!” – Sarah Kerr

Best COVID Comeback

Soraya Sultan

Suffering a pretty devastating blow by being made redundant during lockdown didn’t slow our Soraya Sultan down for long. In fact, she kept showing up to all our events and forming important connections with so many of our members in the Mentor Hour. Now she has a brand new role!

Soraya, we are all so proud of how you handled yourself this year – that’s why we named you winner of our Best COVID Comeback award 2020!

“I’m truly grateful to have found my squad and this is a truly amazing squad to be part of.” – Soraya Sultan

Most Courageous Moment

Jessica Bilston

Jess Bilston is an exemplar in our community of the power that being vulnerable has to strengthen connections. Jess is the founder of Positive HR and the winner of our Most Courageous Moment award for sharing her story of overcoming great challenges during our Power of Storytelling Masterclass with Diana Nguyen.

“Finding this community has been like a savior. It's such a safe place to be vulnerable and get that support when we're going through things that people can’t visibly see. With vulnerability comes growth. We can all speak up and be vulnerable but be in a really safe environment and have that support” – Jessica Bilston.

Rising Star

Lakshita Sharma

The winner of our Rising Star award absolutely deserves to be recognised! Lakshita Sharma shone during lockdown with her noticeable energy and positivity, particularly in the face of a challenging year. She moved to Australia this year, leaving her family in India and husband in Canada. She quickly got to work networking, upskilling and using the Mentor Hour to gain clarity, focus and confidence when she needed it most.

Congratulations, Lakshita. We always love seeing people rise above the challenges and flourish, and we can’t wait to see what 2021 has in store for you!

“As I always say, the support and guidance and connection one receives from the Mentor Hours is so inspiring and irreplaceable. This is one of the best decisions to join this club.” – Lakshita Sharma

Most Supportive Member

Melissa Martin

A shining light in our membership this year, Melissa Martin brings a calm, generous energy to the group and is always on the lookout for ways to celebrate and amplify other members. Our winner of Most Supportive Member, one huge memorable moment from Mel was the video she posted in our Facebook group of her playing the guitar and encouraging other members to share their ‘hobbies of the heart. We love Mel for her orientation to building deeper, more meaningful relationships with everyone!

You’ve made a big impact on a lot of people during a year when connection became so important.

“I’ve loved being a member and am forever grateful for the support I’ve received from others. I feel like I won it on behalf of everybody because everyone in this group is so supportive. If I hadn’t joined She Mentors what would I have done during lockdown?” – Melissa Martin

Top of the Charts

Biggest Event of the Year

Jane Taylor

Jane Taylor is a Positive Leadership Practitioner with a mission of bringing positive psychology into business and life. She’s also the winner of our Biggest Event of the Year award!

In July, an impressive 75 of our members joined Jane for a Masterclass on self-compassion. This particular event came at JUST the right time for us all, mid-pandemic. Jane talked about the importance of having a mindfulness practice, self-forgiveness, understanding our inner thoughts and criticisms.

Jane said, “It was a gift for me to be there and to share that with you because [mindfulness has] been such a big influence in my life.”

We’re absolutely thrilled to have Jane as part of the membership and encourage every single one of you to check out the replay of her Fierce Self-Compassion: A Kinder Way To Courage Masterclass.

Most Popular Podcast Ep

Lesia Molloy

Leisa Molloy is a Workplace Psychologist and Leadership Coach, whose specialty is in helping leaders and teams to become more 'human' in the way they navigate important workplace conversations and relationships. She is also the winner of our Biggest Podcast Ep. award!

This year, we were thrilled to have Leisa join us on the She Mentors podcast for a discussion on How to Have Difficult Conversations. This ep was SO popular that it scaled the charts in Australia, Sweden and Singapore! Congrats Leisa!

“Ultimately, everyone benefits when we learn how to more skilfully navigate those conversations that really matter – the ones that have a lasting impact on trust, connection, and relationships.

“[She Mentors] is seriously the most psychologically safe community I’ve been in. If I can help just one person navigate a tricky solution then my job is done” – Leisa Molloy

Most Active Community Member

Claudia Navarro

This year our Facebook group has boomed with members sharing insights and supporting each other. This year, we’ve had more 844 posts, 6,400+ comments and 16,600+ reactions! Taking home the award for Most Active Community Member, the lovely Claudia Navarro has left 50+ comments in support of others! We love her attitude of always showing up and encouraging other members with kind words and mentor recommendations. She’s first in putting her hand up to help other people, and was generous enough to host a Group Mentor Hour for us in lockdown. Claudia, we have loved how much you have championed others this year. You've been such a constant support to so many!

“Feeling that someone is beside us, cheering and holding us even when we can't physically see them can be the difference between having the strength to keep going or give up. Supporting others cost nothing, and the ripple effect it has on people and the broader community is huge. We're all creating our paths, and that's worth celebrating!” – Claudia Navarro

Most Loved Up Mentor Hour

Hannah Scherwitzel and Shonny Davis

We would be crazy not to award the Most Loved-Up Mentor Hour award to these two after the warm and fuzzy feels their gorgeous Mentor Hour pic gave us earlier this year. Shonny Davis and Hannah Scherwitzel are absolute She Mentors legends, and to see them together in-person, was a real highlight for the team here.

These two really exemplify the power of connection when two people come together to share their experiences (and a homemade meal!). As Shonny said, “The best part was feeling a new level of empowerment.”

“One of the biggest things I took away was having this genuine human conversation with Hannah where I could be open and raw about the challenges going on, and my own limiting beliefs.” – Shonny

“Just being in that woman’s energy is amazing. Shonny is all sparkles and sunshine.” – Hannah Scherwitzel

Best Collab

Brainy Box X Art by Ames – Ajita Joshi, Sherry Emami and Amy Nhan

We love nothing more than seeing our members collaborate and work together. This particular collaboration was really creative and fun, bringing together two great minds in different industries. This year, we HAD to award Best Collab of 2020 to Brainy Box and Art By Ames!

Amy Nahn (the brains behind Art by Ames) joined forces with Brainy Box’s Ajita Joshi and Sherry Emami, to create a special Mother’s Day Iso gift box. We absolutely loved seeing this come to life. Congrats for getting this off the ground!

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