When Tamara James was promoted to executive officer at the Newcastle Airport 18 months ago, she grappled with whether she was good enough.
"I was in it, and I was like, oh my goodness, how did I get here? I hope I'm going to do a good job, I hope I'm what they're looking for," she said.
After working as an executive assistant for 16 years, Ms James had just taken the next step in her career when she came across Mentor Walks online.
Launching the Newcastle branch in 2023, the program matches mentees with experienced female mentors during a walk along the Newcastle Foreshore.
Mentees get advice on confidence, building networks, career path planning, and navigating the professional world as a woman.
Ms James had struggled with negative self-talk and confidence, and was hoping to break this cycle in her new role.
"It helped me uncover strengths that I didn't realise were there, and it touched on personal resilience and self-belief," she said.
She had gone on around six mentor walks since the start of this year, and she enjoyed that the talks did not involve sitting in a meeting room or on your computer.
"The act of walking can be so grounding and as you move so do your thoughts," she said.
Early in her career as an executive assistant, she felt people sometimes saw her as a secretary that got coffees, and not a strategic partner.
"If this was around back then, I would have probably jumped at it," she said.
A lot of women wonder if they were qualified, if they were the right choice for the job, she said.
"Men have had more doors open to them, they haven't had the same fight to get that equality or even to just get included," she said.
"We are really just playing catch-up and finding that space to give to the younger generation."
In the one year of the Newcastle program, more than 250 women have been involved with Mentor Walks reporting 94 per cent of mentees receiving the career guidance they came for.
One mentor Tamara James connected with was Donna Vinci, non-executive director at the NGM Group.
Ms Vinci had spent her executive career in financial services and since 2019, had sat on boards including Hunter Water and Hunter Medical Research Institute.
"The walking, evens things out for people, I think. You have fresh air, the scenery, it just relaxes people into the conversation," she said.
She said herself and other mentors had provided advice on career pathways, and skills for mentees to further their careers.
"I have learned as much from them as they have learned different things from me. It is a two-way street," she said.
"It is all about connections between mentees and mentors, it's connection to the community."
For Ms James, the mentor strolls had helped her feel less alone.
"There's women who have come before you, there's women who are going through it at the same time as you, and they'll be women to come after you," she said.
