A 16-week female mentorship programme, created by four sisters from Magherafelt in memory of their late father, has given local women the chance to overcome challenges, realise their full potential and put plans in place for the future.

The Patsy Duffy Mentorship Programme provided expert advice and guidance in a range of specialist areas from the sisters who have a combined 75 years’ experience in their respective fields – Tanya McGeehan, one of Northern Ireland’s leading female property entrepreneurs and Managing Director of MCG Investments; independent brand strategy consultant, Aisling Bremner, Founder of Aisling Bremner Marketing; qualified teacher and trained actor, Lisa Duffy and Roisin Deery who has extensive experience in Management Consultancy.

The successful mentees came from a range of backgrounds including marketing, education and retail.

Mentee Donna Breen said: “I found the Patsy Duffy mentorship programme such an amazing chance to gain clarity, direction and have insightful conversations. Having the unique opportunity of being mentored by trailblazing women who are all doing amazing things in their respective fields is inspiring in itself. The time, dedication and thought that was put into this programme was second to none. Aisling, Tanya, Lisa and Roisin really want to help their mentees succeed and their passion shone through every step of the way!”

Tanya McGeeghan, Managing Director of MCG Investments said: “We were overwhelmed by the number of applications we received. What struck us was the number of women from across Northern Ireland who feel stuck, and in many ways disconnected and unsure, about what they want from a career. For many women having a family will fundamentally change you, in that you are equally as ambitious but you also want to work around your family. Traditional work structures, and unfortunately society at large, are not very supportive of that.

For some of the mentees finding themselves and their big dreams post motherhood and post maternity leave, was a really life-changing thing and through our programme being able to have confidential, objective and non-judgemental conversations and answering some big questions was clearly very powerful and helpful for the mentees.”

Aisling Bremner of Aisling Bremner Marketing said: “We are very proud that because of The Patsy Duffy Mentorship Programme, each mentee now has a much clearer idea of what they do not want, which is vital, as well as being honest and brave about their big dreams. For our mentees that has resulted in the start of a new scalable business, building an online community, more confidence in public speaking and overcoming limiting beliefs that were holding them back professionally. We would like to thank our four mentees for fully dedicating themselves to the programme and we are looking forward to following their progression as they implement their learnings in the months and years ahead.”