Rise Mentoring UK
Apply by 14 April 2023 for the Rise Mentoring program to benefit from incredible career development support
The UK Rise Mentoring Programme is open to women working, or aspiring to work in the media technology industry in the UK. This could include women working in technical/engineering roles, through to those working in support roles, such as marketing and PR. It will run from May-November 2023.
Find out more and apply
Full details and the application form can be found on our main Rise Mentoring page
How the Rise Mentoring Programme works
Our mentees benefit from a range of support, including:
- At least 12 hours one-to-one contact with your industry mentor;
- Monthly mentee meetings and access to industry events to help broaden your networks;
- Regular training sessions – from careers mapping through to creating your personal brand and boosting resilience and assertiveness.
- Peer-to-peer support from your fellow mentees, as well as guidance and support from the Rise team.
Any questions?
If you’d like to ask us any questions before applying, please contact Claire Doughty who will be able to help.
Interested in becoming a mentor for our 2023 programme?
Please contact Claire to find out more.
Success Stories
I never imagined how dramatically 6 months could change my career, my outlook, and my goals – now I feel like the sky is the limit!!!
Rise has kept me so motivated and I really look forward to every session. Just wanted you to know how much of a difference all of your hard work has made during such a crazy time for everyone.
I’ve recently been appointed in a new role and I really feel my Mentor has supported me to get me into this mind-set. This, along with the seminars/catch-ups etc, has really helped me feel grounded in an uncertain year. Thank you so much.
Being a part of this mentorship scheme (especially during this strange year of 2020) has been so empowering. We may not have been able to meet in real life (yet!) but we’ve really got to know each other and been a support for each other. A big thank you to everyone involved!
When others comment on how far you have grown and developed in 6 months you know every minute has been worth the time and effort put in.
The last 9 months have been transformative for me. I'm like a butterfly whose wings will never be clipped again! The Rise scheme has been instrumental in boosting my confidence as a woman working in the broadcast sector. I've always known that I'm very employable. What has changed now is the confidence and belief in what I'm worth to an employer. This scheme, meeting all the people involved and what is has done for me has been life changing. I repeat...LIFE CHANGING. I know I'd have been alright without the scheme but I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, it will change the trajectory of my career. Thank you for investing in the programme. It has made a difference and it has mattered.
Mentees
Aline Mello
I am a Senior Account Manager at the PR and marketing agency Bubble Agency, where I represent leading technology providers in the media and entertainment space. As a Senior Account Manager, I am responsible for making sure account teams are meeting each clients’ KPIs, managing junior members of the agency and helping them develop their PR skills and providing consultancy on clients’ communications strategies. I have over seven years of experience working with PR, content marketing and social media for global companies, with periods at Brazilian PR agency SMARTPR, and London-based PR agency Chameleon (now MikeWorldWide). While I have always focussed my work on B2B and B2C technology companies, I have been embedded in the media and entertainment sectors for a year, ever since joining Bubble Agency.
Dee Davison
I am Director of Sustainability, Culture and Engagement at Deluxe. I have been with Deluxe for over eight years diversifying through four different roles in that time predominately in corporate strategy and operations. I have built my career over 20 years in the media industry across both public and private sectors. I began at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as a policy adviser on film and TV, moving on to the UK Film Council to head up regional film funding. My bridge to the private sector came at the UK Cinema Association where I worked across 90% of UK cinemas on both commercial and regulatory issues. I have pursued community regeneration projects in my personal life for over 20 years as a qualified practitioner in intergenerational work. I’m a mum of two young boys, a retired DJ and ex-fitness instructor, but still enjoy running and discos in the kitchen. I have been a Rise mentor twice in previous years, but this year, as my career embarks on a new and exciting chapter I wanted to explore my own challenges and goals as a mentee.
Erin Laste
I am a first-class Business and Sport graduate who recently started my career at a Sports Broadcast company providing graphics for viewers around the world. I have previous experience in sports coaching and retail and have volunteered in roles at university whilst obtaining my degree. I won my campaign to become Women's Officer, where I contributed towards a variety of projects and policies surrounding gender equality and was also elected as the President of the Snowsports society, in which I lead the club in training, international trips, and guided the committee to win the most improved club of the year. My current role of graphics operator includes rigging our tailboard to other trucks on outside broadcasts, building graphics using in-house software, logging events in matches, offering up stats to members of production and putting graphics to air on live broadcasts to enhance the feeds sent to our numerous clients. Despite the short 10-month period I’ve been at the company, I frequently work on important contracts such as PL football, supervise colleagues who are learning the software I specialise in, and work on international jobs where it is my responsibility to ensure all the necessary equipment is included in our flyaway kit to meet the requirements of the job. I am committed to pushing myself out of my comfort zone so I hope that my mentor will challenge me and be direct about what I need to be doing to be successful in the industry. On average I work 3-4 days a week so I am in a unique position whereby I have the time to develop my knowledge and skillset whilst maintaining a full time job, therefore I want to capitalise on this free time. Looking forward to the process and to meeting you!
Heather Robertson
I studied Electronics with Music at the University of Glasgow, my hometown, starting a year early at the age of 17. However, in the course of my studies, I found myself drawn to the student radio station, Subcity, which I ran in my final year. This is where my love of broadcast began. I worked on internet and FM broadcast - as well as projects including live band sessions, and events that supported the operations of the station. After I graduated, I started working for Siemens within the BBC on their broadcast graduate scheme, I supported television working within operations for CCA in London. After spending time within a few other departments (including time within broadcast engineering at PQ in Glasgow and coding and multiplexing) I found the live operations aspect to be the most engaging. When given the opportunity to be part of starting the new BT sport channel through Timeline, I jumped at being able to focus on live sports. I found my time within BBC and to be part of a new team of people extremely rewarding. I saw how you build up the processes for operations from the ground up and was keen to learn about roles outside my comfort zone. A year later I was diagnosed with relapsing remitting Multiple Sclerosis - this knocked me and my confidence and for a very long time I worried that my condition would end up being the thing that defined how much further I could get in my career. I focussed on trying to keep my health in check, and let myself settle into the role of MCR operator there, so I could manage stress - a known factor for many people with this condition. Over time my MS has become easier to control, so I challenged myself by becoming freelance, and started my own company called Pushing Buttons Broadcast which I have been running since 2018. Through this I have been able to support broadcast in similar environments to my previous jobs, as well as on bigger sporting events, with companies such as HBS, OBS and EBU through the last four years. I believe that Rise can help me navigate the next step and give me the confidence in my abilities to push onward and upward.
