Meet the Mentor: Sarah Ashby

Introducing Sarah Ashby, Chief Financial Officer at Mamas and Papas, and Potentia Mentor!

Sarah has extensive experience in financial leadership and strategic business development, which will be critical to supporting her mentee to develop their career. Sarah’s current role as CFO of Mamas & Papas covers not just the finance but also operations, procurement, property and legal. Sarah has spent much of her career in manufacturing (P&G, Heinz and Pladis), and moved into retail working at Asda, as the FD of George clothing and leading M&A and cash transformation for the business. In this interview Sarah shares why mentorship schemes are important, what qualities she values in a mentee and what she hopes to achieve through being a mentor for Potentia!

Why do you think it is important to have mentors?

It is incredibly important to have positive role models: I believe mentors can help inspire and motivate the next generation of leaders. This is especially important for women, who still face some discrepancies in the workplace and who are often juggling child or elder care responsibilities. Mentoring women helps them ideate what they can achieve.  

I also think in a society enveloped by screens and phones; we have lost some of the power of conversation and face to face interactions. Mentoring helps to unlock this and spark collaboration and connection.

I have been a mentor for the past 10 years and run female allyship programmes with large mentee groups, as well as 121 relationships, so have seen first-hand the impact Mentorship Programmes likes Potentia’s can have on people’s careers.

What qualities do you value in a mentee?

I value someone with an appetite to learn and challenge the status quo. It’s also important for a mentee to be proactive in leading the mentor / mentee relationship, for example suggesting topics of interest, podcast, material etc to discuss. I like to learn from my mentees as much as they learn from me! Honesty and openness are also key, as this enables a good level of trust to build and richer conversations to be had.

With my mentees I am open, direct, energetic and like to share my passion for personal and professional growth and success.

What do you hope to achieve through mentoring a woman in finance?

I hope to share some of the tips and tricks that have worked for me in the past to enable other woman to have their own success. I also hope to build a network with up-and-coming females and inspire them to push on in their careers. A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle!

If you are interesting in joining Potentia, please register via https://www.potentianetworking.com/register