Celebrating the Women Mentors of GrowthMentor
There’s no secret that women are in the minority in the world of Growth and even the whole Startup scene in general. The numbers are shifting slowly and we are seeing more and more female faces pop up!
In our community, we have some amazing female mentors who are paying forward by sharing their personal experiences and knowledge with others. Whether it be in the form of career advice or using a particular MarTech tool or data driven sales, the ladies are here to help.
We have seen that some are of our users do search specifically for female mentors, so if chatting with a woman is something you are looking for- this list is for you!
Agnieszka Wojtkun
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“I had 6 years of experience working in an omnichannel FMCG company at a very early business stage. My main responsibility was to build their whole marketing strategy and digital presence. Eventually, they won 3 times Forbes Diamonds when I worked for them. Craving the same success? Drop me a call request.”
Agnieszka Wojtkun - Marketing & CRM ConsultantI help companies to grow their revenue with CRM & marketing automation strategies, e-mail marketing, and marketing analysis. Feel invited to use my 12 years of hands-on experience in combining customer insights, KPIs & MarTech tools into data-driven strategies that give a fresh business boost 🚀
Jackie Quiring
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“I’m an experienced writer and founder who works with e-commerce, SaaS, and digital agencies to increase conversions for their landing pages, emails, social campaigns, and more through the power of conversion-driven copy. I love analyzing data and experimentation!”
Jackie Quiring - Conversion Copywriter | FounderHi, my name is Jackie and I’ve been a professional writer, author and marketer for over 10 years. Problem-solving and strategy are my forte, and I’m excited by the prospect of helping others in the industry!
Kate Syuma
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“As one of the founding members of Growth at Miro, I helped to scale the cross-functional stream from 5 to 170+ people. Scaled the team from 1 to 11 diverse Product and Content designers in the Growth stream. Established the design processes for effective collaboration: Experiments reflections, Growth Jams, Growth Design Sprint, UXR, and Design discovery.”
Kate Syuma - Head of Growth Design at MiroI’m the Head of Growth Design at Miro, as well as a Growth Advisor & Mentor. I was a part of the founding Growth team and over 6 years co-strategized Miro’s growth across Acquisition, Retention, Monetisation, and Community-led growth. I covered experimentation across the whole funnel, conducted hundreds of customer interviews, and validated 100+ hypotheses.
Ashley Porciuncula
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“Master certified coach and mentor, working with individuals on a one-to-one basis on topics such as goals-oriented career coaching, regaining focus as a team, restarting your career after parental leave, and restoring your authentic self after experiencing a toxic environment. Previously VP Product for one of Forbes’ “Startups to Watch” and Head of UX Strategy and Product Design at one of the world’s largest health companies. “
Ashley Porciuncula - Film Producer and Director at Hightail EntertainmentI have 15 years of experience in product ownership and user experience. I’ve launched almost 50 products, from start to finish, during my career. My work spans software, mobile apps, SAAS services, responsive websites, branding, and wearable tech.
Olga Mykhoparkina
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“I’ve bootstrapped a SaaS content marketing agency business to $600K ARR in 18 months. Happy to share my experience as well as things I’ve learned on the way.”
Olga Mykhoparkina - Founder at QuoleadyI’ve been in the link-building business forever – from the times of endless scrolling through the website spreadsheets to actually doing it right – using PR tools like HARO, A-B-C exchanges, and guest blogging on top-tier platforms. I’m happy to share how to set things up on your end: how to build a link-building team, how to choose websites to build links from, how to prioritize URLs for link building, and why it’s worth building links to your blog posts rather than landing pages.
Michelle Lia
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“Looking to validate features, delve into customer insights or develop a product? I’ve built products and know how to get inside the mind of the user.”
Michelle Lia - Growth and Product ConsultantHi there! I’m Michelle and I’m a growth consultant based in Sydney Australia. With a background in media, finance and law I work as a growth hacker and approach things from a holistic and product perspective. I’ve worked with primarily fintechs and edutechs
Monika Khanna
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“I can help you finding the right answers to the most relevant questions with a blend of research, user psychology and UX strategy. How to bring human dimension in design? Empathy helps designers to look deeper into situations in a way that helps them to think and create solutions for problems. Having users think aloud while interacting with the workflow of any system as they speak a lot about user needs and stories. You can thus gather more information from the target users.”
