Are You My Mentor?
The first words you heard upon entering the professional world, the advice of every self-help career coach, the key to success: Get a mentor. As a young, ambitious professional, I was desperate to find this illusive mentor I was told is the key to reaching my goals. I felt like the baby bird from the beloved Dr. Seuss book asking every female leader in sight, are you my mentor?
The pressure to find a mentor, and the expectation of life-changing impact when you do is unrealistic. Yeah, yeah… we get it. Mentorship is important. But we’d like to reorient the way we think about mentorship.
#SquadGoals
Michelle Obama, Taylor Swift, Hillary Clinton, and Oprah are famous for surrounding themselves with a group of incredible women. Let’s not confuse these friend groups with mentors. Not all friends are mentors, and not all mentors are friends (although crossovers are possible). BUT friendship squads just might be the perfect model for mentorship.
At Shine & Rise, we believe mentorship should be more like the council of women each of these icons has than a singular person. Rather than relying on one mentor, professionals (at all levels) should consider multiple colleagues, friends, and even acquaintances as mentors, among whom, they understand where strengths and expertise lie and know whom to go to for what and when.
It just makes sense that one mentor cannot (and should not) be the end all, be all of advice, guidance, coaching, and support for you. Shine & Rise aims to help our members make connections to cultivate a mentorship squad. However, we understand from personal experience how difficult it can be to connect with the right mentors, especially individuals who are more senior in your field. And of course why wouldn’t you want the woman killing it in your field to be in your mentorship squad! It is intimidating to cold outreach to leaders (especially when you know they are busy as heck), and the “ask” can be awkward. 😣 Are you my mentor? 🥺
We hope you have and will continue to connect with incredible women and potential mentors organically through our programming and online community. But in order to meet more formal mentorship needs, we invite you to join Shine & Rise’s new mentor / match program—designed to help you start or expand your mentorship squad.
Shine & Rise’s MENTOR/MATCH Launch
The mentor / match program provides 1-1 pairing of a mentor and mentee based on application responses. The purpose of mentor / match is to build the foundation of a mentoring relationship. Where it goes from there is up to you!
How it works?
Interested mentors and mentees apply to participate, answering key questions for matching
Shine & Rise matches 1 mentor and 1 mentee to schedule an initial coffee chat
If there’s a fit, mentor/mentee pairs are encouraged to meet at least once a month for the 6-month pilot period
Shine & Rise shares resources on building a successful mentoring relationship
Mentors and mentees share feedback and reflections on the experience
mentor / match is a 6-month pilot program running from May 2021 to November 2021. We ask that all participants commit to the entirety of the program and embrace the mentor / match principles.
Commitment
Mutual Respect
Confidentiality
Vulnerability
We are accepting mentor / match applications through May 3, 2021. For more information, link page.
Interested in volunteering to be a mentor? Apply Here
Want to participate as a mentee? Apply Here
Some Notes on Peer Mentoring & Sponsorship
Peer mentoring is awesome, and you should and probably already do have some peer mentors as part of your mentoring squad (even if you don’t call them a mentor). Peers, as they are typically in a similar role or at the same level in an org, are great in helping you navigate your day-to-day. Feedback can sometimes flow more easily between peers without the pressure of status, and they often come with the added benefit of friendship. It can be easier to organically find peer mentorship through Shine & Rise; however, the goal of Mentor/Match is to more intentionally connect members with mentors (internal & external to Shine & Rise) who have more experience and expertise that they can gleen.
More recently, sponsorship over mentorship has been touted as the key to success. In defining sponsorship, Forbes says, “sponsors act as spotlights, highlighting (oftentimes junior) employees for opportunities or recognition within.” To be honest, I think we are splitting hairs here. Shouldn't good mentorship include elements of sponsoring? From our observations, professional relationships like these are almost always going to be a unique combination of both mentorship and sponsorship, and depending on what you need, one may be more valuable than the other in a given moment. So yes… please include sponsorship-focused people in your mentorship squad. Our hope is that these Mentor Match relationships will evolve to include sponsorship too!