What a summer this has been! With the weather at its peak, it was an absolute joy to be attending an event on a rooftop, with free beer and great company – thanks to DevelopHer.
As a reminder, DevelopHer is a not-for-profit organisation that looks to elevate women in tech, digital and entrepreneurship. They aim to develop careers, confidence and change in the workplace by facilitating events for their community, empowering them to make courageous career decisions whilst amplifying the voice of the community in government and business.
I’ve been working with the talented team at DevelopHer for a while now – we met through a mutual connection from the Paypal Unity program, which brings together women and men with the mission of creating more opportunities for women at PayPal. Since then I’ve been committing time to helping them out where possible, as well as hooking them up with the Depop talent team. After I recently spoke at the Let’s Talk About Money workshop, I was invited to be part of a speed-mentoring event.
Speed mentoring? It’s probably exactly what you imagine. DevelopHer described it as a series of short, focused conversations about specific questions. You will meet with a limited number of mentors in 15‐minute time slots each. At the start and end of each Speed Mentoring round, a bell will ring. Mentees will then move on to the next mentor, and will be giving two minutes to switch and prepare for the next round. Ding.
The sessions were incredible – although I was acting in a mentor capacity, I learnt something from every person I spoke to too. It was really powerful to be speaking to women from all backgrounds, in various stages of their career, and realising that there are so many common problems that unite us. How do we move forward? How do we know what’s the right choice for us? How do we build that confidence in our own decisions? Speaking to others who have gone through that journey, or even still going through it, is a real eye-opener. Not to sound like a broken record but as I always say, the only thing holding you back is yourself. I encourage everyone to give it a go!
Here’s a great post DevelopHer wrote about being a good mentor.