Australian family-owned printing equipment and consumables supplier, Starleaton, has extended its support of the ProPrint Emerging 50 by funding four return flights next year for the inaugural mentorship prize winner, Kelsey Wade, of print DNA in Renmark, South Australia.
Kelsey was one of 32 applicants for the 12-month mentorship prize, which is being delivered in partnership with The Real Media Collective.
The third-year prepress apprentice submitted a stellar application with an industry panel ruling her the clear winner.
This means she will benefit from a year of guidance, career development and support from Kellie Northwood, the CEO of The Real Media Collective.
Kelsey and Kellie recently caught up on Zoom, along with ProPrint Editor Sheree Young, to map out the year of mentorship.
When Ben Eaton, the CEO of Starleaton, learned the mentorship winner was not from Melbourne, he immediately offered to fund the flights for Kelsey to visit Melbourne or Sydney throughout the year.
“It is initiatives like the Emerging 50 and the mentorship prize which will foster growth in the sector,” Ben said.
“Starleaton is proud to support Kelsey Wade, the 2020 winner of the Mentorship Prize, by providing the four return flights a year for her to travel to attend industry functions and broaden her knowledge of this dynamic sector.
“This support further acknowledges Starleaton’s commitment to Australia’s print rising stars to ensure the industry attracts and retains top quality people.
“Initiatives like the ProPrint Emerging 50 and the Mentorship Prize will only continue to help foster this development and growth for the next generation and help show future generations what is possible to achieve in this field.”
Ian Andrews, the owner of printDNA, said he was extremely excited to see Kelsey had done so well at the Emerging 50 this year, especially after another printDNA employee, Chloe Rudd, was named the 2016 apprentice graduate of the year by the LIA.
“When I read what the Mentorship Prize was and who it was with I said to Kelsey this is gold,” Ian said.
“So when her name came up as the winner, we were just so chuffed and she is really looking forward to the year to see what it will bring and I look forward to seeing what comes out of it as well.
“We work hard on picking the right people here and this one was a no-brainer.
“We deal with Starleaton a lot so that is nice to have that interaction as well,” Andrew said.
Kelsey has a busy year planned for 2021.
In addition to taking part in the Mentorship Programme, she is also attending the WorldSkills National Championships as the graphic design representative for South Australia in Perth in August 2021.
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