Mirella Arapian on Womentor’s mission to improve gender equality in the design industry

Womentor is a global mentorship programme for women in graphic design. Launched on International Women’s Day in 2018, the independent initiative is run by Mirella Arapian, founder and Creative Director of Melbourne-based studio Vertigo. The programme offers career support and guidance to senior designers by pairing them with creative directors, providing them with the tools and confidence to take control of their creativity, career and future. EM: Have there been any particular experiences in your career to date that led you to found Womentor? MA: Many. When I studied design there were only 4 women in the school, including staff. We weren’t taught about women in design history (so, unfortunately [and perhaps naïvely] I didn’t think there were any), and all of the lecturers and guest speakers were men. After I graduated I had an internship where I was the only woman in the team, and after that, I got my first agency job where I was the only woman in the entire art department. I had a lot of ideas but none of them were implemented, let alone heard. I was always left out of conversations, meetings, and client presentations. I felt deflated and invisible, and to be honest if I didn’t have a passion for design I would’ve done something else with my life. That passion is what keeps me going, and still does to this day.