Hollie Kean
I joined BT in 2019, after the completion of my A-Levels in West London. I am a Digital & Technology Solutions Degree Apprentice in my 3rd Year of the Programme. I work Monday-Thursday in my operational role within BT Media & Broadcast but I am lucky enough to rotate around Media & Broadcast every 6 months on a block-release style learning plan. Some University modules I focus on include, Technical Project Management, advanced internetworking, information systems. I will also write a 6000-word dissertation and produce a final major project as part of my degree. With my dissertation topic being linked to the Innovation technology of the emergency services. I have worked with gold customers such as the BBC. In a contract management professional role. I have looked after a range of portfolios in a secondment in a PMO Team in BT Technology. Technically project-managed an exciting and industry new trial for Media & Broadcast end to end which is ongoing. Working with senior and key stakeholders within BT and external suppliers in the industry. I am now currently working in a new role as a Marketing Professional and getting to grips with a new stream of work until October 2022. As well as her operational work within BT Media & Broadcast I am very passionate about inspiring young people to join the industry. I’m a well-recognised Early Career/Apprenticeships ambassador within BT. Working to assist with new Apprentice intake by taking up the role of an Assessment centre ‘buddy’. I have taken part in countless school engagements and career fairs. As well as featuring in Women in Tech case studies, notgoingtouni social media streams and getmyfirst job social media content. I also feature on a podcast on spotify talking about life working in technology. A highlight for me was interviewing the CEO of Enterprise Rob Shuter on a call with 250+ Apprentice, Graduate, and IP students in attendance.
Hope Primus
I joined ITV after graduating from the University of Salford with a Broadcast Journalism degree. Since starting in 2019, I have worked on various projects within ITV Content Delivery and helped to implement systems and processes that have changed the way the entire department operates. I have recently been promoted to Senior Coordinator which requires me to support the Film and Restoration Supervisor with daily tasks and responsibilities, processing large orders and staff development training plans. My promotion has opened the door into management - which is a new style of working that I was not expecting so early on in my career. Although I'm now in a senior role, I am still highly operational, so have enrolled onto the Rise Mentoring Programme to gain external support in this exciting new phase of my career.
Imogen Kimberley
I have been a Business Development Manager, UK and Ireland for Iron Mountain Entertainment Services for a year and a half now. IMES provides services from the start to finish along the media lifecycle, with a large focus on archive content. This includes: specialised physical storage; premium archival services; digital transformation and studio services; and digital media management and storage. Day to day I do a mix of managing existing accounts, generating new business and networks, and working closely with our marketing department around events we attend. I work with a variety of customers, spanning from film&tv, sports organisations, corporate customers with media, and more recently a number of record labels. Working with record labels in particular was a big change and I have surprised myself at how much I enjoy it, as I always saw myself as more of a 'film person'! I'm still learning a lot about the wider media industry, where previously my background was working at a Media Asset Management software company called Imagen as my first Sales job. Imagen was a great introduction to the media industry, particularly around finished content and how you manage digital media. I love working within the media industry, particularly in the archive and finished content side. I look forward to getting more exposure to the wider industry with this opportunity.
Irene Navarro
My name is Irene Navarro and I am from Spain. I did my degree in Media Studies in Madrid. I came to the UK back in 2011, and I have been living in London since then. I joined Vubiquity as a Media Coordinator in 2013, working mainly for Latam platforms. 2 years later I moved to the Programming Department, which I really enjoyed. After a couple of years, again, I changed companies, and went to Discovery Channel to work as a BSO coordinator. I was regretting the decision, so went back to Vubiquity when an opportunity came along in 2018. Lastly, 1 year ago I was promoted to Planning Supervisor and at the moment I am still learning the ropes while figuring out what career path I want to follow.
Jayne Craig
After graduating from Staffordshire University with a degree in Photography, I moved into IT sales and have worked at Jigsaw24 for the last 5 years. During my time here, I have had a few different roles, from Graduate Account Manager to being part of the New Business Team, before moving into the current role I am in today in Commercial Account Management. I now deal with a wide range of customers, from small one-man bands all the way up to large enterprise businesses. My daily interactions with the customers, whether on the phone or face-to-face, allow me to develop my relationships with them. It’s not just about selling equipment – it’s also about building up partnerships. I ensure that the clients get the products and support needed for their work and make the right strategic decisions, as well as become a trusted advisor for their upcoming programs and projects. On the side I still continue with my photography, focusing mostly on landscapes and sports, predominantly martial arts and lacrosse. I have also recently started learning how to code on Python in my spare time, as I feel it will not only challenge me over the next year, but also be a fantastic skill to have that I hope to one day utilise in my work.
Joni Lindes
Based in London, UK, I am a Senior Content Marketing Manager for visual storytelling technology company disguise. I hold a degree in Journalism and Media Studies and have over four years’ proven experience working in both content marketing and broad-based marketing roles in the technology space, including my previous role as Marketing Manager for data analytics firm PredictX. Currently, as Senior Content Marketing Manager for disguise, I am responsible for creating and executing disguise’s global content strategy and editorial calendar across all their channels. This involves researching disguise’s global audience in the media technology space and using a data-led approach to devise and deliver materials like blogs, webinars, ebooks, videos and various other content pieces in order to drive brand awareness, engagement and business for disguise.
