Meet the Mentors

Angharad Evans

Angharad is a solicitor working as a consultant with Acuity Law, a law firm in Cardiff Bay.

Angharad is a solicitor working as a consultant with Acuity Law, a law firm in Cardiff Bay. Before joining Acuity Law, Angharad worked as an in-house solicitor with S4C, the Welsh language broadcaster, specialising in legal matters that affect the media industry and S4C’s business in general. In her day to day work she provides legal and contractual advice to film and tv producers and financiers and often spends her days giving advice and negotiating contracts over the telephone, in meetings or drafting contracts.

Before joining S4C, Angharad trained in a Cardiff law firm and then went to work in a law firm in London specialising in film finance where one of the highlights was to go on work trips to the Cannes Film Festival. Before getting the job in film finance, Angharad didn’t have experience of film finance, but at interview showed that she was a quick learner and had other relevant experience to bring to the new job.

In order to get a training contract to be a solicitor, at interview Angharad spoke about a number of part-time jobs that she had experienced including waitressing, working as a bailiff’s clerk, pub work, hotel cleaning, factory work and voluntary work, all of which provided real examples of taking responsibility and showing initiative.

Angharad is a mum of two children and spends her time socialising with friends, laughing and dancing (generally to embarrass the kids). Angharad also loves visiting different countries and chatting to people from all walks of life.

Angharad has experience in:

staff management
conducting interviews
writing skills
negotiating skills
presentation skills

Carina Phillips

Carina’s working life began in the offices of a commercial law firm. After practising as an employment law solicitor for a few years.

Carina’s working life began in the offices of a commercial law firm. After practising as an employment law solicitor for a few years, she found her way into PR and marketing.

As a freelance copywriter working with everyone from lawyers to hoteliers to manufacturers, Carina counts herself lucky; she’s doing what she loves. Now, almost a decade on from those first nervy assignments and freebies-to-grow-the-portfolio, Carina Phillips Copywriting Ltd is doing pretty well. One of these days it might get itself a better name.

Carina is a mum of two and wife of one, living in Cardiff. Her favourite things are family things, but she makes time for the gym, a spot of semi-competitive tennis, brushing up on her Welsh, and the occasional restorative glass of wine with friends.

Carina has experience in:

writing
public relations
marketing
employment law and HR
public speaking
networking

Kath Denton

Kath is a freelance writer and entrepreneur. She has worked mainly in financial services for over 20 years

Kath is a freelance writer and entrepreneur. She has worked mainly in financial services for over 20 years, helping to set up insurance companies such as elephant.co.uk and Gocompare.com. More recently she project managed the setting up of Tee It Up, an indoor golf simulation centre and bar.

Kath has always loved to write, and despite her maturing years, she decided to return to university in 2015 to do a Masters in Creative Writing. She is now a freelance writer, writing content for websites, and basically anything else anyone is brave enough to offer her.

Kath is the part owner of two small children. She shares this responsibility with her partner Ellen. When she isn’t procrastinating in front of a computer screen, Kath can be found in one of the various soft play centres around the Cardiff area, sobbing into an Americano whilst searching for small shoes. She also likes to travel, watch films, and see her footballing dreams fall apart each January as Liverpool FC drop down the league table.

Kath has experience in:

Recruitment
Interviewing techniques
How to write CVs
Project management
Staff management
Setting up companies
Being a licensee
Creative and business writing

Sian Davies

Sian is a judge specialising in workplace disputes; the cases she deals with include claims of unfair dismissal and discrimination

Sian is a judge specialising in workplace disputes; the cases she deals with include claims of unfair dismissal and discrimination. As well as deciding cases, Sian is also a trainer of other judges; her particular interest is in ‘judgecraft’ (communication skills and the non-legal aspects of being a judge).

Before she became a judge Sian was a solicitor; she trained in London and moved home to work in Cardiff in 2005. Although her CV gives the impression of a well-prepared career path, this could not be further from the truth. At many stages in her life, Sian has felt unsure about what to study or what jobs she would like to do. An interesting array of missteps along the way, meant that Sian realised that you can learn something from every experience, even if that something is that you don’t want to repeat it.

