Speaker 1: Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2: What's up, besties. It's a new year and a new
Speaker 2: chance to rewrite the narrative. So today we're highlighting the
Speaker 2: life changing power of mentorship at any age. We've got
Speaker 2: De Laurs Julie Morton, CEO of Step Up here with us.
Speaker 2: She's sharing how mentorship changed her life and why she
Speaker 2: owes so much of her success to the women who
Speaker 2: guided her along the way. It's Monday, January sixth. I'm
Speaker 2: Simone Boyce and.
Speaker 3: I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright Side from
Speaker 3: Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together to
Speaker 3: share women's stories, laugh, learn and brighten your day. Yet,
Speaker 3: the new year is here, and it's more than just
Speaker 3: a new calendar year, you know. I always feel like
Speaker 3: the new year is a chance to hit reset and
Speaker 3: start fresh. So, whether you're just like cleaning up the
Speaker 3: confetti from your New Year's party or you're back into
Speaker 3: your routine, I think this time of year has a
Speaker 3: way of making us feel brand new.
Speaker 1: Do you feel it.
Speaker 2: All the time? January is my favorite month of the year.
Speaker 1: I love the because it's my birthday month.
Speaker 2: It's mine too. I'm not even like a big birthday person.
Speaker 2: It's honestly just it's the fresh energy of January. Like
Speaker 2: you were saying, it's a clean slate, and I just
Speaker 2: love a new beginning. And then also, you know we
Speaker 2: live in la and La is particularly green during that
Speaker 2: time of year, and I think that does something for
Speaker 2: me positively psychologically.
Speaker 1: Well, here's the thing that has been on my mind.
Speaker 3: Psychologists call this fresh start a fresh start phenomenon, and
Speaker 3: it's this mental boundary that inspires us to leave failures
Speaker 3: behind and face the future with hope and determination. So
Speaker 3: that feeling is psychologically proven, Samon. It creates this like
Speaker 3: wiping the slate clean momentum and Wharton behavioral economics professor
Speaker 3: Katie Milkman writes, people are more open to change when
Speaker 3: they feel they have a fresh start. Think about that,
Speaker 3: whether it is the start of the year, or a
Speaker 3: milestone birthday, or even a simple Monday morning, we all
Speaker 3: have the opportunity to reseet.
Speaker 2: Well, Danielle, everything you're saying aligns with what Wendy Wood
Speaker 2: told us on the show when we interviewed her about
Speaker 2: habit forming. Yes, she said that the best time to
Speaker 2: implement new habits is when you have a fresh start,
Speaker 2: When you have this sweeping environmental or circumstantial change in
Speaker 2: your life.
Speaker 3: That's exactly it. And it's actually especially potent after a
Speaker 3: setback too. So one of those two things. And so
Speaker 3: now I think is the perfect time because it's the
Speaker 3: turn of the holiday. It's this renewed commitment to health,
Speaker 3: to productivity, to personal growth. But it's not magic, right, Like,
Speaker 3: we can't just hope that all the changes happen. To
Speaker 3: really make the most of them, we have to recognize
Speaker 3: the energy of this moment. And I think instead of
Speaker 3: making these big, sweeping, overwhelming resolutions, start small. Let's pick
Speaker 3: one thing that we want to focus on and make
Speaker 3: a plan to build it into our routine. So what's
Speaker 3: one thing you're either implementing or taking away.
Speaker 2: This is something that I typically implement at the beginning
Speaker 2: of every year, and that is just an increased focus
Speaker 2: on consistency. I tend to start out the year pretty consistent,
Speaker 2: you know, with like waking up early, working out every day.
Speaker 2: But by the end of the year, I just sort
Speaker 2: of get lazy. And I honestly think that's okay, Like
Speaker 2: I embrace it and I think it's healthy, but I
Speaker 2: do enjoy you know that kickstart at the start of
Speaker 2: the year. That just really encourages me to be more
Speaker 2: disciplined and consistent. I love that, how about you.
Speaker 3: Okay, this is going to sound annoying, so please excuse me,
Speaker 3: but I haven't done cardio in like five years. Like
Speaker 3: I just love lifting weights, and for the sake of
Speaker 3: my heart, I'm really going to try and implement some cardios,
Speaker 3: some more walking, maybe even some running if I can
Speaker 3: get away with it. But it's one small thing I'm
Speaker 3: going to implement.
