From Breaking Down Silos to Building Leaders: How Ziff Davis Turned Mentoring Into a Talent Pipeline
with Jessica Pierre
DEI & HR Programs Specialist,
Ziff Davis
with Jessica Pierre
DEI & HR Programs Specialist,
Ziff Davis
Ziff Davis is a vertically focused digital media and internet company, with a portfolio of brands spanning technology, shopping, gaming, entertainment, health and wellness, and cybersecurity. Each brand has its own identity and its own way of working — a strength for the business, but also its biggest internal challenge.
Geographically and organizationally dispersed, with 75% of its people working remotely, Ziff Davis found that great work was happening — but staying contained within individual teams. Emerging leaders had no natural way to learn from senior talent outside their own brand. As Jessica puts it: “We didn’t just need more training; we needed something that could organically bridge those gaps and give employees direct access to a wider range of experience.”
That’s what led the team to Mentorloop.
“We realized how siloed our teams were. While they were excelling in their respective areas, there was a missed opportunity for cross-pollination of ideas and for emerging leaders to learn from senior talent outside of their immediate brand.”
It became clear that a structured mentoring program could help unlock the collective wisdom of the organization.
Since partnering with Mentorloop, Ziff Davis has built mentoring relationships across brands, levels, and time zones — connecting people who would otherwise never have crossed paths. One mentor was so impressed with their mentee’s skills that they hired them into their own team. A mentoring conversation sparked an idea that became a signature customer event. A group loop focused on public speaking gave employees a supportive space to build a skill they’d never had room for before.
But the headline results go further, into retention and leadership itself:
“When program participants leave the company voluntarily, it's because they're progressing professionally — not because they're unhappy or stagnant. That's a completely different kind of turnover to manage."
With a remote-first, globally dispersed workforce, the team introduced group loops and hybrid speed-mentoring sessions — run in both morning and evening slots so no matter where someone was in the world, they had a way in. Watching people from different brands, levels, and countries build real relationships was the turning point for Jessica: “This wasn’t just a program running alongside our culture — it was building our culture.”
For Jessica and her team, Mentorloop’s flexibility and support have been crucial:
“Without our program, these people would likely have never connected—and those outcomes would have been missed.”
The flexibility of matching options — auto-matching, self-matching, and group loops — meant Ziff Davis wasn’t forcing every participant into one model; people found the format that fit how they actually work. On the coordinator side, Mentorloop’s resources and help hub made it possible to run a global program across time zones and brands without building every process from scratch.
Ziff Davis wants mentorship to become a true internal talent pipeline — a formal pillar of L&D strategy from day one, not a standalone program running alongside it. That means expanding skill-based group loops for tangible, practical upskilling, and continuing to move knowledge across brands, levels, and time zones instead of letting it stay siloed.
Future plans include:
Ziff Davis is proof that when mentoring is woven into company culture, it doesn’t just develop people—it sparks innovation, unlocks opportunities, and brings an entire organization closer together. ✨
DEI & HR Programs Specialist
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"The mentorship program is one of the most active employee programs at Ziff Davis. Be nimble. The program we have today is not the one we started with. A successful mentoring program isn’t static—it evolves with the needs of your people.”
– Jessica Pierre, DEI & HR Programs Specialist, Ziff Davis
What Role Does Equity and Equality Play in Your Mentoring Program?
The right mentoring program should level the playing field to empower entire cohorts of people: workplaces, member associations, social groups and educational institutions. Equality should be a cherished value so that every individual can thrive—whoever they are, whatever their background, however they worship or whomever they love. But we can’t arrive at equality without it’s often forgotten partner, equity.
What does a Mentoring Program Coordinator do?
Being a Mentoring Program Coordinator is an incredibly rewarding experience that positively impacts the lives of many. And while mentoring programs don’t fully run themselves (even though Mentorloop can do a great deal of the heavy lifting!), they do require a point of contact that can steer the program in the right direction for the organisation that is running one.
Building Quality Feedback Into Mentoring Relationships
This is Part 8 of our 10-part series on the 10 Key Qualities and Habits of a Highly Effective Mentor.
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.