Sian and her husband take it in turns to play referee for their two daughters. Sian loves her boxer dog, Dexter, travelling to sunny places and really good stories.

Sian has experience in:

presentation and communication skills
training and facilitation
mentoring and developing colleagues
project management
staff management
writing skills

Claire Sharp

Claire grew up in Wales and came from a very normal working-class family. She was the first to go to university and had no links to the law

Claire grew up in Wales and came from a very normal working-class family. She was the first to go to university and had no links to the law. However, being argumentative and stubborn resulted in a legal career. She started off suing doctors for clinical negligence, then was for many years as an insolvency solicitor demanding people gave other people their money back or persuading people to let her client keep the money.

Claire gained full rights to speak in court without becoming a barrister, a team and a reputation as an expert in her field; she also learned how to deal with very angry people without being punched in the face. Claire has always worked in male-dominated fields, which often required pretending to be interested in sport. Claire is now a judge and President of the Adjudication Panel for Wales.

Claire’s hobbies include taxi-driving for her relatives, trying new things, and singing tunelessly.

Claire has experience in:

speaking
setting and achieving goals
management
job applications and interviews
writing
training and teaching
running/expanding a business
networking
decision making

Mechelle Colard

Mechelle works with children who need specialist dental treatment.

Mechelle works with children who need specialist dental treatment. This could be children with other medical conditions and those born with a cleft lip and/or palate. Children are also referred to a consultant if they have had dental trauma, are very anxious or have other problems e.g. missing/extra teeth.

Mechelle also trains junior dentists and is an examiner for their professional exams.

Mechelle has three very active boys and a dog and has learned a lot about football! She likes nothing better than lying on a beach reading a good book.

Mechelle has experience in:

Presentations and presentation skills
How to write a CV
Training others
Communication skills

Siwan Phillips

Head of Production for Boom Cymru, and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of production management.

As Head of Production for Boom Cymru, and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of production management, as well as being heavily involved in the day-to-day running of the company. She oversees all elements of production across the Boom slate, and is heavily involved in staffing, finance, crewing, training and post production.

Siwan is currently responsible for over 100 staff and an output of over 400 hours of programming a year. She and her team manage the production process from budgeting through to delivery, covering a vast variety of content including entertainment, lifestyle, fixed rig, children’s, drama and digital.

She has vast experience in delivering programmes to a range of broadcasters – S4C, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and UKTV – and has a keen interest in challenging budgets, streamlining systems, live programming, studio programming and post-production.

Prior to joining Boom Cymru, Siwan worked at the BBC as a production manager for 10 years.

Siwan also sits on various industry boards including TAC Training Advisory Panel, Screenskills Wales Unscripted TV Working group and Creative Wales’ Creative Skills Advisory Panel.

Nicola Mcneely

Nicola is a commercial law solicitor, specialising in working with Technology companies.

Nicola is a commercial law solicitor, specialising in working with Technology companies. She advises businesses from the very beginning to really big companies on their contracts, strategy, funding and protection. She does a lot of training for clients in legal issues in Technology such as blockchain. She has a dual specialism in Intellectual Property law. Think of business who have big brands like Google/Apple/Coca Cola etc. They need to protect their business names/logos to stop other people copying them.

Nicola’s father was in the Royal Air Force for 22 years. She and her family travelled all over the UK as a youngster, moving every 3 or so years from RAF base to RAF base. She understands what it’s like to grow up with a nomadic and ever-changing home life. She has 6 brothers and sisters (she’s number 4 of 7!) and has a massive extended family who live all over the world. Her parents divorced when she was 7 and she and her siblings shared their time between their parents’ homes. Much of the military lifestyle has rubbed off on her and she bounces out of bed EVERY MORNING within 3 seconds when the alarm goes off!

Nicola trained in Cardiff and has worked as a lawyer for 21 years. She spent 5 years working in-house at The Royal Mint in Llantrisant in their legal department and New Business Division. Nicola has experienced successes and failures in her studies and career and is often heard saying ‘it’s all a learning experience and sometimes you strive for better if you stumble along the way’. She has recruited and worked with lots of lawyers and mentored other trainee solicitors and paralegals both inside and outside the workplace.