Monika Khanna - Product Design @ GoogleI’m a good listener and know what it feels like when not getting expected results. Sometimes sharing your situations, problems with someone release that tension. You can talk to me and I’m sure you will feel better.
Alicia Burke
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“Which channels make the most sense for you? What content & formats resonate most with your audience? How do you build an engaged community? Picking your graphics, video, scheduling & analytics tools. “
Alicia Burke Marketing & Community @ Ascension VenturesI’m an all-rounder(ish) marketing manager who makes the most out of limited resources. I am passionate about comms & strategy, marketing automation & CRM systems, content & social, branding, and website development. I am very (maybe too) process-driven and seek the best toolsets for operational effectiveness, all things considered (i.e. don’t forget the human element!).
Paulami Roychoudhury
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“As a UX designer, I understand the challenges of creating an MVP to test out the product fast and quick. Having worked in startups, I follow an agile methodology to quickly iterate with limited resources to reach a product-market fit.”
Paulami Roychoudhury - Researcher at 3x3I spent the majority of my career working with early-stage startups hence I understand the challenges of building a product with limited resources. I help set up the design process & recruitment, provide guidance on best practices and help with issues like scalability and product-market fit.
Louise Ralston
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“I worked for over 10 years in go-to-market at Amazon, and subsequently in start-ups. I have written strategies, carried out tactics, and got into the details of complex product launches. I was lucky to lead the launch of various hardware in Europe, including the original Kindle device, Amazon’s own brand tablets, FireTV, and Echo/Alexa products.”
Louise Ralston- Founder at LR ConsultingI have been a mentor for over 10 years. I have mentored within a workplace setting and in my personal time. I have had several mentees refer me to their networks due to my ability to listen, break down issues, and help mentees move forward. Outside of working with start-ups, I mentor professionals who are looking to upscale their careers or develop new skills. I have heard a lot of frustration and am happy to help with yours.
Bosky Mukherjee
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“I get goose bumps just thinking about everything that it takes envisioning, dreaming, designing and building products. Problem discovery is what my core strength is – figuring out what to build first and next is so very hard, figuring out how to build those is much easier.”
Bosky Mukherjee - CEO/Founder and Product/Growth NerdI love beautiful design craftsmanship and designing the design function itself. Design is creative; however there is lot to design that makes it scientific. I have experiences building UX/Design teams, functions and several methods to make calculated decisions on when good is good enough in UX and design
Nicole Fu
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“Bootstrapping! I’ve bootstrapped a startup, and worked for bootstrapped to seed-stage to VC-funded startups. I’ve tried every marketing channel you can think of across the lifecycle of pirate metrics (Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral and Revenue). As a result, I have a pretty good idea on what kind of results you can expect from each marketing channel and how to make the most bang out of your buck.”
Nicole Fu - Startup/Growth Marketing ConsultantMost startuppers have read The Lean Startup. I think the same methodologies should be applied to startup marketing and growth marketing. Build experiments, test channels, messaging, audiences. Measure: track the analytics, make data-driven decisions. Learn: double down on what delivers the most ROI, scale.
Tina Louise
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“I’m a passionate marketeer who loves helping people and companies success. After working at MyFitnessPal and successfully helping them grow, I became very interested in the health, wellness and fitness sectors. Have mentored a few individuals and companies before, and want to continue doing it.”
Tina LouiseOne of the best ways to generate results in digital marketing – reducing time wasted in repetitive tasks, and improving conversions and results. Can be used to generate growth, less, improve customer service, and in many other ways.
Lindsey Allard
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“Bootstrapping. I am currently bootstrapping my software company, PlaybookUX. We have developed our MVP, launched a beta and launched to the general public. When you’re bootstrapping, every dollar counts, I am happy to chat with anyone who is looking to bootstrap their startup!”
Lindsey Allard - Co-Founder PlaybookUXI have been running product teams at startups for 6 years. I love chatting about prioritizing roadmaps, feature brainstorming, agile, and all things product.
Hannah Parvaz
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“I would love to teach people about the importance of the growth mindset and iterative experimenting. After focussing on this for years, I have found my greatest successes with small and consistent changes as well as user conversations which has helped build close user relationships.”
