MENTORSHIP & EDUCATION PROGRAM

UNESCO & Women@Dior,
A UNIQUE PROGRAM

Created in 2017, Women@Dior is a unique international mentoring & educational program that has coached and helped blossom thousands of young women all over the world. The program is a unique occasion to learn what is not taught: self-confidence and to dare for your career destiny. The participants are selected from various business, engineering, art and fashion schools spanning across almost 58 different countries such as France, China, Nigeria, Kenya, Costa Rica, Brazil, Iran and Bangladesh just to name a few. Through the educational program, they are trained by inspiring leaders and guest speakers on several themes such as gender equality and women’s leadership for a sustainable future. The Mentees will be guided by their Dior Mentors as they take their first steps in their careers and whilst they build their professional experience.

Each Mentee/Mentor duo shares an exclusive relationship and are matched through an innovative approach based on their compatibility.

The program is built on 5 core values :

• Self-Care & Self-Awareness: Learning to know yourself in order to self-assert, transform, transcend precepts, deconstruct archetypes and enhance inner growth. Connecting body and mind to be able to shine. All of these values and approaches are ones that the House of Dior and UNESCO hold dear, for self-revelation and cultivating singularity; dynamic empowerment, driven by sisterhood, dialogue and cultural curiosity.
• Autonomy: Autonomy is necessary for self-affirmation and accountability for our own actions. Access to freedom is an essential foundation for conceiving and creating ethical ways of living together. No impediment to freedom is justifiable, because freedom alone makes creativity possible.
• Creativity: Creativity encourages innovation and inspires ideas for a more responsible future, a healthier and therefore more serene and resilient planet. A passion for culture, heritage and the most contemporary creations are at the heart of Dior’s values. They help us to dream, to come up with visionary solutions that are ever more stimulating and conscious of tomorrow’s major issues, be they ecological, economic or societal.
• Inclusion: Inclusion lends everyone a voice, offering them a legitimate, respected place in society. It is urgent to transform our differences into a source of inestimable richness, to broaden our horizons personally and culturally, and to reveal talents that enhance creativity, autonomy and long-term social responsibility.
• Sustainability: Faced with the inadequacy of past initiatives, sustainability is essential in rethinking and (re)creating today’s world, for preserving the diversity of nature and protecting that of the people who live in it, whatever their origins or social milieu. Education, like culture, is at the heart of this apprenticeship and value system; both are indispensable.

Following the coursework, participants are invited to put what they have learnt into practice by creating a project that supports the empowerment of young girls - the “Dream for Change” project.

THE 5 FOUNDATIONS OF THE PROGRAM

• A unique mentoring program to accompany young women to become tomorrow’s leaders under the guidance of a promising Dior Talent.
• A state-of-the-art online education program empowering young women to imagine and build a more sustainable and responsible future through exclusive courses led by professors chosen from some of the world’s most prestigious institutions as well as guest speakers invited to join the Inspiring Interviews Series.
• A local and concrete project to put learnings into practice by creating an initiative that supports the empowerment of young girls: the Dream for Change project.
• A community based on sorority connected by locally-activated events and supported by an online group
• A global conference held at UNESCO with inspiring speakers to empower young women and assert the power of sorority

A program part of UNESCO’s Global Coalition for Education

Dior joined UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition in 2020 on World Youth Skills Day, becoming the first couture House to do so, by opening its Women@Dior program to over 200 talented young female students from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Jamaica, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. It is a concrete commitment to give disadvantaged young women around the world the opportunity to receive an education, which is of utmost importance when taking into account society’s stakes and the global health crisis.

“Talent is universal, but opportunity is not, especially for a generation of young women whose education has been severely affected by the pandemic. By joining the Global Coalition with an initiative that empowers and carries promise for the future, the Dior Couture House is sending a strong message of commitment and confidence, giving young women from disadvantaged backgrounds the chance to fulfill their dreams”

Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education

(Re)live the UNESCO & Women@Dior Global Conference

On March 23, 2022, Dior and UNESCO, in a third consecutive year of a special partnership, presented the “UNESCO & Women@Dior Global Conference” held at the UNESCO House in Paris. The event celebrated themes at the heart of Women@Dior’s priorities, such as education, inclusion, and gender equality. The gathering aimed to spread the power of sisterhood ever farther around the world by giving a voice to the Mentees and Mentors of the House, as well as to inspiring artists such as this edition’s guests of honor, singer-songwriter Imany and socially committed Afghan photographer Fatimah Hossaini.

On this occasion, an exceptional jury, chaired by Maria Grazia Chiuri, selected the winners of the Dream For Change Project. As a final surprise, various workshops led by professionals highlighted the five core values of the program: self-care and self-awareness, autonomy, creativity, inclusion, sustainability.