Speaker 2: Isn't it interesting that fitness is like the first thing
Speaker 2: that so many people think of when it comes to
Speaker 2: fresh starts within a year.
Speaker 1: That's such a good point. We both really kind of
Speaker 1: touched on that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Wow, Well, I.
Speaker 3: Think it's important to think about what your thing is.
Speaker 3: What is your fresh start moment of the year, whether
Speaker 3: it's eating better or being more present, or taking your
Speaker 3: phone out of your room. Good luck with that I tried,
Speaker 3: or you know, starting the hobby that you've always been
Speaker 3: dreaming about.
Speaker 2: I think now is the perfect time to go for it, Danielle,
Speaker 2: it's not too late. Twenty twenty five might be the
Speaker 2: year that you put your phone outside of your room.
Speaker 2: Do you absolutely not.
Speaker 1: Okay, there we go, well, simone.
Speaker 3: Besides both of our birthdays, January is also National Mentoring Month,
Speaker 3: and this month is dedicated to celebrating the power of
Speaker 3: mentorships and shining a light on how mentorship can actually
Speaker 3: change a young person's life.
Speaker 2: I gotta be honest, I'm kind of I'm heading into
Speaker 2: this conversation kind of bitter because I never had a mentor.
Speaker 2: I have to figure it all out. Not too late,
Speaker 2: I guess, yeah, or maybe it's time to you know,
Speaker 2: mentor someone else that can be really fulfilling too. But listen,
Speaker 2: I have good reason to be envious of people who
Speaker 2: have benefited from mentors because, according to a study commission
Speaker 2: by the national nonprofit called Mentor, more than fifty percent
Speaker 2: of adults credit their mentors for their success in life,
Speaker 2: and fifty eight percent of young people say their mentor
Speaker 2: has supported their mental health. Wow. That's incredible. Yeah.
Speaker 3: One specific program that I've been able to witness firsthand
Speaker 3: that really changes the lives of both the mentors and
Speaker 3: the mentees is called Step Up. It's a mentorship nonprofit
Speaker 3: whose mission is to help girls define and achieve their
Speaker 3: unique visions of success. So much of it is about
Speaker 3: becoming confident and connected and saying what's on your mind.
Speaker 3: They even have wonderful tactical programs like how to write
Speaker 3: a resume and a cover letter. I've had the opportunity
Speaker 3: to work with them on and off since I lived
Speaker 3: in Chicago, like I don't know, like seven six, seven
Speaker 3: years ago, and it's one of the few programs I
Speaker 3: keep coming back to because the work is so great.
Speaker 2: Well, it's not just you, I mean our Hello Sunshine
Speaker 2: leader Reese Witherspoon has directly invested in and supported this program,
Speaker 2: and she was super intentional about making sure that the
Speaker 2: curriculum included a financial literacy element. I love that. That
Speaker 2: is so huge, huge, all right. For all the details
Speaker 2: on step ups impressive mentorship programs, joining us today is
Speaker 2: none other than Dolores Juliet Morton, the CEO herself. Having
Speaker 2: experienced the benefits of mentorship firsthand, Delores is now reshaping
Speaker 2: the present and future of Step Up. Did we mention
Speaker 2: she's expanded their programs to include young women from eighteen
Speaker 2: to twenty nine. Yeah, she's pretty much redefining what it
Speaker 2: means to lift women up. Juliet Mortin, Welcome to the
Speaker 2: bright side. Thanks for having me, It's gonna be fun.
Speaker 3: Well, Simone and I are such huge Step Up fans.
Speaker 3: We were so excited to finally be able to speak
Speaker 3: with you.
Speaker 2: I love Step Up fans.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's easy to be a Step Up fan.
Speaker 4: Right, Like it's a mission that you can't be mad at.
Speaker 4: Who can say no to mentoring girls like?
Speaker 2: Period? Easy, period exactly.
Speaker 3: I got to experience Step Up firsthand when I worked
Speaker 3: with the organization in Chicago, and I'll never forget watching
Speaker 3: these girls. I met them at the beginning of the program.
Speaker 3: Then at the end of the program, we had this
Speaker 3: little event and they got up on stage and they
Speaker 3: were different girls.
