Wine Industry Mentoring Program broadens horizons for mentees and mentors alike
/Each year around 50 mentees join the Wine Industry Mentoring Program. We spoke to one of program’s founders, Lynda Schenk, mentor Emily Hay and mentee Callum Strong about what the experience offers.
Each year around 50 mentees participate in the Wine Industry Mentoring Program, a national six month initiative connecting professionals with an interest in wine communication in a one-on-one mentoring program with like-minded peers, giving them an opportunity grow their confidence and skills and be inspired to pursue their full potential. To find out more about the program we spoke to one of its founders, Wine Communicators of Australia National Chair Lynda Schenk, along with a mentor and mentee from this year’s cohort.
Wine Communicators of Australia National Chair Lynda Schenk
“Wine Communicators of Australia was born out of what many years ago was called the Wine Press Club, which then amalgamated with another organisation to become the present body,” Lynda tells us. “We are a member-based organisation active in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney for professionals or businesses working in the wine communications space. This can include winery owners, wine marketers, salespeople, wine retailers, sommeliers, restaurateurs, front of house staff including maitre d’s, teachers – anyone who communicates about wine.”
WCA runs networking events, webinars, Wine Show lunches in conjunction with the Royal Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide wine shows, a Wine Communicators Award program and the Legend of the Vine Award typically given to an elder of the industry. In 2019 it launched the Wine Industry Mentoring Program, the aim of which is to provide mentoring across most areas of the wine industry including business, marketing, media, communications, education, winemaking, viticulture and oenology and wine supply management.
Program accepts three levels of mentees
“We launched the program with initial funding from Adelaide University, without which we would not have been able to get it off the ground,” Lynda says. “The first year was so successful that Wine Australia came on board as a major partner. Several years down the track we decided to broaden the program and began partnering with the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology and the Wine Industry Suppliers Association as well.
“It’s probably the first time all four of these organisations have collaborated on a whole of industry program which is fabulous – I’m very biased so forgive me for being overzealous! Every year we get over 100 applications and we only have enough funding for around 50 – I think it’s 52 this year – so unfortunately we can’t accommodate everyone, but it is wonderful there’s so much interest.”
“Quite often we’ve had people start out as mentees and later become mentors”
Several years ago the program was expanded to support three levels of mentees – early, mid and later career – so those in mid-career could participate as both a mentor and mentee, mentoring someone at the early level while being mentored themselves by someone in later career. “This has helped us get longevity into the program by expanding people’s association with it. Quite often we’ve had people start out as mentees and later become mentors.”
Mentee applicants are given a list of the year’s mentors and asked to nominate three choices, to help match them to appropriate mentors. “We try to give them their first choice where possible,” Lynda says, “and then they get matched up, and those people who miss out we ask to apply again next year.” Mentoring sessions are conducted online using Mentorcloud with a suite of bespoke educational tools, and depending upon location and availability mentors and mentees can also organise to meet in person.
“We say it’s up to the mentee to lead the charge – they set up a meeting with their mentor once a month for six months either in person or online. What tends to happen is people stay in contact for a long time afterwards.
“Over the last seven years I’ve been a mentor to four mentees whom I’m still in contact with – the program builds a great cross-section of support for people in the industry, and both mentors and mentees get a lot out of it.”
From mentee to mentor
Former mentee and now Mentor Emily Hay
First year program mentee Emily Hay remembers being placed in 2019 with mentor Gill Gordon-Smith, an artisan wine producer based in McLaren Vale who is heavily involved in educator training and mentoring and who coordinates the Wine and Spirit School at TAFE SA.
“I credit WCA for a lot of my professional development,” Emily says. “The opportunity to work with a mentor was really appealing to me because I’d fallen into wine marketing and was really struggling with the question of how to progress. Gill was able to get me to see how all the puzzle pieces of the way my career had developed to that time had given me a distinct perspective and skillset to draw on. Seeing that value and giving me the confidence to take it from there was invaluable.”
