The Public Media Women in Leadership group was co-founded in January 2015 by public media veterans Deanna Martin Mackey and Jeannie Ericson. The purpose of the group is threefold: establish a mentorship program to better prepare women with potential to become future CEOs/COOs in the system; create a community via Facebook and webinars/trainings to encourage conversation and sharing about issues related to women in leadership; and create awareness in the public media industry about the critical need to diversify station leadership. In the fall of 2018, Public Media Women in Leadership (PMWL) launched a three-year program to provide one-on-one mentorship partnerships for women in public media and develop facilitated peer-group communities around job verticals and leadership topics. Funded by the Wyncote Foundation, the Mentorship and Engagement Initiative has a range of components to provide mentoring, training and community for women in public media to both retain rising stars and prepare established leaders to attain the highest positions at stations and national organizations. Read the recent press release. The elements of the mentorship and engagement program were developed based on survey input from the members of PMWL, from results garnered from the group's pilot mentor program in 2015-2016 as well as learnings from the many webinars and conference sessions the organization has hosted.