About Us
At The Catalyst Collective, we believe that mentoring can be a powerful intervention in the lives of young women.
What We Do
We recruit, train, match and support professional Black women with Black teenagers for year-long mentoring relationships.
We know that an excellent mentor can change our trajectory, challenge our thinking and encourage us to go further than perhaps we thought ourselves capable of.
Our Vision
To help create a world in which Black girls see themselves represented in every walk of professional life, and have easy access to role models to support them in achieving their aspirations.
Our Mission
To support, inspire and equip Black girls to achieve their goals and fulfil their potential through a mentoring community.
Our Values
Celebration
We celebrate black girls and women unapologetically.
Authenticity
We see you, and you can bring all of yourself to this space.
Support
We are the bridge – supporting you on the journey between where you are and where you are going.
Community
We have each other’s backs and we learn from each other’s experiences
Joy
We are joyful – like sunflowers, we turn towards the light and each other.
Our Story
The Catalyst started in December 2020 as a simple idea – that by connecting Black girls with role models to act as mentors, they would accelerate towards and achieve their goals even faster. We launched our first pilot cohort of 6 pairs in January 2021, and we’ve kept going from there.
As of January 2026, we’ve matched over 360 mentoring pairs.
Our approach centres creating and sustaining a joyful, authentic and supportive mentoring community of Black women, and we’re focused on providing opportunities for our mentors and mentees to learn and grow from each other.
Our Story
The Catalyst started in December 2020 as a simple idea – that by connecting Black girls with role models to act as mentors, they would accelerate towards and achieve their goals even faster. We launched our first pilot cohort of 6 pairs in January 2021, and we’ve kept going from there.
As of January 2026, we’ve matched over 360 mentoring pairs.
Our approach centres creating and sustaining a joyful, authentic and supportive mentoring community of Black women, and we’re focused on providing opportunities for our mentors and mentees to learn and grow from each other.
As our mentees have explained:
"This matters a lot to me. The only other black people I come into contact with are my family. The majority of my teachers are white and male, and I don’t feel able to identify with them...
It’s nice to see someone who is the same as me, and to be able to learn from their experiences and apply them to my own journey."
"Seeing an educated, talented black woman in the medical field inspired me further to pursue my dreams. It was nice to see a visual representation of what my future may look like as a doctor.”
“Meeting so many ambitious women of colour in one place, where success is the common goal, really outlined my sixth form journey. I couldn’t be more grateful.”
“It’s easier to see yourself in the person sitting in front of you. It’s a lot more realistic and it makes you realise you can achieve the same sorts of things.”
We couldn’t have put it better ourselves.