Speaker 1: They got up on stage, they.
Speaker 3: Put their hands on their chest, on their heart, over
Speaker 3: their head and they said, I am confident, I am strong,
Speaker 3: I can do anything I put my mind to, and
Speaker 3: they believed it. And those were not the same voices
Speaker 3: I heard at the beginning of the program, and I
Speaker 3: was just I'll never forget it.
Speaker 1: I was blown away.
Speaker 2: And that was in one mentoring session.
Speaker 4: One mentoring session that wasn't because they had been doing
Speaker 4: things for weeks and months with us.
Speaker 2: That was one session, and you saw that transformation. So
Speaker 2: what you said was so powerful, Danielle, just looking at
Speaker 2: the transformation before and after of these girls. What exactly
Speaker 2: happens in a step up mentoring session for anybody who's
Speaker 2: a little bit new to this process.
Speaker 4: Sure, so all of our mentoring sessions are curated. Our
Speaker 4: mentors don't have to come in with specific skills or experiences.
Speaker 4: We are team designs and activity that is specific.
Speaker 2: It might be focused.
Speaker 4: On them being able to tell their personal story and
Speaker 4: their personal narrative, or it could be something as simple
Speaker 4: as time management, right, and so really it's in a curated, active,
Speaker 4: engaged space. So both the girl and the mentor, there's
Speaker 4: no you don't feel intimidated. You feel supported and cared
Speaker 4: for and confident. So we want the mentor to feel
Speaker 4: confident going in and the mentees to feel confident leaving
Speaker 4: out on whatever that issue is that they were talking about,
Speaker 4: whether it is perfecting my pitch or time management or
Speaker 4: conducting a job search, whatever those things are.
Speaker 3: I think back to my early twenties in my first
Speaker 3: three jobs, and I've said this on the podcast before,
Speaker 3: but I felt so unprepared and out of my depth,
Speaker 3: not for the actual job, but for the office relationships
Speaker 3: and dynamics and talking to my boss and what was
Speaker 3: expected and how to say things with a positive spin
Speaker 3: and be an encouraging peer and leader and follower. I
Speaker 3: was so much I can't even imagine what mentorship would
Speaker 3: have done.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So I love that you guys are expanding this program.
Speaker 1: Did you feel that way too? Oh?
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
Speaker 4: Not just I mean I was a first generation college student,
Speaker 4: so neither of my parents went to college, so I
Speaker 4: didn't know. When I went to college, I thought that
Speaker 4: the degree was success, like I'm going to get this
Speaker 4: degree and magically the carpet's going to roll out and
Speaker 4: everything's going to work. But I didn't know, Oh, you
Speaker 4: need to do internships while you're in college and you
Speaker 4: need you know, you need to build relationships and network.
Speaker 4: I was like, no, I need to get good grades.
Speaker 4: Like that was all I was focused on. And so
Speaker 4: whether it's going to college or going into the military, workforce,
Speaker 4: wherever you're going, when you're done with high school, you
Speaker 4: still need that support. And so everything from navigating college
Speaker 4: to my first job too. I remember one job, I
Speaker 4: got my terrible performance review, the worst. And I was
Speaker 4: an a student in high school and in best grades
Speaker 4: in college and then I get this, you know, needs improvement.
Speaker 4: It's like, I like, who are you talking to improvements?
Speaker 4: I got some improvement for you. And I actually ended
Speaker 4: up calling someone that I knew in high school that
Speaker 4: as a mentor in high school and told them about it,
Speaker 4: and they were like, well, you know, remember that time,
Speaker 4: you know, you got this bad grade and you went
Speaker 4: back to your teacher and talked to them about it,
Speaker 4: and you know, they helped you to improve, like use
Speaker 4: those same skills that I was like, oh, and I
Speaker 4: didn't have the language to even refer to that as mentorship, right, So,
Speaker 4: but they helped me to navigate that. And you know,
Speaker 4: look at this bad performance review as really it was
Speaker 4: an opportunity to demonstrate what you can do. So don't
Speaker 4: look at it as you know, you're awful and you
Speaker 4: quit your job, do I need on the wrong path?
Speaker 4: But more look at it as an opportunity to prove yourself.