Hannah Parvaz - Head of Growth at CurioI love working on performance marketing, brand development, and user engagement inn early-to-mid stage startups. I’ve been working in apps for the last 6 years, with 5 years before that in e-commerce and events. Looking forward to chatting.
Roisin Bennett
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“Strategy. Too often startups skip the fundamental research stage of defining their target market and understanding their customer.”
Roisin BennettIn my capacity as European Marketing Manager at Shannon International Airport, it was a challenge gathering customer feedback and pasenger surveys. I developed a solution, reward driven customer surveys at interactive kiosks situated at the airport and subsequently mobile apps. It proved a great success and was rolled out as a model to the airport group.
Marta Olszewska
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“If you have no content (yet): I’ll tell you how to establish your goals, marketing persona, and your content sweet spot (what can you teach people about?). I’ll walk you through topic sourcing, SEO and competitive research, and the writing process. I’ll recommend the tools you can use together with your blogging platform to analyze your results, sync your social media, and to drive signups to your newsletter. I’ll help you come up with your content distribution plan.”
Marta Olszewska - Former Head of Marketing @PiktochartGrowth mindset is often going outside of what you’ve learned and previously had experience in. It’s to experiment with different channels, message, and combination of tactics. It’s to fail often, learn from your mistakes, and scale what works.
Paulina Szymanska
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“Paid acquisition, especially low lead gen channels such as Google Ads – paid search, is a channel I’m highly experienced with. I have brought significant results over the years by restructuring and optimizing Google Search campaigns. Besides Google Ads, I’m experienced with paid social on platforms like Facebook-Instagram ads, LinkedIn ads, and YouTube and Display ads.”
Paulina Szymanska - Head of Growth at DivisionalOptimizing conversion rates isn’t just about testing and tweaking your website. You must also understand the psychology behind consumer behavior to create an online presence that motivates and converts. Invest in understanding your audience and use that knowledge to guide your strategies for maximum results. Trust me, the payoff is worth it.
Sophia Eng
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“Whether you’re a startup founder that needs help finding their blindspots or you’re simply looking for a more sustainable approach to your work, I can help. So much of what we believe about ourselves manifests in our work. If you’re having doubts, I’ll help you break bad mental habits to help you become more resilient and achieve what really matters.”
Sophia Eng - Founder of Women in GrowthI’m a great listener. In fact, I’ve founded Women In Growth, a community specifically for supporting others through their tough times with support and accountability. I’d love to be here for you when you need it most.
Agata Krzysztofik
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“I’m a marketing and community growth-hacker passionate about new technologies, gamification, data-driven marketing, and agile performance management. I love helping people in achieving their goals.
I’ve spent the last 10 years developing and executing growth strategies and product roadmaps at companies such as Piktochart, Google, Groove, and TeamViewer. Right now I coach businesses in the area of PPC, ABM, SEO, content strategy, community building, OKRs implementation, analytics, CRO, customer experience marketing, PR, UX testing, and buyer personas development.”
Agata Krzysztofik - VP of Growth at DemodeskI have been part of the Google AdWords team for 6 years collaborating closely with the product, as well as with the best Google AdWords agencies globally. My former team is the one behind the #AdWordsTips video series. I’m happy to help with optimizing your Google AdWords campaigns or with getting you started. I also specialize in paid social (LinkedIn, Facebook, Quora), native advertising, and ABM (account based marketing) campaigns.
Liliana Ortiz
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“I’m Lili Ortiz. I help marketing professionals, startups and entrepreneurs to improve their Google Ads, Inbound Marketing and YouTube skills to make more profitable advertising campaigns.
I can help you to develop a laser focus on the kind of mindset that will enable you to understand and overcome your main objections, so to more effectively accomplish your goals and aspirations.”
Liliana Ortiz - Performance Marketing @ TypeformI love travelling, and I also love learning about online businesses. I fulfilled my dream of discovering the world in 2015 when I visited more than 15 countries. I also created my e-commerce business called I love Trendy (which I sold later).
Vassilena Valchanova
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
I’d say “conversion rate optimization” because it’s a broad term to let me cover a few things (so I’m basically cheating!). First, it means you look at the customer journey from a strategic perspective – detail it out and analyze with the data available where your key drop-off points are. Then you review, hypothesize solutions and draft experiments. Then you see what the data says and if your experiment is successful (meaning if you learned something useful about user behavior).
