Karolína Kuchařová had spent more than 15 years in marketing, at Vodafone and SAZKA among others, and still found herself learning a new craft: leading people. She joined Femme Palette’s mentoring program as she began leading a team at Form Factory, hoping to avoid micromanaging, give people more ownership, and get comfortable with honest feedback. What she found was an outside perspective on situations that felt much bigger when she was in the middle of them, the realization that her instinct to help can limit someone else’s chance to learn, and a mentor who helped her understand herself as a leader.
Gaby Sittová had already directed a feature film and built a career across tech, film, and creative leadership, and still felt like an unsure newcomer in parts of her own life. She joined Femme Palette’s mentoring program looking for help with personal branding. What she found instead was permission to ask for a mentor rematch when the first one wasn’t right, a reminder to actually celebrate what she’d already done, and a mentor who helped her stop treating herself like someone with endless capacity to give.
We are incredibly proud to announce the winners of our 2026 Mentor Awards! This is the second edition of our awards, and once again, we are in awe of the remarkable contributions from our mentors. What we do at Femme Palette would never be possible without our amazing community of mentors, which has continued to grow over the years.
A decade in developer marketing at Microsoft and TigerData taught Lucie Šimečková how to do the work. It didn't teach her how to sell it. When she went freelance after parental leave, sales and client outreach were completely new territory, and her Femme Palette mentor became the person who helped her figure it out, one partnership contact at a time. Read on!
Bettina Guirkinger works with global companies to stop losing women after maternity leave, and lately she's focused that work on keeping women in tech. This year, mid-pivot from a B2C to a B2B business model, she needed the same kind of support she gives others. Here's what came out of being matched with her mentor, Zuzana, including the moment she almost talked herself into a 9-to-5.
Aleksandra Arutsiunian has spent over a decade in travel technology, leading international teams and global partnerships. But it is her work as a Femme Palette mentor that she talks about with the most warmth. In this spotlight, she opens up about how she came into mentoring almost by accident, why first-time leaders are her favourite people to work with, and the lesson about confidence that her mentees keep teaching her.
As the founder of Semínkovna, Klára had years of experience building communities and leading educational projects. But when it came to transforming that expertise into sustainable online learning, she knew she needed a different perspective. Through the Femme Palette mentoring program, she refined her course design, gained confidence in pricing and communicating the value of her work, and began thinking not only as an educator but also as the creator of valuable intellectual property. In this Mentee Spotlight, she shares how mentoring helped turn knowledge into meaningful, sustainable impact.
After being promoted to Grocery National Account Manager at Harry's Grooming Ltd., Lauren Hayward knew she wanted to grow beyond mastering day-to-day tasks. Through mentoring, she strengthened her confidence, developed her leadership skills, and learned to approach difficult conversations with clarity. In this Mentee Spotlight, she shares how having an outside perspective helped her communicate more effectively, challenge self-doubt, and step into her new role with confidence.
Meet Daniela, a global marketing leader with more than 17 years of experience helping technical and industrial brands grow internationally. Having led marketing teams across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and APAC, she has always believed that great leadership is about developing people, not replacing them. In this interview, she shares how mentoring helped her navigate challenging leadership decisions, build resilience, communicate with greater confidence, and stay true to her values while leading international teams.
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