Mentoring at Sea: How Women Offshore is Building Confidence and Careers Worldwide
with Christine MacMillan
Women Offshore
Mentorloop Impact Award Winner 2021 & 2025
Women Offshore is a global network of women in maritime and offshore industries.
Community-driven and resource-focused, Women Offshore amplifies the voices of mariners worldwide and strives to be the industry hub for connection, empowerment, and career growth.
The maritime and offshore industries are some of the toughest environments in the world to work in — long rotations, remote conditions, and historically, a lack of representation for women. Women Offshore was founded to change that, and mentoring quickly became one of its most powerful tools.
The Challenge: Scalability
Back in 2017, Women Offshore launched its first mentoring effort with a simple spreadsheet of 19 participants. It worked — but it wasn’t scalable.
- Manual tracking limited growth
- No consistent structure for training or support
- Unable to keep up with growing demand
- Challenges in supporting an increasingly global community
Christine recalls:
"Our community was asking for mentoring. We wanted to be a catalyst for change — not just offering opportunity to a few, but equity and access for our entire industry."
The Transformation with Mentorloop
With Mentorloop, Women Offshore turned mentoring into a structured, scalable program that now:
- Reaches a truly global audience, including new sectors like tall ships and adventure sailing
- Boosts career acceleration by helping mentors step into visible leadership roles
- Bridges generational gaps, with mentors and mentees learning from each other
- Strengthens psychological and physical safety by embedding mentoring into industry culture
The platform enables Christine and her team to scale effortlessly:
- Intuitive matching to ensure strong connections
- Quality scores & insights to track engagement in real time
- Automated comms & onboarding that make every participant feel supported
- Customer success support from Mentorloop to keep the program evolving
"Mentorloop has given us a user-friendly, scalable solution. I can see what’s happening behind the scenes, track quality scores, and support participants with ease."
🌱 The Impact
The cultural shift is undeniable:
- Women report greater confidence at work and stronger peer networks
- Mentors describe becoming better leaders in their organisations
- Male allies are now stepping forward to mentor women and drive systemic change
- Women Offshore’s annual conference showcases visible results: organic mentorships, sponsorship opportunities, and amplified voices
"We witness bonds forming, women sponsoring women, and cultural transformation across the industry. It’s mentoring, but it’s also systemic change."
🌏 What’s Next for Women Offshore
As Women Offshore heads into its next decade, the mentoring program is central to building:
- Future-ready leaders empowered to make decisions and shape culture
- Sustainable growth where mentees evolve into mentors, strengthening the pipeline
- Generational understanding, ensuring younger mariners feel heard and supported
📌 Ready to scale mentoring for true impact?
Women Offshore has scaled mentoring from a 19-person spreadsheet to a global program sparking cultural change across one of the world’s toughest industries. With Mentorloop, they’re not just supporting careers — they’re transforming maritime for generations to come.
Christine MacMillan
Women Offshore
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"Mentorloop hasn’t just made our program easier to run — it’s made the whole experience more engaging, inclusive, and impactful for mentors and mentees alike."
– Christine MacMillan, Women Offshore
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In this post, we’ll look at how mentors can successfully build quality feedback into their mentoring. Quality feedback is priceless because it clarifies expectations, helps people learn from their mistakes, and builds confidence. It also allows mentees to more effectively take what their mentors say and turn it into action.
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