Speaker 4: So just even those little things how to respond to
Speaker 4: a performance review is one of the things that a
Speaker 4: young woman engaged in step ups programs can talk to
Speaker 4: a mentor about.
Speaker 3: That's actually what I'm curious about hearing you talk about
Speaker 3: a review. What are the common challenges that you're hearing
Speaker 3: women in their twenties tell you that they're facing that
Speaker 3: they're needing this mentorship.
Speaker 4: One is navigating job searches, and that's everything from conducting
Speaker 4: the search to so do I have the right resume
Speaker 4: or preparing for an interview. So that's a lot of
Speaker 4: it is that, but they are also needing support in
Speaker 4: financial literacy, financial management and so you know your four
Speaker 4: O one K and when you should start investing in
Speaker 4: putting you know, money into your four one K. So
Speaker 4: a lot of them are asking for how do I
Speaker 4: get career clarity?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 4: So we think, oh, I want to be a social worker,
Speaker 4: but I don't really know any social workers, but it
Speaker 4: sounds good. And then I get the job and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 4: this is not at all what I thought all health
Speaker 4: social workers, that's not I'm using that as an example.
Speaker 4: But when you get in the job, what you thought
Speaker 4: it was going to be is not at all the
Speaker 4: actual work. And so they're like, wait, so now I
Speaker 4: have this degree, how can I use this in a
Speaker 4: different way than what I thought I was going to
Speaker 4: use it for? And so that's one of the things
Speaker 4: that a mentor can help a young woman to figure.
Speaker 3: Out I just talked to a good call friend who's
Speaker 3: an attorney and we were having a heart to heart
Speaker 3: because she became a mom and she's frustrated at her job.
Speaker 3: And she was like, if I would have known what
Speaker 3: my career entailed, I would have never gone down this path.
Speaker 1: And I was like, do you mean that? And she
Speaker 1: said absolutely.
Speaker 3: But I didn't have anybody to show me or tell me,
Speaker 3: and I didn't know, No, I just saw what I
Speaker 3: saw on TV.
Speaker 4: When we first started doing our work, especially with young adults,
Speaker 4: we were like, what is exactly do they need from
Speaker 4: us at this point? So we put it all in
Speaker 4: the context of careers and having someone you know that
Speaker 4: you know you can call on to help you, and
Speaker 4: having a place like Step Up that you know you
Speaker 4: can come to to find the mentor who's going to
Speaker 4: be able to help you to navigate that space is
Speaker 4: so special important. And I've only been at the helm
Speaker 4: of Step Up for five years, but one of the
Speaker 4: things that I think about is what did I need? Like,
Speaker 4: I'm building the organization that Dolores needed when she was fourteen, sixteen,
Speaker 4: twenty five, twenty nine, so that is the stuff up
Speaker 4: that I'm trying to imagine.
Speaker 2: What did Dolores need? We've got to take a short break,
Speaker 2: but we'll be right back with Dolores Morton. And we're
Speaker 2: back with Dolores Morton. I want to talk about mentorship
Speaker 2: more broadly, because I'm sure there are some of our
Speaker 2: bright side bessies who are listening and thinking, Man, I
Speaker 2: could really benefit from a mentor, but I'm probably outside
Speaker 2: of the age range of step up. And it's really
Speaker 2: impressive to take a step back and think about how
Speaker 2: mentors have shaped the lives of so many of the
Speaker 2: change makers that we all admire in our society today,
Speaker 2: people like Maya Angelou, who famously mentored Oprah. Amy Poehler
Speaker 2: was an early believer. In one of my favorite shows,
Speaker 2: Broad City, Michelle Obama was Barack Obama's mentor at the
Speaker 2: law firm where they met, Yes as coworkers, No, she
Speaker 2: was assigned to be his mentor. Isn't that wild? So
Speaker 2: you never know where a mentorship will take you, to
Speaker 2: the wedding chapel to the White House. But my question is,
Speaker 2: how do you know a mentorship relationship is the right fit?
Speaker 2: How do you know when you found the right mentor.