Julian Nshuro
Upon leaving university, I ventured into the magical world of TV. I initially completed a non-paid placement at Mama Youth/Sky which helped act as a springboard into the sector. With the experience acquired I was then able to land a paid placement with Creative Access, which resulted in me working at numerous production companies, including Objective Productions and Endemol. My roles varied as I progressed through the industry - starting out a researcher, then casting researcher and I even enjoyed a year-long stint in development! I eventually did leave the TV production sector and did some general administrative roles. However, this was not something I foresaw as permanent. I happened upon the role of 'Captioner', honestly having never heard of the job role before! After a few tests and a couple of weeks training, I started working for Ai-Media providing live subtitles for broadcast and non-broadcast - working on everything from the World Economic Forum to the Premier League... to Al Jazeera! Looking to expand my skill set, I came across a freelance role at Deluxe. I decided to apply and enjoyed a couple of weeks captioning the Olympics. As a result of this freelance work, I was then offered a full term role at Deluxe... and that brings us up to now!
Kath Gray
Kath graduated from Southampton Solent University in 2013 with a degree in Live and Studio Sound. While studying, she worked on numerous broadcast events including the Olympics 2012 and BBC Proms. Kath joined NEP in 2013 as a trainee vision engineer and progressed through to Senior Broadcast Guarantee. While being at NEP she has taken a leading role as a Vision Guarantee and Engineer In Charge on many outside broadcasts, including Wimbledon 2017-2021, Sky Premier League Football, IAAF World Championships, Commonwealth Games, Love Island 2015-2021. In 2017 Kath was awarded the prestigious Young Technologist of the Year award by the Royal Television Society, recognising her exceptional accomplishments as a broadcast engineer. More recently Kath has been the lead project engineer on the planning, build and integration of NEP’s new remote production facility, NEP Production Centre – London. This year she is looking forward to working on jobs that include Extreme E and Commonwealth Games (Athletics). In her spare time Kath enjoys playing golf with her colleagues.
Katherine Stearne
I am a Content Fulfilment Executive at BBC Studios. Within this role I liaise with sales and vendors in order to deliver premium content to global linear broadcasting and digital platform customers, which includes titles such as Green Planet and Blue Planet II. I have also become the lead coordinator for all content delivery to Giant Screen clients, e.g. museums, planetariums and other specialist cinema screens. I have been in this role for 6 years. Previously I worked as a Media Supplies Executive which involved coordinating localisation and content to the global BBC branded services. I had worked my way up from a coordinator before this so have been at BBC Studios since 2008. In this time I have become a mother twice over and as a result reduced my working week to 4 days. Before this I worked in various libraries and compliance teams in administrative roles since leaving university in 2004. In addition I have led the Engagement Cabinet, a group within our department focussed on increasing the engagement within our team since 2019. I find it incredibly rewarding to organise presentations and Q & A’s with influential and interesting people within the BBC and beyond in order to share knowledge and benefit the team. In recognition of this work I was awarded the 2021 People’s Award, a Global internal BBC awards programme, in the ‘well led and simpler’ category. This award has been great for my confidence and has motivated me to look for new career challenges.
Katie Shepherd
I am currently Head of Service at Holdan limited, a distributor of broadcast & AV equipment based in Glossop, and part of the Midwich group. Over the past 8 years I have worked my way up through the Service department, from a technical support role up to a senior management position, and am responsible for a team of 8 overseeing all aspects of post-sales technical support, product returns, technical troubleshooting & repairs throughout the UK & Europe. The numerous positions I’ve had here have been quite varied; from lots of problem solving & technical repairs, to admin/customer support. Now that I am in a managerial position, this also includes lots of vendor & escalated customer interaction, systems management, implementing procedures and developing/maintaining policies. Prior to my career at Holdan, I have worked as a photographer, taught video production in the USA as part of exchange schemes, and had several temporary work experience placements at local production companies within Manchester.
Krystel Richards
My career began in 2016 when I started the outstanding BBC Broadcast Engineering degree apprenticeship scheme. These three years introduced me to the broadcast industry through work placements with several industry leaders including the BBC and CNN. Following the completion of my degree, I returned to CNN as an Associate Broadcast IT Engineer where I continued to learn from the immensely supportive team and have since been promoted into my current role of Broadcast IT Engineer. During this time, I also had the honour of being named RTS Young Technologist of the Year 2020 – an unforgettable career highlight. Currently my responsibilities are centred around supporting the technical operations and newsgathering teams. This includes the studio with its cameras and graphic walls, MCR and in-house post-production, also working directly with vendors to improve and advance the workflows we have in place.
Lucia Johnstone-Cowan
I started my career in media as a live subtitler at Red Bee Media, which was a great introduction to broadcast technology and TX-critical workflows. I was first introduced to AI & ML via automatic speech recognition, and to cloud-based software on a joint project with OOONA, on which I was the lead tester. After three years at Red Bee, where I held roles as a subtitler, lead tester, and duty manager, I decided that I wanted to move from an operational and production-based role into a more commercial position. I joined the sales team at BTI Studios as sales coordinator, a position I held for 6 months before I became the sales executive for Europe. I assisted the SVP of sales on key clients with quoting and deal preparation, undertook new business outreach, and project managed transactional deals. I then spent another year and a half as business development executive, where I took the lead on several accounts (Fremantle, Deluxe, Blue Ant, ZDF, Visual Data, ITV) and attended IBC and MipCom, which gave me good exposure to networking. Also while I was at BTI Studios, I experienced merger and acquisition activity as the company merged first with Iyuno Media Group and then again with SDI Media. I was approached by Codemill in April 2021 to join their team as their first UK-based employee and I started there as sales manager in May 2021. I took over account management for Warner, PlutoTV, UKTV and SDVI and have been responsible for growing the business with these accounts and finding new clients and sales opportunities, as well as becoming involved with some of the marketing and PR activities of the company.
