Uplift, the mentoring, networking, and community programme that aims to accelerate women in the cycling industry, launches Meet the Mentor, a limited podcast series featuring senior women leaders across the global bike industry. Sponsored by Shimano, the series premieres following Uplift's annual International Women's Day meet up.

The debut series features five episodes with some of the programme's original mentors, including (in order of appearance):

• Alexa Cunningham, Marketing Manager – Shimano
• Cassondra Spring, Global Brand Manager – Liv Cycling
• Nikki Hawyes, Chief Executive Officer – Whyte Bikes
• Kate Veronneau, Director of Women's Strategy – Zwift
• Maria Chan, Chief Operating Officer - Hiplok

The Uplift mission is to accelerate the progress and presence of senior women in the cycling industry and encourage more to follow. While the core programme connects emerging talent with experienced leaders, Meet the Mentor was designed to scale its impact by amplifying role models through storytelling, sharing career-resilience strategies typically reserved for private sessions, and providing another space where the community can learn from the lived experiences of industry trailblazers.

Each episode explores a variety of topics, from career navigation, leadership challenges, and the specific tips used to build resilience where needed. These insights are important for an industry where 71% of women have considered leaving, and representation still remains stark: women hold just 8% of workshop roles and 19% of customer-facing positions, despite making up 49% of the total UK workforce (Diversity In the Cycling Industry report, 2023).

"We want to reach more women than we're able to mentor and with Shimano's support, this podcast amplifies the influential voices within our programme and shares their wisdom with the next generation of talent on a much larger scale," says Rachael Burnside, Founder of Uplift and Head of PR & Social at SHIFT Active Media. "Ultimately, Uplift has always been about growing confidence and building stronger networks; this is another way to do this".

"Amplifying women's voices in cycling is essential to building a stronger, more inclusive industry. Shimano is proud to support the Meet the Mentor podcast and the incredible women who share their stories with honesty, passion, and purpose," says Alexa Cunningham, Marketing Manager at Shimano & Uplift Mentor. "As a mentor in the programme, I've seen firsthand how powerful community and representation can be in inspiring the next generation of women to step into this industry with confidence".

‘Meet the Mentor’ is available now globally on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube. The podcast builds on Uplift's proven impact and ambition to help more women: since September 2023, Uplift has supported 17 members into promotions or new roles, placed 120 mentees, and engaged over 2,500 attendees at live events hosted all around the globe.