Speaker 4: M it's a good question. I think it's authenticity. It's
Speaker 4: it's really from the mentee perspective. I am looking for
Speaker 4: someone that I can be comfortable being vulnerable with that
Speaker 4: I don't have to be my best self with you
Speaker 4: in this moment because I really am coming to you
Speaker 4: for help and support and guidance. And so I think
Speaker 4: that that's when you know that you don't have to
Speaker 4: be polished or put together every time you're with your mentor,
Speaker 4: then you've found somebody that is going to be engaged
Speaker 4: with you, you know, for a long time, and really
Speaker 4: am able to be invested in you. But I also
Speaker 4: say that I think it's important to not think of
Speaker 4: your of needing just one mentor. If you think about
Speaker 4: your friends like your friends are all you know. I
Speaker 4: have one friend Tara who I always pass my clothing by,
Speaker 4: like hey, like is this the right outfit?
Speaker 2: Like? What are these? She's my fashion group. Absolutely I
Speaker 2: was sending like is this match? Like? Is this am
Speaker 2: I doing the most? Am I doing enough?
Speaker 4: So there's Tara, or there's Stephanie who gives me books.
Speaker 4: Are you know Evelyn who is kind of the one
Speaker 4: who's pushing me and cheering me on and like you
Speaker 4: can do this.
Speaker 2: Or Karen who told me to.
Speaker 4: Apply for this job as a CEO, I was like,
Speaker 4: I'm not a CEO and you really are, and so
Speaker 4: she so you need I would say, don't just look
Speaker 4: to one mentor for everything. I think that that's I'm
Speaker 4: sure as much as Michelle. Now I'm jealous of Barack
Speaker 4: for all new reasons. So Michelle Obama was a great mentor.
Speaker 4: I'm sure he had other mentors as well, as I
Speaker 4: think that that's important. You need different mentors at different
Speaker 4: stages in your life, but also for different reasons, right,
Speaker 4: And so I think that that's important as you are,
Speaker 4: as you're thinking about mentorship, becoming a mentor or receiving mentorship,
Speaker 4: I think that it's important.
Speaker 2: If I were Michelle Obama, I would never let him
Speaker 2: live that down, like I would always bring that up,
Speaker 2: like you just remember I was here. I was your mentor.
Speaker 2: Everything you are is because of me. Oh, he knows,
Speaker 2: he knows, he knows, for sure, he knows. So as
Speaker 2: I'm hearing you talk, I'm thinking about my career journey
Speaker 2: and I did. I never really had a mentor in
Speaker 2: the traditional sense, But I did have people who brought
Speaker 2: my names up in rooms that I wasn't in, and
Speaker 2: that happened in several different situations and occasions throughout my career.
Speaker 2: So I do agree that mentorship can look different for
Speaker 2: different people. But I think the reason one of the
Speaker 2: reasons why I never had a traditional mentor is because
Speaker 2: I didn't want to burden anyone and I was scared
Speaker 2: of being another responsibility on someone's to do list. And
Speaker 2: I think in our culture in America, there is this
Speaker 2: culture of self reliance where we are really hesitant to
Speaker 2: burden other people. But you brought up a word that
Speaker 2: I think is really important in this conversation, which is vulnerability,
Speaker 2: and I'd love to talk about that a little bit more.
Speaker 2: Why is vulnerability in mentorship so important because it does
Speaker 2: require us to put ourselves out there.
Speaker 4: We all all want to feel like we are bringing
Speaker 4: something to the table, right, bringing our best selves, and
Speaker 4: you know, we want to be polished. We want folks
Speaker 4: to feel comfortable bringing our names up in rooms. But
Speaker 4: from a mentor's perspective, if all they're bringing is their perfection,
Speaker 4: then I can't see myself in your perfection, right because
Speaker 4: I'm not where you are yet, and so I'm going
Speaker 4: to be hesitant to talk about my mistakes and those things,
Speaker 4: and the mistakes is where the learning happens. And so
Speaker 4: by being vulnerable and willing to share your mistakes and
Speaker 4: what you've learned along the way, I think that then
Speaker 4: I can I can make a better connection to you.
Speaker 4: And so I would say all mentoring starts with vulnerability
Speaker 4: and honesty, and you know, it creates it's a connection
Speaker 4: and a place to start the conversation when you can say,
Speaker 4: you know, I went into an interview and I was
Speaker 4: so unprepared and this has happened to me that it
Speaker 4: was the wrong interview. I was prepared for a different interview.