Maria Joyce
I started at Calrec in the role of Product test engineer in 2015. I had not had much experience in the broadcast sector at this point, but I had worked with mixing desks during my time at Huddersfield University where I studied Music Production, and prior to getting the role I had done a few voluntary sessions shadowing radio engineers at BBC Leeds. I was new to the concept of product/software testing, and it proved to be a steep learning curve, but one that I really enjoyed. It certainly enables you to gain an in-depth knowledge of the features of the desks. I was made a senior in my team in May 2019, which allowed me to develop my skills further. Around this time, as a company we started to delve into the world of AoIP. And this meant everyone had to quickly get to grips with how IP networks work. This is such a vast area, and there is always much room for improvement. Since then, I have been working towards taking more of a leadership role in the department, steadily taking on more responsibility such as planning the work schedules, training new starters/students and giving performance reviews.
Melanie McDermott
I have been working in Broadcast now for around 11 years, where I started off working short internships within a terrestrial broadcaster. Over time I eventually found myself working in Live Operations where my eyes were opened to the technology that goes i to filling our TVs with the pictures that we watch blindly every day. In 2016 I was asked to join a start-up. I took a risk – there was little information on the product we were set to build, but I went with my instincts because I knew I’d learn something new. It was exciting, from launching DAZN into DACH and then shortly following, Japan, we have now grown into a multi-billion-pound global operation, all starting from a small office above a bank in Leeds. Whilst at DAZN I have helped grow some of the most impressive OTT infrastructure and workflows seen in today’s world of Live Sport Operations, working on a number of dynamic commercial processes and technology improvements. My current role of Presentation Team Leader allows me to look after a key area of the business, providing line management to a team of Schedulers, Media and Live Coordinators for our global platform. When not neck deep in the world of OTT Sport, I take care of my two children, enjoy gardening, swimming and have recently taken up Yoga.
Neave Spikings
I studied Film and Television Production BSc at the University of York, volunteering as Chief Engineer for the radio station, URY, and graduating in 2019. I then freelanced as a Junior Broadcast Engineer before joining ITV Coronation Street full-time in January 2020 as a Support Engineer. On Coronation Street, I provide technical support to all areas of the production, including planning and working on complex location shoots and I am involved with a variety of projects and research into potential new technologies for the production. In 2021, I won Rise’s Rising Star award for women who are considered stand-out performers, innovators and emerging leaders in the broadcast & media industry.
Natasha London
With 17 years of broadcast and VOD experience, operating in highly technical posts and progressing into media service management, I have led and managed multi functional production and delivery teams servicing some of the UK's biggest broadcast channels. After studies in audio and sound design, I began my professional TV & Film career working as a kit and crew production assistant at a busy independent company in Soho, whilst also managing and developing a brand from scratch, for the company's sister crewing diary service. A self-starter, and highly motivated, high performing broadcast media professional with extensive management experience, enabling operational teams to deliver to high standards within pressurised working environments. Successful record of influencing and developing solid working relationships within diverse cultures. In the top 5% of high performing employees recognised as company key contributors for two years running (2015, 2016). . I've been working as a Software Delivery Manager for the last 3 years at RedBeeMedia, a role that I have loved, working with a fantastic, inspiring team of people. I lead the UI team through agile processes to deliver Broadcast UI's with complex API interactions for some major projects. Outside of work I love to play tennis, swim and walk and generally try to keep up with my two boys (5yo and 9yo) . We love art and crafting together and going on wild adventures. I want to take up life drawing again this year, my other 2022 ambition.
Sarah Adams
Started off my technical career at BowTie Television as a Technical Assistant where I got a great grounding into all the roles and jobs within the OB sector. It really allowed me to see what jobs there were and what direction I could take my career. After taking an interest in the vision side of OBs I took a job as junior vision engineer. This was a great learning curve and allowed me to gain some great experience in all aspects of vision engineering. I worked on everything from records of theatre shows to Darts for Sky and F1 for FOM. I then took a job at Sky as Technical Director. This involved all aspects of vision engineering I had learnt to date but allowed me to expand my skill set. I worked on a great variety of shows from News to Sport and entertainment, where I became a lead on Monday Night Football - Skys leading football show, specialising in VR tracking systems. I then went for the role of Senior Technical Supervisor at Sky. This was an expansion of my role but taking on more of a lead on shows and training. More recently I have specialised in remote production, with being one of the lead on the first remote football on EFL then Return to Sport during covid and more recently domestic Cricket. This involves daily rigging of the galleries, improving workflows and leasing with 3rd parties such as AELive or the OB provider and the client, Sky Sports.
Sarah-Jane Allen
I started my career in Sales and Marketing and as my roles developed so did my love for getting under the hood of software. This naturally led to specialising in Product Marketing and I've worked in various B2B software companies as a product evangelist. I thrive on understanding customer requirements and market trends to inform go-to-market strategies be it for new product launches or features improvements. Building the best market positioning and value propositions to engage with customers and partners.
Shannon Sewell
My name is Shannon Sewell from Bournemouth Dorset. My Broadcast career thus far has been as a recruiter, specialising in post-production and playout technologies. I wanted to move into a more commercial role and I was headhunted. I recently joined Ortana Media Group (Part of The Iyuno-SDI Group) as a Product Sales Manager. I'm responsible for their product sales globally. Working closely with clients looking to bring business efficiencies via the companies asset management, data management, orchestration and automation products.
