In the run-up to International Women’s Day 2025, we sat down for a conversation about this year’s theme of accelerating action and what that means in light of our work.
Accelerating action is all about increasing the momentum and urgency with which we’re addressing the systemic barriers and biases that women face in our society. It’s a topic that’s even more relevant this year as we’re seeing a troubling trend, particularly in the US, with strong push back against diversity and inclusion principles, and against the need to take action.
It was something that all of our panel agreed with – the importance of pushing forward with these conversations and taking real action to break down the barriers that girls and young women are facing, especially as they leave school and embark on their careers.
We were joined by a fantastic panel for the discussion:
Halima Afrah, one of ReachOut’s Project Officers in London. Halima is responsible for the day-to-day running of a number of our projects, helping to make sure that they have a really positive impact on the lives of the young people who take part.
Sarah Neild, Executive Director, Head of Cyber Retail at Howden – one of our corporate partners. Sarah and Howden have been fantastic in their working with us to give mentees insights into their industry through speaking at our projects and hosting workplace experience visits.
Glorious Okosun, a former ReachOut mentee and member of our alumni community who talked to us about her experience of taking part in ReachOut as a young person.
It was a great conversation, focusing on topics such as the importance of celebrating audacity, the impact of representation in the workplace, how we can close the gap between potential and opportunity and how our mentees gave our speakers hope for the future. You can watch it in full above, or open it in YouTube here.
“At first, I was really hesitant to take on the Project Leader role, despite having mentored with ReachOut. However, with the support of the team I’ve really developed my skills. For example, at the Mentee Graduation, I stood up in front of 200 people and presented an award which is something I would never ever have been able to have done before, and isn’t an opportunity I could gain in my other situations.”
Amy McCutcheon, Project Leader at ReachOut Academy, Dean Trust Ardwick, Manchester.
“Being able to spend the summer working at Rede Partners, was an amazing experience. Whether it was working in HR or Finance, I learned so much about the world of private equity, made great connections with fantastic people and I got to learn first-hand what it would be like to work there! I really believe that I can go onto build the career I want now I’ve been a part for a workplace for real”
Victor Adekunle, 18 years old, ReachOut Ambassador, London
“When I first my mentee, she was very reluctant to participate in the sessions. Now, I see a completely different person! Her confidence has grown and she is happy to join in! She still has some self-doubt when it comes to academic work, but that’s what I hope to help her overcome, because she is a very bright person!
Through mentoring, I’ve learnt I’m a lot more patient than I realised. There will be days where she refuses to participate and those are the days that I really see the importance of the character strengths, for both the mentees and the mentors. It also makes it easier for the mentee to understand the character strengths, when I use them myself”
Myrtle, ReachOut Club mentor at Tufnell Primary School, London
“There are more distractions than ever outside of school, and the commitment of our students to attend ReachOut sessions is testament to the value they place on the relationships they foster there, and the challenge and enjoyment they provide.
ReachOut’s focus on communication skills and character development has become an important aspect of our provision of support for these students. The opportunity to relate to a positive role- model other than their usual teachers is key to the programme’s impact, and the evidence of this has been seen in the students’ attendance, resilience and to their overall progress across all the subjects in the school.”
Thomas Janvrin, Assistant Vice Principal at the Petchey Academy London