Speaker 4: I was like on a big job search at the time,
Speaker 4: and so I was like, oh God, that was not
Speaker 4: the right job.
Speaker 2: I always prepared for a different one.
Speaker 4: And I tell that story to young women that I
Speaker 4: mentor so that they know, you know, and I'm telling
Speaker 4: them that story to help them to not make that mistake.
Speaker 4: But you said something simone about not wanting to burden someone,
Speaker 4: and I think one of the things that's important to
Speaker 4: me is that young women know that they deserve mentorship.
Speaker 4: Mentorship isn't just a nice thing to have. It is
Speaker 4: necessary and critical. And mentorship can be formal and informal.
Speaker 4: It's not only the per like you are my mentor,
Speaker 4: like It's about conversation and connection and guidance and you know,
Speaker 4: helping someone to move you, you know, incrementally along your path.
Speaker 2: And I think the vulnerability conversation goes both ways, right,
Speaker 2: because it requires vulnerability on the part of the mentee
Speaker 2: too to be open about what their biggest scariest dreams
Speaker 2: are or you know, what their biggest scariest fears are.
Speaker 4: Yes, so true, you know, And that's the by the
Speaker 4: mentor being being vulnerable, the young person the mentee on
Speaker 4: the receiving and feels more comfortable being vulnerable as well.
Speaker 4: You know, that creates that that's part of the connection
Speaker 4: that you're creating, that sense of permission exactly.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, I love that permission.
Speaker 3: And I'm wondering if you had a mentor or are
Speaker 3: you attracted to this because you went without.
Speaker 4: Simone said something about not having a mentor in the
Speaker 4: traditional way, and I don't think that even when I
Speaker 4: was in high school, I didn't realize I was receiving
Speaker 4: mentorship when I was. I had a one woman, Nellie Watkins,
Speaker 4: who forced me into a competitive oratory, so competitive public
Speaker 4: speaking in Louisiana. And she would take me in on
Speaker 4: weekends to these competitions and you know, you get to
Speaker 4: the competition and they give you a topic. You got
Speaker 4: to go in your room, write a speech, and then
Speaker 4: come and give the speech.
Speaker 2: And amazing training.
Speaker 4: I use that training in my real life today, you know.
Speaker 4: But she was somebody who invested in me, took some
Speaker 4: time and saw an opportunity and saw a place where
Speaker 4: she could help me along my path. And I can
Speaker 4: stand up now, you know, I've stood in front of
Speaker 4: thousands of people on stage and I can do that
Speaker 4: because of Nellie Watkins. And I have a current mentor,
Speaker 4: Karen Williams, who helps me. I like to use the mentor,
Speaker 4: still have a mentor I have. She's somebody that you know,
Speaker 4: I what do you ask her about everything?
Speaker 2: You know? I knew her before I took the step
Speaker 2: up role.
Speaker 4: But you know, when I was, I'd been in one
Speaker 4: job for fifteen years, It's like, okay, that was cute.
Speaker 2: Time to move on.
Speaker 4: And I called Karen and she kind of helped me
Speaker 4: to think about what was important to me in my
Speaker 4: next job. So she encouraged me five years ago to
Speaker 4: put my hat in the ring for this. But then,
Speaker 4: you know, whether it's like I'm I'm challenged with this
Speaker 4: thing with my staff, or you know, I've got a
Speaker 4: new donor, but I'm not sure what to pitch to them.
Speaker 4: Sometimes it's like should I go to this event? Like
Speaker 4: so that, So it's it's a little should I wear
Speaker 4: blue or pink? And so it's it's in little and
Speaker 4: big ways. And that's the thing about mentorship. One of
Speaker 4: my goals when I came to step up was to
Speaker 4: demystify it and to make it less scary, you know.
Speaker 2: So so so.
Speaker 4: It's the it's the little things, but also you know,
Speaker 4: sometimes it's really transformational, like should I apply for this?
Speaker 2: Can I do this?