Nicola is married to Craig and has a 4 year old son who is obsessed with Marvel Superheroes, Disney’s the Lion King and visiting zoos/farms. Most weekends you will find her up and about early morning walking around Caerphilly Castle feeding the ducks, bracing the freezing cold rain or basking in the beautiful sunshine in Folly Farm in Pembrokeshire.

Nicola has experience in:

Presentation and communication skills
Job applications and CVs
Project management
Building new relationships/winning new business/sales skills
Writing skills

Sioned Eurig

Sioned heads up the Employment team at Legal & Risk Services.

Sioned heads up the Employment team at Legal & Risk Services. She has been working as a specialist NHS employment lawyer since August 2012. She advises HR clients on all aspects of contentious and non contentious employment and discrimination law. Sioned has a particular interest in and enjoys advising on unfair dismissal and whistle blowing matters. Sioned studied at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and moved to Cardiff to undertake the Legal Practice Course. It was on the Legal Practice Course that Sioned fell in love with employment law and furthered this interest when training to become a lawyer.

Sioned is married with two young daughters who keep her very busy. She is still trying to find that magical work life balance but is enjoying the juggle at the moment. She enjoys going on holidays with her family and friends.

Sioned has experience in:

Presentation and communication skills

Training and facilitation

Mentoring, supervising and developing colleagues

Writing skills

Networking

Prioritising Work

Kathryn Walters

Kathryn is an NHS clinical psychologist in Gwent where she jointly heads a service of psychologists, counsellors and arts therapists working across the lifespan in both mental and physical health.

Kathryn initially wanted to do Law, then Medicine, then Biochemistry. She had an epiphany that Biochem wasn’t for her whilst on a sixth form visit to Birmingham Uni. With at least an hour left on campus before her school was due to leave, she wandered into the Psychology department and became fascinated with the subject, deciding there and then that she wanted to study it at Uni. 31 years later, Kathryn is still fascinated by the subject and feels privileged to work in a job that brings her into direct contact with so many people trying to make changes in their lives.

Kathryn lives in Cardiff with her husband and between one and three of her three children, depending what’s going on in their lives (two are grown up). She used to run but now settles for circuits, cycling and weightlifting.

Kathryn has experience in:

presentation and communication skills
staff management
writing skills
interviewing
training and teaching

Roxanna Dehaghani

Roxanna is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Cardiff University and an External Examiner in Law at the University of York.

Roxanna is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Cardiff University, External Examiner in Law at the University of York, and Governor at Coleg y Cymoedd, amongst other roles. She teaches Criminal Law and has previously taught Criminal Justice, Legal Skills, and Family Law. She loves to write and has published two books and several articles. She also loves to work with others, across subjects and sectors.

Roxanna studied in Northern Ireland (less than 50 miles from home), in the Netherlands (over 800 miles from home) and in Leicester (somewhere in between), before she settled in Cardiff. She has worked in a variety of roles – in retail, hospitality, finance, housing, and the advice sector, before finding her way to higher education and research.

She is passionate about improving the criminal justice system for vulnerable people, inspiring learners to think critically about the law and its role in society, and widening participation in higher education.

In her spare time, she enjoys walking in the countryside and along the coast; mindfulness, minimalism, and yoga; and learning new skills and languages (she speaks Dutch fluently; French and Spanish poorly, and is a ‘Dysgwyr Cymraeg’). She is slowly learning to enjoy watching football – her partner, Matt, gives her no other option!

She is experienced in:

Public speaking, presentations, and communication
Academic writing
Setting and achieving goals
Job and university applications, CVs, and interviews
Training and teaching
Networking
Mentoring and developing others

Fiona Rawlinson

Fiona is a Consultant in palliative medicine working with City Hospice in Cardiff. She is also a Programme Director for Cardiff University.

