On the evening of 8 March, International Women's Day, the Women In Natural Stone (WINS) group  welcomed 60 women to The Building Society in London for the launch of a new mentoring programme.

Tamsin Napier-Munn, Manager & Host of Women in Business at The Business Magazine was the guest speaker, inspiring and enthusing those present.

Co-Chairs of WINS, Becca Cranfield of Athena Stonecare and Tamsin Pickeral of Szerelmey, explained how the mentoring scheme will work.

It has been developed to help connect women in the earlier years of their career in the industry with women who have more experience and can offer guidance and advice.

Any woman in the stone industry, in whatever role, interested in being mentored should contact the Stone Federation, which is managing the scheme, by contacting sara@stonefed.org.uk.

Once Stone Federation has received an application from someone wanting to be mentored, the applicant will be matched with a mentor and an introductory email sent.

From there it will be up to the mentor and the person being mentored to arrange their first meeting, in person or online as they see fit.

Some ice-breaker questions will be suggested to ease the flow of conversation, but it is up to the people involved whether they use these or take an alternative approach. The scheme is very much geared to the requirements of those involved and is not proscriptive.

Both the mentor and the person being mentored will be asked to commit to an initial six-month connection, although it will not be binding and if either party feels it is not working out can end the arrangement at any time.

During the first six months the mentor and the person being mentored are expected to meet at least twice, either in person or online, and should be prepared to communicate by email and/or phone at least once a month.

The mentors come from across the natural stone, architectural and construction sectors. All the mentors are experienced in their professions and well-placed to support and encourage those who want to further their careers.

As well as WINS co-Chairs Becca Cranfield and Tamsin Pickeral, the mentors are: Mirander McCabe, an Associate at Purcell; Iris Chan, Supply Chain Manager at Multiplex; Valerie Bergeron, Director of Business Development Europe at Polycor; Regina Vitorio, Chair of LSI Stone; Nicky Rance, Project Director at Sir Robert McAlpine; Jane Buxey, Chief Executive of Stone Federation; Lisa Nunn, Senior Geologist at FNDC; Lyndsey Gallagher, COO at Gallagher Group; Maria Amparo Asenjo, Associate Director of Mace.

If any other woman would like to volunteer as a mentor, they should contact Sara by email at sara@stonefed.org.uk to express their interest.