Mentor profiles

Mentors as well as mentees can grow from being involved in mentoring. Mentees provide mentors with opportunities for self-reflection and the opportunity to consider things from a new and refreshing perspective. Research has shown that both the mentor and the mentee stretch themselves and experience positive change in mentoring relationships.

Our mentors/facilitators are all trained in facilitating mentoring circles. Please choose a name below.

Marina Larios | Michele Lockwood-Edwards | Emma Parry | Ruth Garrett-Harris

Sue Edgar | Chrissie Bedwin

Marina Larios

Marina is the Director of Inova Consultancy ltd which she founded in 2001. Inova provides services to a wide range of public, private and third sector organizations throughout the UK and internationally. Inova concentrates on services relating to diversity issues and has extensive experience in the development and management of mentoring programmes. Marina is an experienced facilitator and mentor and has provided mentoring to women returning to work, starting up or growing their business and women from black and ethnic minority groups.

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Michele Lockwood-Edwards

Michele is experienced in coaching teams to enhance their performance. She has been working for 10 years with a variety of senior managers in group coaching contexts using action learning working on issues of strategic importance in organizations, improving processes to enhance services for clients, reconfiguring services in localities, interpersonal issues. This has involved working with Board members, Chief Executives and Chairs from a variety of organizations. Clients include education, social services, health, and universities.

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Emma Parry

Emma Parry is an Occupational Psychologist (Practitioner in Training) with 10 years experience in project management, with specific expertise in diversity management at work and home-based working. In addition, Emma has experience of setting up a small business personally and is therefore aware of the issues faced by SMEs. Emma has extensive experience in carrying out training and development evaluation and has facilitated Mentoring Circles for women start ups and women returners.

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Ruth Garrett-Harris

An organizational behaviour and change consultant with a masters degree in Organizational Change. Ruth has spent the last 30 years serving a wide range of organizations in the corporate, public and third sector; both in the UK and Canada with a focus on strategic and operational change - such as Superdrug, Boots the Chemist and the government initiative of Connexions (South Yorkshire) in the design and implementation of change initiatives during her time in the UK.

She is the core member of the Mentoring Coaching Research Unit (MCRU) team conducting evaluations of e-mentoring for Business Link Surrey and Business Link for London. Ruth has also worked with the National Health Service consulting on and/or evaluating both local and national initiatives (operational and policy formulation levels). She is also an Associate Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University in areas such as transformational leadership, change, motivation and commitment, and diversity.

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Sue Edgar

Sue is the Principal of Edgar Insight, created following her long and successful career in public sector policy and management. Edgar Insight offers individual mentoring and coaching based on Neuro Linguistic Programming concepts and ethics, and independent participation in senior/Board level selection processes. Sue is an Independent Assessor for the NHS Appointments Commission, Home Office and Judicial Appointments Commission. Her current academic studies concern biological and cognitive psychology, and the science of the senses. Sue’s voluntary mentoring of female entrepreneurs won her the national Prowess award of Female Business Mentor of the Year 2007.

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Chrissie Bedwin

Chrissie founded Bedwin Consultants Ltd in 1997 and Aim High (coaching for people in business) in 2006.  As a consultant, Chrissie has worked extensively in the private  and not for profit sectors, with clients ranging from FTSE 100 companies to owner-managers and boards of local charities, focusing  on strategic and business planning. Whether as coach, mentor, consultant or manager, Chrissie has always had a passion for helping people realise their own potential.  She has qualifications in management, coaching and NLP, and is a skilled and experienced facilitator.  Chrissie mentors people starting up or growing their businesses, as well as individuals in large corporate organisations.

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