Vassilena ValchanovaI have a passion for sharing knowledge and I believe that the process benefits both the “teacher” and the “student”. I’ve already trained more than 2,000 students in content marketing, copywriting, marketing measurement, and gamification. I love working on new challenges and being a mentor lets me meet ambitious teams with exciting projects – and that’s what energizes me!
Dani Hart
Sustainable Growth Practitioner, Yoga Teacher
Dani’s following a burning desire to better understand burnout and how personality insights, yoga, and diet can help stimulate the mind, body, and soul for personal growth.
She recently led growth alongside Sean Ellis at GrowthHackers — all things community, conference, training and NorthStar (software).
Before that Dani led marketing automation, email, direct mail, and other cross-functional projects for Payoff, a fintech company focused on helping people in the USA pay off their high-interest rate credit cards with personal loans.
Dani Hart - Senior Account Director at NEWPORT ONEMy favorite question is “what can I learn from this?” and I love meeting, learning from, and helping people.
Sue Duris
Customer Experience and SaaS Growth Strategist
Sue’s spent more than 20 years working in the startup space predominantly in Silicon Valley working with B2B SaaS companies. She also has experience working with companies in the telecom, fintech, and life sciences sectors.
Whether that has been marketing or customer experience leadership in startups, or consulting with or advising them, Sue’s done it all.
She has developed and executed corporate strategy, created pitch decks, made pitches, managed agency and analyst relationships, established customer acquisition and customer marketing programs, led product marketing, created customer experience and customer success programs, developed customer advocacy and reference programs, developed analytics dashboards to generate clear customer insights to optimize customer programs, established customer advisory boards and culture committees, led content strategy and development of all content, and created win-loss programs.
Sue Duris - Non Executive Director at Customer InstituteI’m passionate about startups and how to help them engage employees to help drive customer value. The key is to understand product-market fit, identify high-value customer segments, and create the programs that are going to reduce time to value for customers so they can achieve their business outcomes quickly. This is what drives growth.
Tanya Aulachynskaya
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“I’m being passionate about good design and user experience from the very start of my career. I have worked as a UX designer/researcher for several years, and now I’m a product manager but I still pay a lot of attention to good design. I can either help you with expert evaluation of your designs or advise you how to check your designs experimentally (user testing, A/B testing etc.)”
Tanya Aulachynskaya - VP of Product at PandaDocI’m a Senior Director of Product, Growth at PandaDoc (B2B SAAS) where I do product management for the Growth team, a lot of customer development and user research, and help the company grow its efficient product team processes. Would love to share my experience with startups and growing companies!
Faith Storey
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“I have managed over $10M in ads on search, linkedin and facebook/ig. I can break down your current campaigns and make recommendations for improvement or build a campaign from scratch.”
Faith Storey - Growth Marketing Manager at Contrarian ThinkingHi, I’m Faith. 👋 I work for growth at Contrarian Thinking full-time & part-time freelance performance marketer. I grew a successful freelancing business and solely freelanced for 3 years. I consistently made over $150k while working less than 20 hours per week.
Yasmine de Aranada
Growth Marketing Strategist
Yasmine is a Hybrid T- Marketer. In the last + 15 years, she’s chosen to build extensive lateral knowledge across multiple industries and marketing channels, offline and online, fine-tuning a data-driven methodology that enables her to build integrated marketing plans.
She’s usually brought into play at the website redesign stage.
Why?
Because your website plays a critical role in your selling process when it matches your buyers’ buying process.
To map it all out, chances are she will make you question every aspect your business, pretty much like drafting a business plan.
Yasmine de Aranda - Marketing Lead at Embodied LabsThere is a place for everyone on the market. The key is finding the right positioning and knowing your ideal customer. Through a data-driven methodology, I help you identify your Unfair Advantage and guide you in building a 360 integrated strategy that bridges the gap between sales and marketing.
Audrey Melnik
Customer Journey Optimization, Marketing Automation Specialist, SaaS, B2B, Empowering non-technical teams
Over 20+ years in technology and consulting, Audrey’s been pushing product and technical innovation across Media, Telcos, Finance and Startups since 1997. As a consultant, her strategy was always to effect positive change during my engagement, leaving clients in a stronger position than before.
