The steering committee from the WBS Mentoring programme and current mentor Janet Fairlie Vogt, wish to extend their congratulations to Nicola Bullivant on the recent birth of her baby boy. Nicola, a recent MBA graduate (05 - 09) who currently works as a placement manager for Aston Business School is pictured here with her son Jacob Samuel, who was born on the 13th of July.

Nicola joined the pilot programme back in January 2009 and was delighted to be given the opportunity to continue her relationship with mentor Janet for a further year when the official programme was launched in February 2010.

Nicola applied for the mentoring pilot whilst awaiting the results of her MBA, which required balancing work and home life alongside studying and so one of her reasons for joining was to 'have a fresh sounding board for ideas.' Nicola also commented on her application that she wished to 'be able to share difficulties with my mentor and to perhaps tap into their experiences and expertise. I also feel that the mentoring relationship will enable me to gain in confidence - this is important after having spent five highly successful years in my current role.... I hope to challenge and stretch myself further.'

Nicola decided to make best use of her excellent mentoring relationship with her mentor Janet; putting her place on the programme on hold for the next year whilst she was on maternity leave. Janet has wasted no time in volunteering to support another mentee in the meantime and has already been matched to another distance learning student who had been previously wait-listed.

We wish Nicola and her family all the best and extend an invitation, when our pilot mentees unofficially "graduate" from the programme next January, to Nicola and baby Jacob to join our party.