MyMentor Spotlight: Rosie Evans

I'm Rosie Evans, my family is from Machynlleth and I grew up in London. I lived in Bangor for 3 years whilst completing my Psychology bachelor's degree at Bangor University and loved it - especially trips to Betws-y-coed and Anglesey. After a year abroad in the Netherlands, I went on to explore a clinical psychology career, beginning as a trainee Applied Behavioural Analysis Tutor at the Ambitious About Autism school, TreeHouse School. I then went on to specialise in mental health and trained at King's College London. At this point my passion for positive psychology and mindfulness became clear and this meant moving away from clinical psychology. This was also timed with a move to Berlin, Germany, where I gained valuable experience as an Account Executive for ResearchGate.

Once settled, I opened up my own positive psychology and mindfulness consultancy and supported international people, schools, families, and organisations. Not long after, I discovered the digital coaching provider, CoachHub.io, where I now work as a Principal Behavioural Scientist. With this role, I aim to drive our mission to democratise coaching and advance the science of digital coaching for people development and wellbeing. I also continue my training and work as a business coach.

Broadening knowledge to take things to the next level…

I sought a mentor because I had recently started at CoachHub as a Behavioural Scientist and recognised that there was a gap in my knowledge around HR and understanding the HR perspective. This was really important because our clients primarily work within HR and L&D teams, and in order to best consult them I needed support to understand key aspects of my clients' roles, responsibilities, and goals. Without improving this, I would struggle to be promoted to Senior Behavioural Scientist and be successful. I had strong ambitions to become a leader at CoachHub and wanted support with developing these capabilities. 

In combination with improving my knowledge, I needed support with my confidence to have these conversations and ability to consult this audience. I relied heavily on my scientific knowledge and other expertise, which wasn't always appropriate. I also had to learn how to bridge the gap between science and business and better understand how to support clients who might be looking to expand into new markets, launch a new product, start a new business, change of job role, expand your knowledge and build confidence in a new area/role.

I was looking for an experienced HR professional who could give me an insider’s view on working within HR, especially at the senior level, and be able to offer advice on ideas and initiatives that would resonate with HR teams. It was also important to me that I worked with a female mentor who could help give me advice on working as a woman in business. 

A strong connection...

I feel a strong connection to Wales and since moving to Germany, I wanted to find ways to better connect with other Welsh people. The MyMentor programme helped me to achieve this goal whilst supporting my professional development. 

My mentor was Catrin Asbrey who was Group HR Director at Keolis UK at the time. I selected Catrin because of her extensive experience as an HR Director and she could support me with my goals and also give me advice on working as a female leader. I also really liked Catrin when we met and felt like it was a perfect match! 

The process was really simple, we met online (of course!) and spent some time getting to know each other and deciding whether the match made sense. We got on very well and were excited about working together. Once Catrin and I had agreed that we both wanted to take it forward we agreed to meet at least once a month and if needed, we could arrange some more times. 

It was easiest for me to arrange the same time each month to schedule around work. At the beginning, we identified a few topics that would cover the first few sessions, and afterwards I would bring a topic to discuss in the session. The topics varied, from more informational sessions, to hearing about Catrin's experience in developing as a leader, and finally making plans to develop myself as a leader. The mentoring lasted about 6 months but we still keep in touch. I know that I can reach out to Catrin anytime and that she can reach out to me for support too. 

Becoming a more confident leader and getting promoted...

I gained a lot of valuable confidence with regards to HR and understanding my clients. This meant that I was able to consult better and also I improved the quality of my work. This led to very positive feedback from both clients and colleagues. 

With regards to being a young woman in business, Catrin also gave me the confidence  and useful advice on how to pursue my ambitions and develop myself as a leader. Not only was I promoted to Senior Behavioural Scientist, but recently I was offered the Principal Behavioural Scientist position, which is the technical lead for the behavioural science team. I now enjoy leadership responsibilities, such as growing my team globally, working closely with our enterprise clients, senior leadership team, and collaborating with our academic partners. Catrin was a big part of my journey here. 

Having the Welsh connection made the programme feel important beyond the goals of the mentorship itself. It felt as though we were creating ripple effects that would help bring more Welsh people together and share knowledge and expertise with each other, which in turn would come back to benefit Wales. I found this very motivating. 

I would absolutely recommend the MyMentor programme, we all need people who can support us to grow and develop both personally and professionally, and mentorship is one of the best ways to do this. Very rarely, do we have opportunities to work with a person whose goal is to support you with your individual goals. Mentoring is a unique experience and one I would like to repeat as a mentee, but I would also like to give back and experience being a mentor myself.