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.

From a small Prague-based consulting firm to a global leader in AI tools, Apify has achieved rapid growth without compromising its core: a culture built on absolute freedom, trust, and radical transparency. This post goes behind the scenes to explore how we maintain a "small-team" feel with over 200 people, why we value curiosity and mindset over traditional degrees, and how our team across 36 nationalities is using AI to redefine what it means to be a "technical" professional. Whether you're a coder, a marketer, or looking to pivot your career, discover why Apify is a place where you can genuinely help shape the future of work.

New role. New responsibilities. New perspective. Liina Adov shares how mentorship helped her navigate the challenges of becoming a first-time manager, develop a more strategic mindset, and build the confidence to lead through uncertainty. From tackling everyday leadership challenges to stepping back and seeing the bigger picture, her mentoring journey equipped her with practical tools, fresh perspectives, and lessons that continue to shape her growth long after the program ended.

What does it really take to grow from technical expertise into real influence? In this interview, Zuzana Kojdjak, Head of PMO at Barclays Prague, shares why stakeholder management, executive presence, and mentoring matter so much for women in tech, and how the right support can turn ambition into action.

Francesca shares how living and working across countries shaped her leadership, how motherhood made her sharper, more empathetic, and more decisive, and how she actively creates space for parents on her team to keep growing without guilt. As a senior marketing leader at Plzeňský Prazdroj, she knows firsthand that ambition and wellbeing are not opposites. They grow together.

Gabriela Borutová has spent over a decade in tech, but what drives her as a Femme Palette mentor has little to do with technical skills. In this spotlight, she shares why she said yes to mentoring, how our upbringing as women shapes the way we see ourselves across every generation, and why professional growth is so often less about learning something new and more about finally being heard. Plus her advice for mentors who want to go beyond giving advice and start creating real, lasting change.

AI is changing fast. But according to Tetiana Lobanovska, Engineering Manager at Everpure, we're still at the very beginning. In this interview, she shares why adaptability matters more than any specific skill, how to introduce AI in a way that builds trust rather than fear, and what it really takes to stay competitive in a world where the rules are still being written.