Simone Ollivierre
My name is Simone, I am 25 and I was born and raised in London to a Caribbean family. I have worked in media operations roles for about 4 years now and have recently gained the opportunity to join the commercial operations team at Discovery, working with the international ad sales team. This came after working as an intern at Discovery for over 6 months with the Nordic Broadcast scheduling team. My current role is to provide support to the IAS, ensuring that all commercial solutions are executed and delivered to the highest standard for the IAS team across the global networks. I also consider myself a creative person. I obtained a film degree at university; I do photography as a hobby and music has and continues to play an important role in my life. I like to embrace my authentic self in all that I do and to work collaboratively to achieve clear goals to the best of my ability.
Teri Almond
I am currently working as a Live Production Lead for Warner Bros. Discovery. I am predominantly responsible for the Production Managment of live sporting events for the Nordic and CEEMCA European regions, mainly ATP Tennis and Summer and Winter Olympics. My role involves planning all aspects of the productions, creating and sending call sheets, being the main point of contact when productions are on-air, as well as confirming and writing up workflow documentation and diagrams. Having not gone to University, I started my career in the industry as an Ingest Operator at 19 Years old, and have since progressed into many other roles including Transmission and On-air production, giving me a good knowledge and understanding across multiple broadcast areas. I am a naturally enthusiastic, proactive and friendly person, who enjoys planning, problem solving, and being across all aspects of productions and broadcasts. I have a thirst for knowledge and I am always looking for a new challenge. I am excited to be taking part in the Rise Mentorship Program this year and I am looking forward to networking and learning from others invaluable knowledge and experience from working within the industry. I spend most of my free time spending time with her friends and family, and have a passion for music and exercise.
Tessa Gevint
I have just started a new role as a Presales Consultant for a media technology company which has taken me in a new direction. I have chosen this to get exposure to the business side of the industry and develop my customer facing skills and learn new ones which work to my strengths. I have worked within the broadcast application sector (content and Ad tech) for most of my career as a business analyst and Support, and implementation consultant (on the vendor – side). My career has allowed me to work with multiple broadcasters and given me exposure to multiple disciplines and technology. It has also given me the opportunity to travel the world meeting and working with people from many cultures and walks of life. I am now looking to consolidate my experience and move into the next (and hopefully exciting) part of my development and career.
Mentors
Adrian Bull
Adrian is the CEO of Cinelab Film & Digital. He is an experienced Creative Technologist and passionate filmmaker. Graduating from Ravensbourne’s Broadcast Engineering course in the early 90s, he has worked in the film and TV industry across post-production, broadcast transmission and content delivery, building and developing many facilities companies and pioneering new services. His previous roles were Chief Technology Officer for Deluxe Media And Ascent Media Europe and Technical Director of Technicolour Network Services. Adrian founded Cinelab in 2013 and was quickly established as Europe’s leading Film Laboratory. Adrian's interest in the filmmaking process, his engineering, operation and leadership skills and his determination to ensure film craft skills are passed to the next generation have been a driving force in the resurgence of shooting on film. Cinelab Film & Digital provides extensive services for Film, HETV and Commercials including film processing, scanning, digital dailies through to final grade and delivery. Recent credits include James Bond: No Time To Die, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, The Witcher, Conversations With Friends and Succession S3. Adrian is a Board Member and Trustee of the Phoenix Cinema Trust, and has served as a board member of UK Screen. This will be his second time as a mentor for Rise.
Amy Jones
Having started her career in Digital Media and Radio, Amy has worked across both TV and film launching several streaming and on demand services including Prime Video, Lovefilm and BritBox where she led the editorial team as Managing Editor. She has worked for ITV, BBC, Prime Video, Virgin Media, Lovefilm and Little Dot Studios leading on the Content strategy for commissioned and licensed content, scheduling, and curation for new and emerging services. During her tenure at many of these organisations she has set up and supported a number of mentoring and development programmes. She is currently working with AMC UK helping develop their plans for new projects.
Anne-Louise Buick
Anne-Louise Buick is Vice President, Global Revenue Marketing at Avid, leading worldwide field, channel and digital demand marketing functions driving marketing impact on revenue as well as channel engagement. Prior to joining Avid, Anne-Louise was Head of Media Marketing and Communications at Ericsson, overseeing all marcomms activities for their Media Solutions business. Having worked within the broadcast technology space for over 20 years, Anne-Louise has held senior marketing positions; at IP video technology manufacturer Exterity, where she was responsible for global marketing and communications strategy; a specialist Pay TV subscriber management company and consulted on niche digital archive monetisation projects.
Barney MacDonald
Barney MacDonald is the General Manager of Business Development and Partnerships, EMEA at Eluvio, the content blockchain for the creator economy. Eluvio (https://live.eluv.io) is an eco-friendly blockchain platform that enables content creators and their communities to store, stream, ticket, mint NFTs, and trade digital content. It provides a simple-to-use, high-performance, and cost-effective platform to monetize concerts, films, digital albums, e-books, digital collectables, metaverse experiences, and more. Companies and creators whose content blockchain initiatives have been powered by Eluvio include FOX Entertainment’s Blockchain Creative Labs, MGM Studios, SONY Pictures, CIRKAY, Black Eyed Peas, Dolly Parton, Rita Ora, and many others. For nearly 25 years, Barney has worked at the forefront of our industry's continued evolution - since 90’s analogue infrastructures gave way to the digital revolution, that perpetuates the convergence of Film, Music, Broadcast, Gaming and every other vertical in the Media & Entertainment space. Along the way, he has combined his engineering experience with his ability to communicate effectively across all the key players. From the core creatives themselves, through execs, business & operational teams and more, Barney prides himself in making everyone’s lives just a little easier and work more enjoyable. Prior to joining Eluvio in 2019, Barney consulted for companies such as Channel 4 Television, Discovery Channel & Disney and is currently based in London.