Speaker 4: And before I went into the interview, I was sitting
Speaker 4: outside the building. I called Karen and she gave me
Speaker 4: the pep talk. So like your mentor can be your cheerleader,
Speaker 4: your advisor, your counselor. You mentioned Oprah and Baya Angelo,
Speaker 4: and like Oprah's my mentor. She doesn't know it, but
Speaker 4: exactly she's my mentor, right, So like Michelle Obama. You know,
Speaker 4: me and Barack have something else in common. We both
Speaker 4: have Michelle Obama for our mentor. So that's like there's
Speaker 4: formal but there's also people that we look to as
Speaker 4: lights and guidance in our lives, whether we know them
Speaker 4: or not.
Speaker 2: That's mentorship. We can receive mentorship from them as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I also think there's work mentors and there's life mentors.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that too. So for someone who's on the
Speaker 2: other side of the equation and may be interested in
Speaker 2: providing some wisdom and guidance in a younger person's life.
Speaker 2: How do you know you're ready to become a mentor.
Speaker 4: I'll say women in particular sometimes are hesitant to become
Speaker 4: a mentor because they are busy. So I don't know
Speaker 4: that you're ever going to feel confident that you're ready.
Speaker 4: I think that the magic that step up provides is
Speaker 4: that you get in the room and you realize, like, oh,
Speaker 4: I'm mentoring.
Speaker 2: You know that's happening. It's happening.
Speaker 4: Mentoring's happening, and so I think that's part of the
Speaker 4: magic that we provide. So I don't know if that
Speaker 4: you ever know. It's whether you're willing to try.
Speaker 2: The reason why I ask is because I and I
Speaker 2: think you know other women that I know have a
Speaker 2: tendency to second guests our own offerings, like how we
Speaker 2: can be of service. You know, whether it's the rejection,
Speaker 2: the criticism, just the inner critic, you know, the outer critic,
Speaker 2: the voices from society that can tend to make you
Speaker 2: second guests, like do I actually have anything to offer?
Speaker 2: Woul anybody want to listen to what I have to say?
Speaker 2: But it's great to hear from you that even though
Speaker 2: you think you might not be ready, you probably are.
Speaker 2: You probably are. You've learned something, Yeah, you know right?
Speaker 4: And I always think about it like I was a
Speaker 4: fourth grade math tutor once, and I am by no
Speaker 4: means a math genius, but I knew more than the
Speaker 4: fourth grader, so I could help that fourth grader.
Speaker 2: And so if you've got.
Speaker 4: A little bit in your life that you are able
Speaker 4: to help someone, So whether it's a teen girl or
Speaker 4: a young adult, or a near peer, someone who's your age,
Speaker 4: if a teen girl can mentor another teen girl or
Speaker 4: a middle schooler, then woman, you're ready. Whoever you are
Speaker 4: out there, you are ready to be a mentor. You've
Speaker 4: got something to give. We all have something to give.
Speaker 3: You don't have to commit a huge amount of time.
Speaker 3: You guys have something called flash mentoring, right, what is that?
Speaker 4: So flash mentoring Three things make it up. It is
Speaker 4: short term, it is focused on something specific, and it
Speaker 4: is based on experience and not expertise. And so it's
Speaker 4: short term, like one hour, one conversation can make a difference.
Speaker 4: It is focused. So I am coming into this mentoring relationship,
Speaker 4: this mentoring moment with something specific that I'm working on.
Speaker 4: So I have an entry in three days and I
Speaker 4: want a mentor to help me with that. So it's
Speaker 4: very specific and it's experience based it so it's not
Speaker 4: based on your expertise. It's not that I am an
Speaker 4: HR expert and I can tell you exactly what this
Speaker 4: job is going to entail and how to respond to
Speaker 4: the questions. But I can tell you how I've prepared.
Speaker 4: I can give you some guidance based on my experiences
Speaker 4: versus expertise.
Speaker 2: So that's what it is.
Speaker 4: And if we can get more people to think about
Speaker 4: mentoring in that way, then everyone will have a mentor
Speaker 4: when they need a mentor. You know, my big dream
Speaker 4: for step up, I will resign and Step Up can
Speaker 4: close its doors if we need to. When every young
Speaker 4: woman everywhere has a mentor when she needs one.
Speaker 1: It's time for another short break.
Speaker 3: But we'll be right back to our conversation about mentorship
Speaker 3: with Dolores Morton, and we're back with Step Up CEO
Speaker 3: Dolores Morton.