Fiona couldn’t decide between Music and Medicine during secondary school. Eventually she trained as a doctor in England and started work as a GP before moving to the specialty of Palliative Medicine. She was a Consultant in Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend until 2015 when she moved back to Cardiff to take up the Lead for palliative medicine for the Cardiff University international multi-professional postgraduate courses. She has set up palliative care education programmes for South Africa, India and more recently Eastern Europe in addition to preparing on line education programmes. This sounds a well thought through career path – but the muddle of real life has meant it as developed often as a result of a chance conversation or meeting which has led to different opportunities. Outside work, Fiona has always maintained creative outlets and plays piano, viola, guitar and fiddle in addition to writing and painting. She has set up an after school club when her children were in primary school, been a school governor and run a children’s church for a number of years.

Fiona has experience in:

Presentation and communication skills
Training and teaching
Mentoring and coaching
Supporting less than full time working
Project management
Writing skills
Team working
Leadership
Resilience

Claire Blake

A creative marketeer and bid writer with over 20 years’ experience in working in a variety of sectors, Claire eventually ended up in the legal world.

Claire is the Bids and Tenders Manager at Capital Law.

A creative marketeer and bid writer with over 20 years’ experience in working in a variety of sectors, Claire eventually ended up in the legal world.

The first of her family to go to university, Claire elected to study a degree in American Management Science in Swansea University, mainly, she admits, so that she could enjoy a year at the University of Toronto.

After gaining her degree Claire enjoyed a few years working on Wales’ major construction projects, including the Principality stadium, before pursuing a post-graduate qualification and career in marketing. Her varied marketing career in manufacturing, aerospace and construction has eventually led to her specialise in winning work through complex bids and tenders of values from £1k to over £100 million. For the past 6 years Claire has worked in the legal sector, where she works across corporate and commercial, property and construction, employment, and dispute resolution teams to win contracts with leading organisations throughout the UK and internationally.

Having to deal with the ups and (mainly) downs of being in a house of Cardiff City fans, when Claire’s not working, she’s a typical soccer mum, ferrying her teenage daughter and sporty son around from one activity to the next. Lucky for her (and everyone else in the house she says) her husband looks after the cooking.

Claire has experience in:

Bid writing
CV writing
Project management
Job applications
Interview skills
Presentation skills
Report writing
Networking

Holly Stedman

Since September 2018, Holly has been a Lecturer in Legal Practice at USW and continues to practice as a solicitor in USW’s Legal Advice Clinic.

Holly’s first job after university was as a researcher at S4C. She then worked at a commercial law firm in Cardiff (Blake Morgan LLP) and qualified as a solicitor specialising in Social Housing and Property Litigation.

After 13 years at Blake Morgan LLP, Holly decided to move into education. Since September 2018, Holly has been a Lecturer in Legal Practice at USW and continues to practice as a solicitor in USW’s Legal Advice Clinic.

Outside her day job, Holly is the Chair of a local Housing Association.

Holly has experience in:

Job applications and interviews
writing skills
negotiating skills
presentation skills
How to write CVs
Planning and goal setting
Self confidence
Litigation and advocacy skills

Dr Rachel Abbott

Rachel is a dermatologist at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. Her specialist areas are skin cancer and skin cancer surgery.

Rachel is a dermatologist at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. Her specialist areas are skin cancer and skin cancer surgery. Her other professional interests include clinical research and environmentally sustainable healthcare.

Rachel has studied in London, Edinburgh, Chicago and San Jose in Costa Rica. She has worked in the UK and Australia and moved to Cardiff in 2010.

Rachel has experience in:

presentation and communication skills
training and facilitation
mentoring and developing colleagues
project management
staff management
writing skills

Julie Prior

Julie has been in adult education for more than 30 years and is passionate about helping and supporting students to realise and achieve their full potential.

Julie has been in adult education for more than 30 years and is passionate about helping and supporting students to realise and achieve their full potential. She is currently the Deputy Head of the South Wales Business School at the University of South Wales.

Julie has experience in:

Personal and professional development (confidence building and helping people realise their potential)
Business writing skills
Presentations skills
IT office Skills (spreadsheets, word processing, PowerPoint, file management, etc)
Job applications (application forms, CV’s, covering letters, interviews)
Teaching and training
Coaching and mentoring

Samantha Moore

Samantha is a judge and deals with employment law disputes.

