Member Article

Yorkshire ‘Mentor of the Year’ revealed

An employee of Leeds Building Society has been crowned the Yorkshire ‘Mentor of the Year’ at a special event held in Leeds.

Kelly Martin, 38, who works as a Mortgage Service Desk Team Leader received the award in recognition of her commitment to mentoring with Mosaic, HRH The Prince of Wales’ mentoring charity, which recently became part of the Prince’s Trust.

Kelly first volunteered to work with Mosaic’s Secondary School mentoring programme earlier this year and also persuaded some of her colleagues to do likewise. Since then, Kelly and her team have been working with Swallow Hill Community College in Leeds, encouraging and supporting pupils in their career aspirations.

This support has also extended to include a special ‘World of Work’ visit for the students, where they visited Leeds Building Society’s head office and were given an inspiring talk by the CEO Peter Hill.

Bryan Pearce, Deputy Headteacher at Swallow Hill Community College, said: “For many of our students this was the first opportunity they had to meet people from the business world. I know it has given many of them the aspiration to go on and do something they would otherwise have thought out of reach.”

Kelly also organised a recent visit to the school by Leeds Rhinos rugby league star Mitch Achurch, Mitch spoke to students about the importance of dedication and working relentlessly hard when trying to achieve your goals in life.

Commenting on her award win, Kelly Martin said: “Mentoring with Mosaic has been one of the very best things I’ve done in my professional career and so I’m absolutely thrilled to have been recognised in this way. All of the team from Leeds Building Society have felt privileged to work with such an inspiring group of young people, and I would thoroughly recommend mentoring to anyone who wants to do something that is both personally rewarding and clearly makes a positive contribution to the local community.”

After winning the regional title, Kelly will now represent Yorkshire at the national Princess Badiya Mentor of the Year Awards taking place in London in September. Named in honour of Mosaic’s founding Chairman, HRH Princess Badiya bint El Hassan, a member of the Jordanian royal family, these awards recognise the highest standards in mentoring across Mosaic’s programmes.

For more information on becoming a mentor with Mosaic visit www.mosaicnetwork.co.uk, phone 0203 222 5913 or email mosaic@princes-trust.org.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mosaic .