At the end of 2025, ALPSP invited our Mentors & Mentees from the year to talk about their experiences with the ALPSP International Mentorship Programme. Gathered together in a short series of blog posts across January, we hear from the individuals who have taken part in the programme, and the many ways they have benefitted from doing so. 

In today's publication, we hear from Mentor, Jen O'Shaughnessy-Beal, as well as from Mentee, Prince Xavier Dominic, as they talk about their own experiences in the 2025 Mentorship Scheme, and the ways in which it bolstered their confidence both in their involvement and in their own careers.

Mentor,

Jen O’Shaughnessy-Beal, Communications & Brand Strategy Consultant

After spending 17 years in-house at Wiley, mostly as a line manager, the move to consultancy brought with it one thing I hadn't considered: the lack of consistently being able to help individuals progress their careers. 

I've benefited from informal mentoring throughout my career, and been able to offer it too. So when the ALPSP mentoring scheme opened up last year, it felt like a chance to continue contributing to the community in a meaningful way, outside of my direct client work. 

That said, I did hesitate. No longer attached to a large organisation, I wondered whether I'd still have enough to offer. Without a corporate title or an obvious internal network, would my experience still feel relevant? Looking back, that hesitation probably had more to do with imposter syndrome than anything else. 

Joining was easy – mentors complete a short questionnaire about their background, interests, and where they feel they can offer support. ALPSP uses Mentorloop, which is user-friendly and keeps everything together. It even has badges and awards to encourage you along the way. 

Any doubts disappeared when I met my mentee, as there was such a clear alignment of values and priorities. For example, I have young children, and it's been a priority to make sure my work fits around being a parent, while still allowing me to have a fulfilling career. My mentee was recently back from maternity leave and having the same thoughts, so it was great to help her think through what was important and make realistic plans. She was also moving from an editorial to marketing role, so I could offer very practical guidance from the start. 

So far, we've covered content marketing strategy, career development, personal brand building, work-life balance, AI, and team upskilling. A recurring theme has been framing work and ideas in ways that clearly demonstrate impact – particularly important when stepping into a new role. 

One of the most satisfying moments came when my mentee told me she'd reframed her activities around their impact on strategy, which led to great feedback from senior leaders. She'd also started applying some of the concepts we'd discussed to her day-to-day work. 

I've been so impressed by her commitment. She comes to each meeting having thought about what she wants to get out of it, follows through on actions, and has really taken on board everything we've covered. It's been a pleasure to see her confidence and clarity grow. We still have a few goals we're working towards and hope to continue through to at least spring. 

From my perspective as an independent consultant, the experience has been hugely positive. The time commitment has been very manageable –essentially the meeting itself, with minimal follow-up – and the rewards far outweigh the input. Mentoring has allowed me to give something back to a community I've been part of for many years, build new connections, and stay connected to the realities faced by professionals at different points in their careers. 

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the scheme to anyone considering becoming a mentor. It's well run and very rewarding. Thanks to ALPSP for creating such a valuable programme and for continuing to support the publishing community in this way! 

Mentee,

Prince Xavier Domnic, Senior Manager in Publisher Support Services

I joined the ALPSP Mentorship Scheme because I wanted space to step back and look at my career from a wider perspective. Most of my work has been rooted in delivery, operations and managing teams in fast-moving environments where outcomes take priority and reflection often sits in the background. The structure of the programme, supported through Mentorloop, gave me the opportunity to slow down, think deliberately about my experience, and evaluate where I add the most value in scholarly publishing. 

One of the strengths of the scheme is that it encourages ongoing conversation rather than one-off advice. The Mentorloop framework makes goal-setting and discussion more intentional, which helped me articulate my role beyond tasks and outputs. It prompted questions that I don’t typically ask myself during day-to-day work: why certain approaches worked, how decisions shaped teams, and what parts of my professional profile I had been under-recognising. 

Early in the mentoring conversations, I found myself talking through a range of internal systems and workflows I had developed over the years, structures for decision-making, quality control and coordination across large teams. These were initiatives I had implemented as part of solving operational challenges, but I had rarely paused to describe them in strategic terms. 

My mentor, Mark Collins, approached these discussions by listening first, without jumping to quick conclusions. That space to “think out loud” made a difference. It helped me see how much of my work was not only operational, but also rooted in systems thinking and problem-solving at scale. 

That realisation shifted how I viewed my professional path. Like many people who grow through service-side roles, I had occasionally questioned how transferable my experience was to broader leadership contexts. The mentorship process didn’t remove that question, instead, it reframed it. I began to look at my career as a set of capabilities rather than a single track: building stability in complex environments, supporting teams through structure, and strengthening delivery through process clarity. 

Another outcome of the programme was a stronger sense of connection to the wider publishing community. The conversations encouraged me to engage more openly with peers, share perspectives and recognise that many of us navigate similar transitions: balancing delivery responsibilities with long-term professional direction. 

What stood out most about the ALPSP Mentorship Scheme is that it doesn’t present development as a corrective exercise. It functions as a reflective platform, one that helps you recognise the substance of your experience, understand how it translates across contexts, and approach future decisions with greater clarity. 

For anyone considering the programme, my key takeaway is this: mentorship works best when it creates space to listen, reflect and examine your work honestly. For me, it strengthened my confidence in the kind of value I bring to teams and organisations, and it helped me think about my next steps with more intention and perspective. 

 

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About Jen

Jen O’Shaughnessy-Beal is a communications, engagement, and brand strategy consultant, and founder of Bloomwrite. With 20 years’ experience in scholarly publishing, including senior roles at Wiley, she helps mission-driven, scholarly, and membership-based organisations clarify their message, strengthen audience engagement, and build communication strategies that are practical, focused, and sustainable. 

 

About Prince

Prince Xavier Domnic is a Senior Manager in Publisher Support Services with a decade of experience managing teams, improving workflows, and stabilising operations across scholarly and educational publishing. His focus is on efficiency, structured processes, and delivering reliable results in high-volume, multi-stakeholder environments. 

 

About the ALPSP Mentorship Scheme

New for 2026!

We’re excited to introduce Self Match to our programme this year. Designed to empower you to take control of your mentorship journey. Whether you're looking for guidance or eager to support others, Self Match gives you the freedom to discover, explore, and connect with the people who inspire you most, helping you identify the match that aligns most with your ambitions and growth.

• More control over who you connect with
• More visibility into the community of mentors and mentees
• More meaningful matches based on shared goals
• More flexibility in building relationships when the time feels right

Self-Match will open on 3 February 2026. You will be able to browse your recommended matches based on our customised algorithm, and search by skills and goals, then select the person you would like to be matched with.

You can send them a brief message explaining why you’ve chosen them and what you’re hoping to achieve. Participants will be able to make one request at a time, and respondents will have 14 days to accept or decline. If they accept, you’re matched and you loop begins. If they decline, you can continue to explore other matches.

And don’t forget our programme is open all year round so new mentors and mentees can join the self-match pool at any time.