Jo Lilford

Jo is a brand strategist and writer. She works globally with organisations of all shapes and sizes, helping them stand out through their communications.

Jo is a brand strategist and writer. She works globally with organisations of all shapes and sizes, helping them stand out through their communications. Her big focus is getting businesses to bring their culture and personality to life by ditching boring language.

Her clients include world governments, charities and businesses of all sizes. Recently she’s developed brands for the world’s first crypto casino, a vegan food producer, an AI firm, Amgueddfa Cymru and National Theatre Wales. Her work means she gets to learn about all sorts of industries and organisations, it’s an excellent career for a nosy person.

She’s also a guest lecturer in brand at Cardiff Business School and the University of Boston in the USA.

She grew up in a small community in west Wales but lived and worked in France, Italy, Switzerland, Australia and the USA before coming back home to Wales, so she speaks a few languages besides English.

Outside work, she’s mum to two teenagers and a whippet who can all run considerably faster than she can. In her spare time, she’s writing a TV series set in a Welsh comprehensive school. She’s a firm believer in taking her work seriously, but not herself.

Jo has experience in:

Marketing and PR
Creative industries
Running companies
Communication
Sales
Presentation skills and public speaking
Interviews
Managing people

Hannah Menard

Hannah is a solicitor specialising in Family Law and runs the Legal Advice Clinic at the University of South Wales (USW).

Hannah grew up in Cardiff where she attended a Welsh medium comprehensive school. Initially unsure of what to study at University, after taking a year out to work and travel, Hannah decided to study law at the University of Southampton. Hannah then returned to Cardiff to train as a solicitor, where she qualified with Morgans Solicitors in 2007 specialising in Family Law (focusing on divorce, finances, disputes involving children and domestic abuse).

In 2016, Hannah moved into education and began lecturing in legal practice at USW. In 2018, Hannah was appointed as Director of the Legal Advice Clinic, a student led, pro bono clinic offering legal advice to members of the public, students and staff.

In addition to her role at the University, Hannah is an experienced Consultant working with cpm21, a leading provider of management advice and training to the legal profession. Hannah is also a trustee of the Clinical Legal Education Organisation (CLEO) and in 2022 became Treasurer and member of the Executive Committee of Legal Wales.

In her spare time, Hannah enjoys spending time with her family (which includes two children and a dog!), playing tennis, watching rugby and travelling.

Hannah has experience in:

Presentation skills
Communication skills
Teaching and training
Time management
Applications and CV preparation
Drafting, writing and interviewing skills

Auriol Miller

Auriol has run the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA), a politically independent think tank and charity, since 2016.

Auriol has run the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) (www.iwa.wales), a politically independent think tank and charity, since 2016. The IWA offers a platform for comment and debate through its highly-regarded magazine and blog ‘the welsh agenda’, delivers training in how devolution works and how to influence policy development, and conducts its own research and policy work aimed at improving Wales’ economy and democracy, bringing together people from across different policy areas and organisations.

Auriol has mentored on the Equal Power, Equal Voice scheme (and its predecessor scheme) since 2018 and is a regular speaker at events, conferences and in the media. Prior to the IWA, Auriol ran Cymorth Cymru, the representative body for organisations providing housing-related support and supported living in Wales.

Before returning to work in Wales in 2012, Auriol had a 20-year career in international humanitarian and development work and ran non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Russia, Sudan, DR Congo and Burundi. Auriol speaks French and Italian and is a Welsh learner. She studied languages at Somerville College, Oxford and did a Masters in Development at SOAS in London. Outside of work she runs, does family stuff and likes being outdoors.

In addition to all the skills needed for running large and small organisations (finance, HR, working with a board of trustees etc), Auriol has experience in

How to write great CVs and cover letters
Job applications and prepping for interviews
Presentation skills and public speaking
Planning and goal setting
Project management

Daniela Vaccari Mahapatra

Daniela is an Employment Lawyer as well as the Deputy Director of NWSSP Legal & Risk Services, which is the in-house legal service for the NHS in Wales.