Bea Alonso
With over twenty years' experience working in the media technology industry, Bea’s most recent role was with leading provider Dalet as Chief Market Officer, driving both the go-to-market strategy for Dalet’s products and solutions, as well as the company's marketing efforts. Bea kicked off her career in the media industry as a radio production assistant at BBC Nottingham in the UK. After that she followed the adventurous path of working for technology vendors, delivering training, workflow consultancy and sales support for media companies worldwide. She has worked across a range of environments including news, playout, production, post production and distribution and has travelled further and wider than she could have ever imagined! She is passionate about working with diverse teams, and delivering technical solutions that make the lives of content creators and distributors easier and more enjoyable.
Ben Foakes
Since starting out as a Pro BMX freestyler and sports filmmaker, Ben has worked across a range of media and technology disciplines, from directing and post production to founding and managing multiple companies. After developing a UK post facility for 10 years, Ben observed that the technical services landscape is changing at such a rapid rate that traditional business models needed to be completely re-imagined. Having launched base in 2015 as a 21st century online media services company, Ben now leads base at the cutting edge of the digital media industry’s migration to cloud services.
Caroline Ewerton
Caroline is VP of Technical Product Management, Broadcast Platforms at DAZN, where’s she’s responsible for the transformation of the media supply chain, leading DAZN’s next-generation technology and workflow initiatives. She focuses on leveraging innovation to simplify the broadcast chain and connect viewers with the content they love. She’s a firm believer in the power of mentoring, having experienced the benefits of being both a mentor and mentee throughout her career. A strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, Caroline believes that a proactive inclusive culture is a big driver for success and a key enabler of growth
Catriona Tate
Catriona (Cat) is the Sales Director UK and MEA at Accedo. She has always loved TV and has been very lucky to work at the cutting edge of telly and how we consume it since the birth of “on demand.” A senior business developer with a strong sales and marketing track record in TV tech, OTT and streaming media, she’s proud to have worked with some of the best brands and companies in business. She’s been involved with Rise for nearly 4 years, as part of its advisory board to increase Rise's funding and growth, mentoring some amazing women as they work to realise their true potential.
Chrissie Collins
Chrissie is currently Client Manager EMG UK, which she started in March 2022. She began her career in broadcasting by studying Theatre and Communications at the University of Huddersfield, which initially led to her first job with an advertising agency where she film small ads and gained experience in editing on an AVID. Very basic stuff. This led to a move to Straight TV as a Production Coordinator, producing music shows in the noughties and selling through videos of bands. With a passion for football, Chrissie took a Freelance production management job with Sky Sports, looking after their Scottish Football contract, leading to a staff position with them, running the Rugby Union contract for a number of years with a Lions tour thrown in…. Following this, Chrissie returned to freelancing, but with a focus on the tech side of outside broadcasts – and when BT sport popped into the world of Sport, the Champions League contract was handed to Telegenic - they needed someone in to manage and run as well as UM the games onsite so eventually took a staff job and now client manage for them. Working with cutting edge technology and working across all the new remote centres, the main contracts Chrissie looks after include BBC Sport output work and BT Sport Football from the EPL to the UCL - a great mix of work and never a dull moment! Over the years, Chrissie’s work has led her to work on high profile sporting events including the Brazil World Cup 2014, Euros 2016 France, Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony, London Olympics, Russia 2018 World Cup, Women’s Euros France 2018 and most recently, Unit Managing Wembley for the Euro 2020
Dara Urquhart
I have been a part of Red Bee Media for over 13 years, always in operations and with different senior leadership accountabilities. I have the privilege and responsibility to deliver all Red Bee Services for our global customers. The services include content discovery, playout, live OTT, MCR and distribution services. I collaborate with highly professional teams of skilled operators and engineers in Europe, Australia and the USA and together we deliver high value services and media experiences to worldwide audiences on behalf of our customers. The broadcast landscape has constantly evolved over this period and continues to do so - adapting and collaborating is key to maintaining service delivery. Diversity and inclusion at all levels of a business, allows teams’ thinking and performance to be truly great and that is why I am very happy to play a small part in the work Rise does for our sector.
Elaine Sampson
I have worked in the Broadcast Industry for almost thirty two years and witnessed it change dramatically. After graduating from Ravensbourne, I worked at Sky, Panasonic (on-site at the BBC) and Telecine-Cell, where I covered a number of events including the Olympics, Wimbledon and the Brit Awards. At first I specialised in VTRs, working as the only female Engineer at both Panasonic Broadcast and Telecine-cell, I often took calls from clients who assumed I was secretarial, but it didn’t take them long to realise that I was a confident engineer! I then moved to Formula 1 where I worked for twenty two years, travelling to almost 300 motorsport events during this time. Considering Formula 1 is a male dominated sport, there were a few female engineers before me, but very few women in authority. I was, however, promoted a couple of times to Engineering Supervisor of one of the largest outside broadcasts in the world. As well as enjoying dance, music and time in Dorset, I am passionate about education completing a BSc and an MBA in my spare time. At the start of 2020, I joined Timeline as the Broadcast Engineering Manager at Stratford (BT Sport). This role moved me into management, just before the Pandemic started which was an interesting time! I feel that the Broadcast Industry has adapted well, with Timeline at the forefront of remote operations. It was an incredibly busy transitional period, I was involved in numerous projects to adapt to this new way of working, whilst putting in place measures to keep on-site staff as safe. Now the pandemic has calmed a little, but my job is still just as busy and always a challenge!
Gabby Redfern
Currently Group Director Content Services at Sky, with more than 30 years’ experience in the industry having previously held Senior Technology & Operational roles at BBC Studios, Discovery & Turner Broadcasting.