Over the years, Audrey has built a deep product pedigree across B2C & B2B while helping large and small organizations enhance their digital offering. She got the startup bug after helping an Australian startup from inception to exit with a $10 million valuation within 6 months. (Wow!)
In the past 7 years, Audrey has founded 2 startups and has been consulting with other startups to help them to optimize their customer conversions whilst empowering non-technical team members to move fast without developer involvement, aka “Customer Journey Optimization”.
Audrey MelnikStartups succeed by defining hypotheses and testing them out. If you cannot do that quickly, your startup will run out of runway before you can find the right target market, the right acquisition strategy and the right activation approach.
Maria JD Sirotkina
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“I ran 15+ launches, ranging from book and podcast launches to e-comm and e-learning launches. It’s a lot about planning, and I’m happy to point out pitfalls.“
Maria JD Sirotkina - Chief Revenue Officer at Art HeroesSerial entrepreneur and consultant in the Educational space, I’m stoked about making learning more accessible, fun, and profitable for all sides of the industry. I’m currently working on Art Heroes 3D Art Academy and helping other founders succeed faster with their businesses.
Anne Chatpra
Founder, Marketing and Branding Strategist
Anne has created 3 businesses in the e-commerce space and understand the process to get ideas off the ground. Her specialty is in branding, value proposition, digital marketing, and creating efficient workflows. As a marketing enthusiast and conscious entrepreneur, it is her passion to support purpose-driven products and services.
Anne ChatpraI am a founder of a social enterprise in the e-commerce space for the past 2 years. I help entrepreneurs strategize and create Minimum Viable Products (MVP) to get the ideas off the ground quickly and efficiently.
Tanya Aulachynskaya
Growth Product Manager
Over the past 8 years Tanya has been growing as a product manager, participating in numerous projects with broad international audience on the web and mobile.
From a product perspective, she believes in user-centered design, rapid iterative prototyping, and experiments and always aims at growing the core product metrics.
Tanya AulachynskayaI have a strong technical background, eye for good design, and love for data analysis.
Jessy Conflon
If she could mentor on one topic it’d be…
“I have a wealth of experience building complex email nurturing programs using Hubspot, Active Campaign, Agile CRM or MailChimp. This is ideal if you wish to automate the nurturing of your leads after running a paid advertising lead generation campaign for example.”
Jessy Conflon at Co-founder at Yay!Starter MarketingI can support you with running short and cost-effective experiments to assess whether there is enough demand for your product as it is or to allow you to quickly identify whether you need to make iterations to your product or to pivot entirely before using all of the money you raised.
Theola DeBose
Media and Storytelling Strategist
Theola is a former journalist who made a career shift into media, marketing, and communications.
Now she is a founder and entrepreneur currently in an accelerator to create a talent solution for the layoffs and buyouts that have disrupted the media industry. She has extensive media and public relations expertise.
She has also been a national speaker and trainer in public relations, including serving as a #SXSW2018 Mentor.
Theola DeBose - Founder at JSKILLSI understand well the joys and challenges of the founder journey because I am also on that road. I love talking about mindset and I come from a perspective of growth and learning.
Jessica Volbrecht
Social Media/Content/Email Strategist
Social Media
These days an active social media presence is a must. Even if you are not getting your clients from social media, they will still search for you before deciding to become a client. At a minimum, you at least need to ‘show up’.
If you want to build up an active audience that hopefully will convert, engagement is the first step. Jessica can help you figure out where it is best for you to engage and build up a name for yourself.
Content Strategy
Jessica can help you map out your audience personas and come up with a plan for how to publish entertaining and valuable content.
Email Marketing
She’s not talkin’ spam here, Jessica specializes in writing emails that get straight to the point with a bit of pizzazz. The goal is for them to feel personalized and hopefully for your client to crack a smile upon reading.
Jessica Volbrecht - COO @ GrowthMentorThe internet is over-saturated. Use social media, your content and emails to stand out as a business that actually has personality.
Need growth help from a female?
If you’re a woman entering into the growth scene, it might be a bit daunting, but it’s totally possible and this list gives credence to that fact. Don’t go it alone if you’re a bit indecisive, jump on a call – we’re all friendly around these parts and have one shared agenda, we just want to help you grow!
*Note that we do not have a gender filter on our platform, but we are always around to make mentor suggestions via live chat or our Slack group.