Daniela is from Neath and studied law at the University of Wales, Swansea before moving to Cardiff for Law School. Daniela has worked in the private sector as well as the public sector.

Daniela taught the Employment Law module on the HRM course at the University of South Wales. She also mentors as part of the Mentor Mums scheme, offering support to those returning to work following maternity leave.

Daniela has two children in high school and two dogs. Daniela enjoys singing with a band, good food and going on holidays.

Daniela has experience in:

Interview skills
Presentation and communication skills
Pathways to legal careers
Mentoring, supervising and developing colleagues
Writing skills
Networking
Getting the most from social media – building a presence online
The positive impact of volunteering

Sara Hughes

Sara works as a specialist dentist who provides dental care to children and adolescents.

Sara works as a specialist dentist who provides dental care to children and adolescents. This role enables her to help people who have additional medical, dental and social needs and is a job that she finds highly rewarding.

Sara has an active role in educating dentists and she is involved in examining for dental students. Sara is the chair of a local Paediatric Dentistry charity committee and enjoys how this role enables her to make a positive impact within the profession.

Sara has a passion for being outdoors and has recently taken up paddle boarding and bivvying!

Sara has experience in:

Communication skills
Presentation skills
CV writing
Interviews
Education and training

Sheelagh Rogers

Sheelagh is a Consultant Orthodontist who works at the University Dental Hospital, Cardiff.

Sheelagh is a Consultant Orthodontist who works at the University Dental Hospital, Cardiff

Sheelagh is originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland but came to work in Wales after qualifying as a dentist from Queens University.

She continued her training in Cardiff to specialise as an Orthodontist.

She is currently the Training Programme Director for Orthodontics in Wales and enjoys training Junior dentists in this speciality.

She is also the Clinical Lead for the Orthodontic Department which involves management, decision making and leadership skills.

She holds an Honorary Senior Lecturer title with Cardiff University and is involved with both clinical and academic teaching for the University.

Sheelagh has three very active boys and has learned a lot about rugby!

Her favourite things to do include: getting together with friends, heading to Donegal for holidays, reading a good book, an outdoor swim and family dinners around the kitchen table.

Sheelagh has experience in:

Communication skills
Training others
Mentoring and developing colleagues
Planning and goal setting

Angharad Truman

Angharad is a restorative dentist working in a hospital setting.

Angharad is a restorative dentist working in a hospital setting. She spends most of her working life helping to restore the smiles of people who were born without some of their adult teeth, cleft-lip and palate and those who have had cancer of the head and neck region. Alongside the rewards reaped of helping patients improve their oral health, being a sociable character, Angharad loves the team environment aspects of her job and chatting with her patients.

Angharad also works in a university setting and has experience training and examining dentists.

Angharad is the current Honorary Secretary for the British Society for Restorative Dentistry and loved the challenges this creates especially when organising conferences and educational activities, the networking opportunities and helping to improve the future of dentistry in the UK.

Outside of work Angharad loves spending time with her partner and friends, socialising, walking, paddle boarding and attempts to undertake a monthly micro-adventure to keep life fun!

Angharad has experience in:

Communication skills
Presentation skills
How you’ll be expected to behave at work
Goal setting
Preparing for an interview
Putting a CV together

Nadine Beaton

Nadine makes companies a great place to work and originally trained as an actor.

Nadine is a Welsh speaker and when she was at school was described as a super swot (with friends). She was the first person from her family to continue with education past GCSEs and followed on with A Levels. Nadine originally trained as an Actor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama but like most actors ended up working ‘normal’ – or in fact – any jobs – to make ends meet and found she was also pretty good at business. Over time she found she enjoyed business as much as acting, particularly making working environments the best they can be for people to be happy at work, getting the best out of people. Fast forward and Nadine now heads up People functions and has a masters in HR, a background in financial technology businesses and has worked at various well-known organisations in South Wales including Gocompare.com and The University of South Wales.

Nadine has experience in: