Yoko Akama (DESIAP, Japan & Australia): “The reason why we felt this was an important program is because women in creative sectors often face common barriers, which is what we heard, to do with lack of access, support and opportunities and the things that were available to them, like leadership and mentorship training tended to focus on skills and individual improvements. What we wanted to try and think about was to reframe what leadership and mentoring might be.”
Yvonne Tan (Malaysia): “I think…definitely change how I approach things because I was given so much freedom to … chart my own path… before this…. … it’s always very hierarchical: ‘this is the way you follow me and then you can do my path basically’. And it’s just something you just have to struggle as a young woman, you know? And then …when you’re older, then you can start your own path. But I think this mentoring program made me realize like, no, …I do have the space, I have the freedom to kind of … think and be proactive about thinking where I want to go, my trajectory.”
Armani Shahrin (Malaysia): “When I first joined, I expected to have more structured work, but it was very refreshing to see a very organic way of doing the mentorship. And I wasn’t used to it, but it made me open up more…I felt like I was given permission to be more creative or to think out of the box, and I got inspiration from that.”
Sarah Teasley (DESIAP, Canada & Australia): “Our focus throughout the project has been on relationship building as a way of building trust, and creating a supportive environment in which women feel listened to. Kindness and generosity are how we try to work, we try to have that as the basis for how we work, and we’ve been really trying to create a space for women and supporting them to have voice, rather than the more top-down, skills based approach of many leadership and mentoring programs. The other key aspect in that is recognising the value that everyone brings to their communities and to the project, regardless of age, or any other aspect, and tailoring how women are supported to their interest and their ways of working.”
Junyi Mah (Malaysia): “I think that transformation is very personal. I felt that I’ve grown so much in the past year because I was able to find ways to help myself or to ask for help. And they say, you can’t pour from an empty cup. I feel that the whole program is a process of getting different things into my cup and the process and the experience of receiving kindness and support from the program allows me to then give, pass the kindness to other people in my context or in my work environment.”