For
Women’s Present Month, I’m excited to write about my experience as a mentor with TechBae (where we get to play the needed and necessary role of elevating young women into our space). Spoiler alert – I loved it! Why?
Framework:
I’ll get to how this tugged on my heartstrings later – but first, like all of you, my reality is I’m pretty busy. So if I’m going to add something to my calendar, I want focused goals, clear directions, and super easy to execute. There needs to be a framework I can trust
so I don’t have to sous chef anything else. TechBae and the Big Brothers Big Sisters NYC partnered and built a thoughtful, strategic, easy to plug into program where I knew what we were doing overall (building up a younger generation of media and tech-minded women and empowering them to go do great things) and I could easily play my role.
Results:
I want my energy to move things forward. I’m happy to volunteer – but I want to use my time and energy to create real results. Each time we met, mentees and mentors alike had been proactively clued in on what we’d be talking about and how that night would
progress. So the meetings in themselves were results-oriented.
And
what we discussed in those meetings literally spelled out how these young women could and should learn about the industry, strategize around their personal interests, network confidently, and then actually, yes you guessed it – get jobs!
Connection:
I saved the best for last. Here’s the heartstring pull. Connection. The energy back and forth between mentors to mentees, mentees to mentor, mentees to mentees, mentor to mentor – was palpable. I learned from everyone on those calls. I felt heard and seen
and knew that what I brought was valued. I found myself nodding and smiling and wanting to meet personally with almost everyone on the call to dive deeper into their stories. And so I met outside of our scheduled meetings with many of them and built up my
own network with seasoned industry colleagues as well as the up-and-comers, our mentees, who will soon be shaking up the media and tech landscape.
Even
though the program is over, I just met with my mentee and she excitedly told me about her new job! We strategized on salary negotiations and when we were done she thanked me profusely because, in her words, she had no one else she could talk freely and confidently
with about the subject. I remember feeling that way too as I started in my career and am glad I could change that for at least one woman starting out now!
And this is how the circle grows. In playing a part in this wonderful framework that creates results and connections, I’ve helped one woman spark confidence, motivation, and action. And really – that elevates us all. That’s more than just tugging on heartstrings. That’s a significant change.
Heather Campbell
VP, Alchemy, Audacy