Ian Wagdin
I currently work for BBC R&D with a brief to help transfer their ground breaking technology from concept to reality. This includes UHD technologies, Live IP Production, Next Generation Audio and Object Based Broadcasting. Currently very focused on the potential of 5G to change the way we create content. I am involved from standards definitions to practical on the ground implementations and working with colleagues from across the broadcast and telecoms sector to influence and engage with multiple partners. I am involved in several industry bodies that drive innovation and an active participant in 3GPP, 5G MAG and I am also currently chairing an EBU working group on 5G in Production. Also working on EU and UK government funded partnership projects that accelerate delivery and recognise the value that partnerships can bring to innovation. My role includes setting strategy, commercial agreements as well as IPR protection and working in partnership with industry to develop new ideas. BBC R&D works across a broad range of areas from IP production and distribution, next generation audio, delivery formats and new formats such as XR. I have previously looked after new technologies and ways of working for BBC Vision Productions and BBC Children's in Salford. In recent years I have been involved in the BBC's move to Media City, investigating and implementing new technology and process across Vision Productions in the North for a number of high profile BBC Productions. During the move to file-based and HD production I worked closely across all genres of production teams and facility providers to ensure codecs and workflows met the required standards. My background as a multi-skilled operator in news production has given me a practical understanding of most areas of TV production from OB management to studio production. I have also been involved in a number of industry bodies and am a regular speaker at various events.
Kate Wendleboe
Kate Wendelboe is Head of Strategy & Propositions at BT Security. She has held various roles in BT, including Director of BT Media & Broadcast, and Head of Strategy for a portfolio of BT’s smaller standalone businesses. She is a big believer in bringing together technological and commercial innovation to help solve industry challenges, as well as working collaboratively with customers and partners to achieve the best results possible. Before joining BT, Kate was at Reuters working in marketing communications and then journalism. She was one of the team that started Reuters Insider, Reuters’ multimedia platform for financial professionals, where she held a number of roles including working on the news desk, producing general interest programmes, and covering the commodities and energy market. Kate left Reuters to study for an MBA at Cambridge’s Judge Business School where she specialised in Culture, Arts and Media Management. Kate is married and, after living in the States, Hong Kong and Switzerland, is now based in London with her husband and two sons. If she were not working full time and running around after the kids, she would be training for an Ironman Triathlon, learning to code, and writing a best-selling novel.
Kat Lancaster
I joined Sky in 2004 as Platform Support Engineer on shift, supporting Graphics Systems for Sky News, Sky Sports and Sky Vegas. Since 2007, I have moved into management and held various management positions along the way for the majority in Graphics & Data. I’m now a senior manager in Production Platforms responsible for Broadcast Applications, Graphics and Newsroom systems. I have 40+ people in my department made up of highly skilled Broadcast Engineers across many disciplines. I recently (January 2022) returned to work after a year out on maternity with my first child.
Kathryn de Vries
Kathryn is currently working as the Certified Training Program Manager for Blackmagic Design EMEA. She is responsible for proactively identifying and nurturing a growing community of more than 250 DaVinci Resolve trainers across this diverse region. This role combines previous teaching experience along with a post production background. Previous to Blackmagic Kathryn was a Technical Tutor in TV & Film Production at UCA, and spent 10 years as a Freelance Editor and VFX Artist for Sky Sports, Sky News and BBC. She worked at Quantel for 9 years as a Global Product Specialist and also for 5 years at Sky News as a Studio Graphics Operator and Designer. Kathryn describes herself as a natural problem solver and always looking for interesting ways to engage with people and to navigate professional relationships. She likes to look for answers to problems in unexpected places and believes that a creative mindset is essential in all roles.
Lisa Lavender
Lisa Lavender is a business leader with over 30 years’ experience building and running businesses in the advertising industry at a local and global level. Having worked with numerous global brands, broadcasters, agencies and production companies, she has a deep understanding of business processes and the changes impacting the marketing supply chain. Lisa is the founder of The Traffic Bureau, the UK's largest outsourced specialist supplier of TV admin (Business Affairs) services. After selling TTB to Adstream, Lisa held a number of roles within the advertising distribution company including Global Operations Director before taking over as CEO of Adstream UK where she managed operations, account management and sales teams for Adstream's largest operating market outside of the USA. In June 2019 Lisa took over the running of the British Arrows Advertising awards, the most prestigious UK advertising awards for moving image. The British Arrows awards hosted its first live show in three years at Grosvenor House in March and is about to launch its Young Arrow awards recognising and celebrating diverse and emerging talent in the advertising industry. Lisa is a member of the Rise Advisory Board, she plays an active role in a number of Rise projects and is about to start her fourth mentoring programme.
Lucy O'Brien
Lucy has 20 years’ experience in the broadcast industry, starting on the graduate Broadcast Engineer programme with the BBC. She has also held engineering roles at SKY, Arqiva and Discovery. She was head of field operations at ITN and then moved on to GB News where she spent just over a year as head of technology and operations – originally building the channel from scratch into a fully functional newsroom with two control rooms, two equipment rooms, a broadcast chain, alongside hiring staff, in under three months. Lucy is currently the Group Chief Technology Officer of EMG (Euro Media Group) who are a leading global provider of broadcast services and media solutions for live sports, entertainment and events. Lucy has herself been mentored by some great people who have been a huge support to her and wants to give that opportunity to others.
Mike Ward
Bringing over 20 years of experience in the broadcast space, Mike Ward is the Head of Marketing for the revolutionary digital overlay platform Singular.live. Mike established and runs the UK HQ of Reality Check Systems (RCS) - the leading graphics, control solutions and data integrations provider - where he is MD for Europe and the Middle East. Following RCS’ investment into Singular.Live, Mike is responsible for all Singular.live’s marketing activity. Prior to Singular.live, Mike headed up a design agency and spent ten years at Sky, starting in media sales before moving to Italy to establish their in-house media sales function before creating their viewer research department.
