(Mento)ring around the rosy, pocket full of posi(tive vibes)

Hello you friends in high places.

This week, G(irls)20's "Girls on Boards" program announced its 4th cohort of talented young women who will be placed on governance boards in organizations across the country. Okay, okay. You may have missed the announcement... so a bit of background: I have been volunteering with the program for a few years now, participating as a coach/mentor to some really impressive young women.

But before we dive in, maybe you want to meet them?  As a small plug, check out Uswah-- the woman with whom I am currently collaborating-- and the super cool initiative that she started this year called Ally Squared, which encourages safe community building, allyship and personal growth. And meet Avril, another young director I have worked with, and check out her inspiring TEDx talk about her personal experience of leadership, transformation and personal power.

As I look forward to being connected to my third Young Director in the Girls on Boards program in the coming weeks, and as I continue to work directly with one of Global HERizon's 2019 scholarship recipients (Charlotte, whom you can learn more about here and here if interested), I have been thinking a bit about mentorship this week: how to be a good mentor, but also what mentorship actually means to me and how much it shows up in day-to-day life.

While I spend a good chunk of my flexible time doing what I would call 'mentorship' in my daily life-- both giving and receiving-- it is not something I talk a lot about. If I am formally volunteering for an established program or organization, I will make a point of tweeting about the opportunity and encouraging others to get involved if they are interested. But that is usually the extent of it.

Because while I strongly believe in the importance of mentorship, when it comes to sharing details about the specific mechanics of support or the direct experience of these relationships (including the myriad of ways that I experience 'mentorship' informally with different people in my life), frankly it feels weird to talk about the experience outside of the small co-created bubble we have built together. 

Maybe I am not good with boundaries, but when we both show up equally to embark on this journey, formal 'mentorship' often feels less like a formula to follow and more like a context-driven-friendship-on-steroids. I know this isn't the traditional way of thinking about it-- particularly in the professional world-- but the reality is that, to be truly meaningful, even the most staid professional mentorship relationship demands showing up for people in a pretty substantial, human way.

Whether we are meant to be talking about board governance and female leadership, exploring career transitions, dealing with a bout of anxiety, brainstorming a new personal project or navigating a complex workplace: the conversation inevitably veers into exploring personal feelings of doubt, confidence, uncertainty, fear and relationships, all of which shape the way a person experiences themselves and others in the world.

In my experience, it is in this layered exploration of the interaction between the public self and intimate self where real growth and transformation can happen.

In a lot of ways more generally, this is what supportive relationships looks like.  Whether it is labeled as mentorship or friendship or something else entirely: being intentional and making time for each other, having a shared understanding of each others goals, all while also creating space therein to casually (or intentionally) explore how both people are feeling and experiencing their lives-- this to me is what supportive and transformative mentorship/friendship/relationship is in a nutshell. The semantics don't matter to me-- but the experience of communion and connection does.

So as I look forward to starting another 'formal' mentorship journey soon, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the practice-- how important it is to me, and how often it shows up when we are open to the connection.  I find this beautiful, alchemical exchange of selves in so many places in my life, and I am feeling pretty grateful to the many people (family, friends, colleagues, mentors, etc...) who have stepped into this special kind of supportive bubble with me, who have intentionally joined in on co-created a loving and nurturing space, have generously shared their life experiences, and have graciously contributed so much support and kindness to my own journey through life. 

Thank you.   

But wait! Perhaps all of this talk of mentorship is feeling a bit too intense on a sunny Sunday morning? Then please feel free to check out this list of 101 ways to live sustainably-- there are some helpful gems in there. I learned a lot.

Still too much realness?  Then check out this video of a dog who is very enthusiastic about their companion's ample gym clothing

From one mentored person to another, I am glad that we can support and grow as humans together. I hope you enjoyed this dispatch, and have a connection-filled week!

Until next Sunday,
The Earnest Platypus