WOHO’s Mentoring Program: helping more women achieve in a traditionally male-dominated industry

Established in 2016 to inspire, recruit and mentor women in the often-male dominated world of hospitality and foodservice, Women In Hospitality (WOHO) now boasts more than 500 members across all facets of the industry. The cornerstone of WOHO is its mentoring program and to find out how it works it we spoke to one of the founding mentors, Claire Van Vuuren, and recent mentee Alice Newport.

How WOHO got started

Claire is Head Chef and co-owner of Bloodwood in Newtown, Sydney, before which she worked at Claude’s in Woollahra. About five years ago she was approached by Julia Campbell, who cut her teeth in hospitality in the US and is now National Development Manager for Lion Beverages, to help start up WOHO, initially as a platform for women in the industry to get together, discuss issues, look out for each other and further each other’s careers.

“Julia had been involved in an organisation called Women Chefs and Restaurateurs in New York, and when she returned to Australia she discovered there wasn’t an equivalent here, so she enlisted nine of us to help start one up,” Claire recalls. “We had several informal dinners and group drinks to suss out if people wanted this and it was an overwhelming yes – everyone felt they needed a platform for support and networking. So working together we formed the board and named it Women in Hospitality and it just grew from there. The entire organisation is voluntary – no one is paid, we do it in our spare time.

“What we realised is there’s a whole bunch of senior females in the industry who’ve done really well, and a group of junior people with aspirations to do really well, who have no connection to them. The media always focuses on the same group of successful females and never look at the up and coming women who are therefore left behind in media articles and award programs. The way we can drive change is to connect the up and comers with those who've made it to share knowledge and experience. So our initial focus was to offer a mentoring program which was a formalisation of what we had already been doing.

“The mentoring program is at the core of what WOHO does – essentially we're a foundation to further the career development of females in the industry and make sure they're put up for promotions, that they can progress through different sectors quickly, meet any challenges that come to them, and develop their skills in a safe environment. Females are notoriously not confident in putting themselves forward for senior positions like executive chef, so this is a way of ensuring women are putting themselves forward so they can get the respect they deserve in the industry.

“If you want to get into the stats, there are more females in the industry than males, but still proportionally more males in the higher positions – there are many more male head chefs than female head chefs. So women are not rising through the ranks into the senior roles – and the question is, if the industry is more than 50 per cent females, why are they not getting through into the higher positions?”

Claire says that today the tide is turning in favour of women, but adds, “It certainly requires nurturing and guidance to ensure it doesn’t slip back and that the best person is always put forward for the job. There are still some venues and sectors where it’s a boys club. I think programs like ours can only help – a young girl should be able to say, ‘I can be in hospitality’ and networking, getting yourself known in the industry, is really going to help your career.”

How the mentoring program works

Each December WOHO opens a new round of applications, with the program starting in February and running for 12 months. “We get applications from mentees and mentors, because it’s rewarding to participate on both sides,” Claire explains. “The ideal number for us is 20 to 25 pairs of mentors/mentees. It’s completely free, you just write your application and submit your CV. It’s open to anyone from front of house, back of house, chefs, food writers, the beverage side – there’s currently a big interest from women in working as distillers, brewers and sommeliers.

“Once the applications close off we try to find a place for everyone – assigning suitable mentors to suitable mentees. We sit down, Julia, Lisa Hobbs and myself, go through everyone’s applications and start pairing mentees to mentors. If we don’t have a mentor to suit we try to source them whenever we can. Then there’s the formal phone call of ‘we've found a match, would you two like to work together’?

“We make the introduction, then when the program begins it’s very much up to the pair as to what they would like to do together. Some are very hands-on and meet fortnightly or weekly in person (pre-Covid) – our minimal amount is once a month via phone call, Zoom or in person. We give an outline of 15 questions in the beginning and a form they submit so they have a goal to work towards together. They’re then supposed to take things into their own hands to get this done.

“We do a couple of check ins to see how it’s going over the year. So it's quite fluid depending on the pairing – some are very structured with note-taking, while others are more informal, preferring to meet up over a coffee or a glass of wine. We have a launch party at the start of each program intake and a graduation party at the end, although we’ve had to stop these during Covid.”

Participation as a mentee proved invaluable for Alice

For Alice Newport, Brand Specialist at multinational wine and spirits supplier Pernod Ricard – she describes her role as a combination of “advocacy, education, brand engagement and activation” – participation as a mentee in the inaugural 2019 WOHO program proved so valuable that she is now hoping to return to the program in a mentoring role herself.

“I was lucky enough to be paired with Lisa Hobbs, one of the founding directors of WOHO and a highly accomplished CEO and hospitality executive – she is an absolute powerhouse and  I can't say enough good things about her,” Alice recalls. “I wanted to get a handle on governance, strategic thinking and a little bit of financial management too – I had done some of this stuff before but in a more junior role and 10 years earlier, so I really wanted to reinvigorate myself in that space. After we'd initially touched on those things we then worked on my personal development and process within my role, and Lisa was really good at helping me realise what I could already bring to the table, which was incredibly positive for me. She opened my mind to what I could do – I suppose you could call it positive reinforcement – and was terrific in facilitating open and positive feedback and discussion.

“What I loved about each mentoring session was it really forced you to be aware of what you wanted to talk about. I had to gather my thoughts; it's a very reflective process, it forces you to concentrate – even if you don't have anything to talk about, that's positive in itself, but you don't want to waste your time or the mentor's time. Lisa's a very busy person so for her to take the time is huge, so you’re forced to focus and distil your thoughts down. 

“The best part was just knowing I could reach out to her and she'd be there for me. I graduated from the program last year and we're still in contact and have caught up since, so I know that relationship is ongoing, it isn't just done with the end of the program, and I think that’s so important in mentoring – that you build a relationship which is going to continue on. I've made clear to Lisa that at some point I would like to come on board as a mentor myself and I think that's a testament to the value of the program, that I’m keen to be involved on the other side.”

Claire likewise emphasises the value of participation mentees and mentors alike: “For a mentee, mentoring is essential to furthering your career; as opposed to coaching, mentoring is done on your own terms – you're not given a list or a test, you have to figure out for yourself what aspects of your career need assistance, you need to set goals for yourself and this can be best done with someone who has experience and something to offer you in terms of knowledge. Mentoring is essentially a foundation for you to further your career so long as you put the effort in.

“For a mentor, when you sit down with a mentee and go through the basics it’s like a reality check – you realise how much you’ve achieved in your own career and how your experiences have combined to make you who you are. And going through the basics again reiterates them and clarifies your own journey, makes you appreciate what’s happened and how you've got through it. Which is very rewarding in itself. In addition you often make these nice young friends who text you random questions that are really fun – and it gives you a sense of community and connection. 

“The main aspect of the program we struggle with is finding enough mentors – so we need them to come forward. We would encourage both women and men who feel they have something to contribute, who are willing to take the time to give back to the industry and support young people, to please get involved.”

To find out more about WOHO’s Mentoring Program click the link below