Mo Guile
Mo is Director of Production Management at Discovery Sports, leading the department responsible for delivering onsite and homebase operations for key sports, such as the Cycling Grand Tours and Tennis Grand Slams. Working alongside multiple content, production, Cube studio and technology teams at Discovery Sports, Mo has an excellent understanding of the different skills required and the various opportunities available behind the camera. She had an unconventional career path into production, starting as a seasonaire in the Alps before moving into photography on Olympic and World Cup winter sports, joining Discovery in 2018 as a freelance Production Manager at the PyeongChang Winter Games. Mo joined Rise to champion women in the industry and support them into roles behind the cameras, especially in the many and varied technical teams. With a passion for sea sports, Mo can often be found enjoying a cold swim or paddle board at her local beach.
Nicki Fisher
Nicki Fisher is the EMEA Sales Director for Clear-Com, An HME Company. In this role, she is responsible for sales of Clear-Com’s products and solutions across the EMEA region. Together with her team, she is committed to ensuring the brand promise of providing high quality, innovative real-time communications products to professionals who depend on Clear-Com for application expertise and support across multiple market sectors including AV, Broadcast, Sports, Amusement Parks and Marine. Nicki is also Chair of the Board for Rise – a group for gender diversity in the Broadcast industry. She has mentored a number of young professionals, both male and female to resounding success in their careers. Prior to joining Clear-Com in April 2014, Nicki was the Sales Director for the Tektronix EMEA Video Business for 8 years where she was responsible for sales of Video Analysis and Monitoring equipment into the Broadcasting, Production and Telecoms markets. Nicki spent 11 years working for Agilent (formerly Hewlett Packard) in a variety of senior management and individual contributor sales roles, where she was the first Female Account manager for the UK Aerospace and Defence business and also the first female European Regional Sales Manager for the Communications Test Business. Nicki gained a B.Sc. Hons in Physics from Liverpool University in 1989 and began her career as a Product Training Engineer at Marconi Instruments. Nicki loves the outdoors, in particular running and sailing and is also an assistant dinghy instructor.
Stephen Stewart
A television and radio professional with over 40 years in the industry, Stephen has enjoyed roles as varied as commercial producer, gallery director for tv programmes ranging from Formula 1 to UK Parliament. As well as TV production, Stephen is experienced in TV playout and media services having worked for the BBC, Channel 4, Thames Television and Deluxe. More recently the lure of AI and machine learning has seen Stephen move into the advertising technology space with Mirriad Advertising before becoming COO at Take 1 Script Services where he is responsible for the Operations, Product and Media Technology teams, delivering thousands of hours of transcription, translation, localisation and access services to some of the world’s largest production companies and networks. Stephen is proud to be a member of the Rise UK Advisory Board and has served as a mentor for Rise since 2020.
Kris Langbridge
Kris has over 20 years of service delivery experience in the Media & Entertainment Industry having worked at the BBC, Red Bee Media and Ericsson Broadcast & Media Services, leading large-scale transformation programmes and developing new products for Broadcasters. Past project accomplishments include, the first BBC HD channel playout system, the media supply chain for BBC’s iPlayer, and Channel 4’s broadcast transformation programme. Kris’s managerial experience includes leading diverse teams of researchers, project managers, engineers and product managers with an approach grounded in respect, positivity and partnership. Kris has most recently joined Amazon Web Services as a Senior Customer Solution Manager within their global Media & Entertainment division, supporting customers to migrate and transform their services to the cloud. Today, Kris works with globally diverse teams and customers across EMEA, APAC, MENA + Sub Saharan Africa regions, delivering “best of breed” media services to the world’s top Broadcasters and Telecommunications companies. Kris is a psychology graduate from Edinburgh University, lives in Kent with his wife, two children and Spanish street dog, Ziggy. He is passionate about improving DE&I in the Media Industry, creating opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds and loves coaching and mentoring to help people realise their potential.
Mark Harrison
Mark began his career as an Historian at Cambridge University, before moving into the media industry. He spent many years as a Director, Producer and Executive Producer, and won numerous awards for his filmmaking, including an International Emmy and a BAFTA nomination. Mark has held senior roles within the independent production sector and the BBC. He was MD of an independent production company before being appointed BBC Head of Arts, and then Head of Multiplatform Production. He was subsequently Controller of Production for BBC North and leader of the BBC’s End-to-End Digital programme, before becoming Director of Transformation for BBC Design & Engineering. In 2015 Mark became CEO of the DPP – the media industry’s international business network, which he founded. Today the DPP has nearly 500 member companies from across the whole media supply chain – from global tech giants to start ups. Mark also has substantial Board level experience outside the media industry. He was a Non-Executive Director in the NHS for six years, as the Deputy Chair of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, and Chair of an NHS facilities company. He has also sat on the Advisory Board of Tate Liverpool.
Nic Kemp
Nic currently leads the strategy and vision of IPV to grow the product into the expanding area of marketing content within enterprise brands. End-to-end bigger picture thinking and working closely with productions is her thing - having worked with the DPP to run their NextGen Production Network where she researched and curated reports and webinars on the innovations within the production communities. She also ran her own consultancy where she worked with companies to improve their efficiencies and innovate whether she suggests a simplified end-to-end workflow or designs, builds or integrates systems such as media asset management, archive systems, connecting together SaaS products or live broadcast studios. Clients include Adidas, Creative Blood, Aurora Media, BBC, Disney, Discovery, News UK and London Live . She is a new member of the Rise board and ran their mentoring programme last year - she is passionate about empowering women to be heard whilst being the best versions of themselves.
Sadie Groom
Sadie founded Bubble Agency a PR, marketing and events company focusing on the entertainment technology, sports and AV business, in 1999 and is still very much the driving force. Using her 20 years of PR and Marketing experience she not only looks after the business side of things and client strategy but also promotes the role of women in the industries she works in through her work with Rise, Women in Film & TV and SVG Women’s Initiative. A keen traveller, she is trying to go to 50 countries before she is 50 and would like to spend more time on the golf course.
