Kanani Sets Standard With Mentor Walks

It is mind-blowing the depth of this grass roots movement, and how impactful Mentor Walks has already been for thousands of women from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Dubai, Singapore and China.

Kanani Draper from NTI is the local leader for the Queensland chapter of the group and spoke to the HVIA Women’s Network about her experiences with the program. In her local chapter, in 2025 they saw 267 new faces and had a 9.7 recommendation score.

The return rate for the walks was 42 per cent, meaning that four in 10 attendees participated in more than one walk for the year. They averaged over 80 people in attendance per walk and are growing in popularity year on year.

​​​​​​​The number of walks held varies by location with 10 scheduled walks in Melbourne per year, six in Brisbane, generally one a month in Sydney, six in Newcastle and four still to go for the year in Wollongong, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra and Parramatta. For our colleagues in New Zealand, Auckland and Christchurch locations are available.

Mentor Walks is not designed as a long-term mentorship program, but rather a place where women can go to get advice from seasoned leaders when they are facing a particular challenge in that moment or just want to get inspired.

Eight years ago, after attending Mentor Walks in China, Australia’s co-founders, entrepreneurs Bobby Mahlab and Adina Jacobs, were inspired to bring the Mentor Walks magic home as they wanted to make mentoring more accessible.

Overall, Mentor Walks has supported more than 22,395 women in 17 locations across five countries with 597 walks and counting. Participants must sign up for the walks ahead of the day via the website and will be matched with a suitable mentor. Various volunteers from the Mentor Walks team are tasked with looking out for and welcoming newcomers and ensuring the experience is as positive as possible.

At Mentor Walks, the philosophy is simple, ‘Good women supporting good women’. Anyone who knows Kanani will appreciate her passion for the heavy vehicle Industry and how supportive and welcoming she is to everyone she meets.

We are thrilled to highlight this great initiative and encourage women in our industry who might be looking for a mentoring connection to look up local Mentor Walks in their area.