This year Emily is back on board as a mentor. “When the opportunity came to actually try to have those same conversations with someone else and be there for them, it was initially a little daunting to step into that role – but seeing people being able to take those steps and have those conversations in a safe space is incredibly important.
“I’m mentoring Ann McKenzie who like myself is based in the Barossa and we’ve been having fantastic chats about professional development, future planning, skillsets and more. We do a mix of in-person catchups and virtual, depending on how we’re travelling. Typically we get together every three weeks for sessions and I let myself be guided by Anne and what’s going on in her world.
“Having been on both sides of the program, I find that the value I got as a mentee is similar to what I’m getting now as a mentor. It’s all about sharing some of your own experiences that your mentee might be able to take something from, and there can be great value in having someone outside of your friends network, outside of your business, who’s there solely for you and who you can have a conversation with. This is my third year as a mentor and I just love being part of this program. I think having a good mentor yourself teaches you how to mentor and you can take those skills and inspire people to look deeper into certain areas. Both the mentor and mentee are learning during the process – it’s about being two very honest humans.”
“Both the mentor and mentee are learning during the process – it’s about being two very honest humans”
From restaurant manager to TAFE teacher: mentee Callum Strong
Mentee Callum Strong
Callum Strong, former restaurant manager and sommelier at Farmer’s Daughters in Melbourne, is one of this year’s mentees and explains how he came to participate in the program: “I left school at 18 and did various jobs in hospitality, both in back and front of house, and eventually I discovered an interest in wine so I decided to go down the winemaker route. But I soon realised that wine is made in the country and I didn’t want to live out there, so I came back to Melbourne and pursued hospitality again for a number of years, working my way up to restaurant manager at Farmer’s Daughters as well as sommelier.
“Two and a half years ago I had an injury which curtailed my hospitality career and I’m now working at William Angliss Institute in Melbourne, teaching hospitality and wine education. But I found the job hunting process challenging because my expertise is on the floor and in wineries, so I decided I could benefit from mentorship and guidance on how to reposition and reorient myself and how to pursue new opportunities. I came across the Wine Industry Mentoring Program and thought this was something I could try.”
“I decided I could benefit from mentorship and guidance on how to reposition and reorient myself”
Callum’s mentor is Rob Hirst OAM, Chairman of wine and spirits distributor Tucker Seabrook Australia and co-founder of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards. “The experience with Rob has been brilliant,” Callum says. “He’s very engaged and we communicate outside of the scheduled mentoring sessions as well as within them – he’s been extremely open to me in that I’m able to send him a text or give him a call anytime. Certainly he’s been very helpful in tying all the strings together for me, from talking about the job pursuit to my personal life and lots of other components, from both a holistic and a micro perspective. Rob is someone who’s worn many hats himself over the years which is exactly why he’s so appropriate and useful for me in learning how to reposition myself and helping me build and navigate a new network effectively. Of course I have my own professional network but that hasn’t been so helpful in the pursuit of what I wanted to do, and Rob has been instrumental in helping me fast track a new one within the industry.”
Having got so much out of the program as a mentee, Callum says he would definitely consider taking on a mentoring role in the future. “I’ve done some hospitality mentoring myself at a grassroots social enterprise level, and I saw the benefit I was able to provide to others, which is one reason I thought this mentoring program might be of benefit to me. So certainly I would participate again from the other side of the table, once I’m more established.”
Though disappointed that he’s no longer able to work in the restaurant environment, Callum is enjoying teaching and plans to continue in that field. “I love hospitality, that’s my passion and my skill. When I was at Farmer’s Daughters, I thought of it as my dining room rather than a restaurant and that the people coming in weren’t customers but guests. The fact I can’t do that anymore is a great source of dismay, but being able to stay connected to the industry and pass on that philosophy gives me a real sense of purpose and drive and reward. So if I can continue to teach and get more involved in hospitality education, that’s something I’d love to do as well.”
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