Tag Archives: mentors

Female Mentorship: Who Runs the World?

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Like most 20-somethings—Oh, who am I kidding? Like most anyone on this planet, whenever I feel that I need some words of wisdom in my life, there is only one reasonable person to turn to…

Who runs the world?

Beyoncé.

And while we all know that Beyoncé truly does run the world, it is the fabulous female dominated PR/brands communications agency, ID, that is running some of the entertainment industry’s top talent. This semester, I was given the honor of interning in their Digital Strategy department and currently I have been there for two months. Being in this highly successful, predominantly female run environment has inspired me for this week to talk about female mentorship.

It’s rude. I know. It can come off as weird. I know that, too. I know all of that, but… I just could not stop staring at her.  She hadn’t even said anything, and yet she already had me mesmerized. It wasn’t just her radiant inner strength or her powerful eloquent tone of voice once she had finally spoken at The Fullbridge Program Employer Panel. This was bolder than that. This was fierceness personified. This was Natalie, and this was my future new boss and spirit model. For me, a role model is someone whose job/role you aspire to have/fulfill. But Natalie is someone whose demeanor, whose fierceness I hope to embody in my future.

It was 9 am on my first day, but Natalie still hadn’t arrived in the office yet. Her assistant, however, warmly greeted me and proceeded to give me a tour around the office. It was in this tour that I started to realize how truly lucky I was to have obtained this internship, but not for the reasons you’d think. Sure being on Hollywood Boulevard witnessing exciting festivities such as The Oscars and having a bird’s eye view of the Hollywood sign everyday were great perks. But what really made ID so magical for me during that tour was seeing and meeting women who were sitting in the corner offices and at the highest ranks of the company.

When the tour concluded, I assumed that I would be relegated to the intern corner where I met a couple of interns a few minutes earlier. To my surprise and extreme fortune, however, she actually led me into Natalie’s office and told me that this would be my workspace. Someone could have easily tripped over my jaw in that moment because I just could not understand how I managed to receive such a privilege. Her assistant told me that I was really fortunate to have an internship with Natalie because she is the only executive who allows interns to sit in her office with her. She told me that Natalie wants her interns close by to ask her questions and to listen in on her calls so as to get a real sense of what her job and the industry is like.

Being able to closely watch Natalie in action for these past few weeks has really started to make me reflect on the powerful female mentors I’ve had in my life, and how integral they have been to shaping the woman I am today. It is not who or what they are talking about in conference meetings and phone calls that has been so beneficial for me, but rather how they are speaking and presenting themselves in those situations. At Fullbridge, we learned that women sometimes tend to do something called “uptalking,” which involves raising the pitch of the last syllable of the last word in a sentence that subtly makes your statement sound like question or seem uncertain. Getting the opportunity to listen in on important business calls with Natalie and other important female mentors in my life, however, has given me clear examples to emulate on how to present oneself as a female in male-dominated business run spaces. From what to wear, how to sound, and next steps after graduation, these women have given me a briefcase full of important work place/life advice and tips that I will carry with me through time.

So if the opportunity presents itself, I would highly suggest seeking out a female mentor/spirit model. I know gender equality is important, but if you are someone who self-identifies as a female, then having that female spirit model will definitely teach you subtle, but important aspects on how to survive in the work place that a man will never be able understand/provide.

So where can you find these fantastical spirit models? To be honest, everywhere! Scripps is a women’s college after all, which means we have an excellent selection of women all around to choose from. Faculty, staff, current and past supervisors, and even your fellow peers are doing such amazing things out in the world that just hanging out with them a few times could help put you on track to being the best version of yourself. So get out there and network! And if you don’t know how to do that, stay tuned for a future blog post!

To the powerful female mentors I’ve had in my life, there is no word to describe how incredibly grateful I am to have had you in my life. Thank you for letting me watch you, letting me pester you with questions, and letting me emulate you. I hope that when I write stories of my success and achievements, that you feel not only proud of me, but proud of yourselves because there is a piece of you in me that contributed to that.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Books

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When I start to think of whom I would most like to give thanks for in my life, a lot of the people that came up immediately were family and teachers. Now, in my mind there’s not such a great difference between these two because your family are kind of like your first teachers – they’re the ones who start to show you how the world works, and in my case both of my parents are actual teachers. A lot of what these teachers have given me over the years- be they my family, or my actual teachers – is more than just knowledge, or grades, or the ability to sign my name in cursive (because to be honest, at this point most of us just scribble it, don’t we?). No, the biggest thing I am grateful for is my love of books, and of reading, and of writing.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a house of readers. My mother always has at least one book on her bedside table, and my dad usually has a pile too, although he gets through them much slower than she does. There are bookshelves in our living room, in our dining room, in all the bedrooms, and in the basement. I grew up surrounded by books, and quickly started developing my own collection. When I was in first grade I noticed that my mother seemed to be able to read a lot faster than I could, so my friends and I started doing speed-reading contests during “quiet time” at school. We would see who could get through more letters in the beginner’s dictionary within a set amount of time. Sure enough, I was reading faster than my mother within a few years time. I devoured books, and my teachers encouraged it.

I had a second grade teacher who required us to write short, paragraph-long stories every week using a list of vocabulary words, and it was doing those assignments that I first began to type on a computer. My third grade teacher challenged us to read a certain number of books over the summer – I don’t actually remember how many it was at this point, but I’m pretty sure I read about triple that amount. Those of us who actually completed the challenge, and turned in a list of the books we had read, were treated to lunch and a trip to the science museum on a Saturday during the fall of our 4th grade year. In fifth grade, with my teacher’s permission, I would stay in from recess and alphabetize the classroom library for fun, because I preferred the quiet to my screaming and running peers, and this way my friends and I could play card games or read our own books. All of these early teachers encouraged me in my outside reading, and in writing – both things that still help provide me with some sanity when I’m feeling stressed.

So in honor of Thanksgiving this year, I would like to say that I am thankful for my parents, for my sister, for Mrs. Zimmerman, Miss Quatrimoni, and for Ms. Lundell. And I am also thankful for the librarians of my Faneuil Branch library in Boston, and all of the amazing teachers I have had, from middle school up into my junior year here at Scripps. I can’t name you all, and I also cannot thank you enough, but you have had a great impact on me.