Let it shine!

Last month I was thrilled to be nominated for a Shine Award, an awards programme which, since 2004, has been 'recognising and celebrating the achievements of outstanding women in the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sector'. The paucity of women in the top jobs in this sector is something that, perhaps shamefully, over the years I have simply become accustomed to. But it came as something of a shock to learn that, from research carried out by People 1st, whilst over 60% of the sector workforce is made up of women, only 6% of board director positions are filled by women. So now, in order to support the development and retention of good women in this male dominated field, I'm adopting a new mentoring role. Whilst I have informally mentored many young women in my time as a manager, director and consultant, my skills and experience are now about to be tested in a more formal fashion. From next month, my mentee will be a French post-graduate student, studying for a Masters in International Tourism Management. I'm due to meet her soon to begin our mentoring journey together. I'm sure we both have much to learn and I hope to report back on progress in a future blog - a bientot !