Before the talks began, Eleni Stathi (who made the evening and mentoring possible) shared some great insights from this year’s international cohort of 402 mentees and 275 mentors.
The first one being that after reading all 402 applications, the main objective of applicants was not to get ahead but a more existential question: "Do I belong?"
( I remember at the end of a calculus class (when I was at architecture school in San Sebastian) the tutor admitted to my best friend and me to have thought about leaving the profession annually since she qualified. All these years later, the question of "do I belong?"/ "is this for me?" is one that the profession, specially women, continues to struggle with.)
Eleni shared a few other thoughts three of which I would like to highlight:
• We should measure the success of a mentoring relationship by our conversations, the courage found to take on a first step, and even the strength found to remain engaged in the profession, not just promotions achieved.
• Confidence is not a one-time achievement at the start of our career; it is something we have to keep working on.
• Mentoring can help build a community and make our profession more inclusive than it currently is.
I agree with Eleni.
The world is speeding up and it is a good moment for the old definition of success to be revised generally.
For me, confidence is like a muscle to train and keep engaged because new challenges, personal circumstances, or first times do have the habit of catching us by surprise and making us question ourselves and our ability. And it is important to ensure each of us know there are others in the communities we build that have been there and will have our back if we need them to.
It was wonderful to catch up with so many friends and former colleagues who are doing such a great work to move this industry forward for everyone, including Viviana Magnarin, Maribel Mantecon, Anna Ifanti, Karen Fugle, Claire Truman, Stephen Drew, Jade Zheng, Birgit Doyle and Catalina Muñoz. But also many others.
Thank you Eleni Stathi and the Women in Architecture UK team for allowing me to be part of the 2026 programme and HTA Design for hosting the evening. And thank you Helene Seguin for letting me into your journey 😊
For anyone wondering about mentoring programmes to get involved with, here are a few :
WIA: https://lnkd.in/e-Pch3tZ
Women in BIM: https://lnkd.in/eMwSgaKn
FLISS: https://www.fliss.uk/
Women in Stem: https://lnkd.in/eWijwh-T
Stemettes https://lnkd.in/ecHDemUV
For me, confidence is like a muscle to train and keep engaged because new challenges, personal circumstances, or first times do have the habit of catching us by surprise and making us question ourselves and our ability. And it is important to ensure each of us know there are others in the communities we build that have been there and will have our back if we need them to.
It was wonderful to catch up with so many friends and former colleagues who are doing such a great work to move this industry forward for everyone, including Viviana Magnarin, Maribel Mantecon, Anna Ifanti, Karen Fugle, Claire Truman, Stephen Drew, Jade Zheng, Birgit Doyle and Catalina Muñoz. But also many others.
Thank you Eleni Stathi and the Women in Architecture UK team for allowing me to be part of the 2026 programme and HTA Design for hosting the evening. And thank you Helene Seguin for letting me into your journey 😊
For anyone wondering about mentoring programmes to get involved with, here are a few :
WIA: https://lnkd.in/e-Pch3tZ
Women in BIM: https://lnkd.in/eMwSgaKn
FLISS: https://www.fliss.uk/
Women in Stem: https://lnkd.in/eWijwh-T
Stemettes https://lnkd.in/ecHDemUV
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It was a brilliant evening when we looked back at the year and listened to mentors and mentees. My mentee Helene Seguin was invited to share her experience, and I was more than happy to stand by her side as she eloquently spoke about her personal journey.