Speaker 2: Okay, Bessie's this is a pretty staggering statistic about the
Speaker 2: impact of mentoring. According to the American Society for Training
Speaker 2: and Development, seventy five percent of executives say mentoring played
Speaker 2: a critical role in their development. How do you see
Speaker 2: this in action, Dolores? Through Step Up success stories? Is
Speaker 2: there one that just kind of sticks with you? One
Speaker 2: of my mentees through Step Up young women I've never
Speaker 2: met in person. I'll say that her name is Jaden.
Speaker 2: She lives in North Carolina, a small town outside of Charlotte,
Speaker 2: and she reached out because she graduated college during the pandemic,
Speaker 2: which meant that she had been isolated working from home.
Speaker 2: She was working, but she was just getting these short
Speaker 2: term contracts right, and she shared her frustration. I want
Speaker 2: a job now that has benefits and all of these things,
Speaker 2: and no one wants to hire me because my resume
Speaker 2: looks like a job hopped every three or four months,
Speaker 2: except that it was contracts that she knew were going
Speaker 2: to be four month contracts or whatever.
Speaker 4: And I helped her to redo her resume. Resume writing
Speaker 4: isn't my expertise, right, but I know how I review
Speaker 4: resumes as an employer, and so helped her to reframe
Speaker 4: her resume as a skills based resume, like these are
Speaker 4: the things I've done and here's who I've done it with,
Speaker 4: rather than a chronological resume. Within two weeks of that,
Speaker 4: she had interviews lined up. Then she had two different
Speaker 4: job offers, and she contacted me again, and she ended
Speaker 4: up choosing the job that allowed her to go back
Speaker 4: in person to work, right because she had felt isolated,
Speaker 4: you know, pandemic being at home and she had only
Speaker 4: worked remote, she'd never had an in person job. So
Speaker 4: she chose that job, and so yay, she got the job.
Speaker 4: So she went from you know, struggling to find full
Speaker 4: time job to having the job. And then three months
Speaker 4: later she out to me again, I'm struggling at work
Speaker 4: because I've lost my social muscle.
Speaker 2: While I would like the.
Speaker 4: Very reason I wanted to take this job was so
Speaker 4: that I could work in person and be around my colleagues,
Speaker 4: but like it's hard being around people, right, and so
Speaker 4: she wanted some coaching for me. I was like, well,
Speaker 4: the first thing you're gonna have to do is take
Speaker 4: your headphones off at your desk, like stop sitting at
Speaker 4: your desk with your headphones and so, and you don't
Speaker 4: have to say yes ten z.
Speaker 1: That's a PSA right there.
Speaker 3: Like stop.
Speaker 4: But and you don't have to say yes to every
Speaker 4: social thing, like but say yes to one. It's so
Speaker 4: one a week, say yes if someone says do you
Speaker 4: want to go to lunch?
Speaker 2: Once a week?
Speaker 4: And then she got she just sent me a note
Speaker 4: like that was so helpful. I just came from happy
Speaker 4: hour with my colleagues again. So and that sounds little,
Speaker 4: but that is that was transformational. I think Jayden's gonna
Speaker 4: kill it one day. But it's not just about getting
Speaker 4: to the C suite, but knowing that mentorship is is
Speaker 4: a to her as one of the things that's going
Speaker 4: to get her get her where she wants to go.
Speaker 2: Well, she knows how to ask for help, which is
Speaker 2: going to help her tremendously in her career.
Speaker 5: Yes, and we do that. We teach them that. That's
Speaker 5: one of the things we teach the girls, like how
Speaker 5: to ask for help. I think we need to go
Speaker 5: learn how to ask. Come on, come on, Dolores, will
Speaker 5: you mentor?
Speaker 1: And I'm good, Well, I listen.
Speaker 3: I'm sure so many people listening are going to feel
Speaker 3: inspired to get involved.
Speaker 2: I know I do.
Speaker 3: So I want to reignite the step Up flame. What
Speaker 3: is the best way to do that?
Speaker 4: I would say, just visit our website. We have in
Speaker 4: person mentoring opportunities and we have a mentoring app. So
Speaker 4: our website su double n Step Up Women's Network SUWN
Speaker 4: dot org. Visit us there you can find the best
Speaker 4: path for you to mentor, whether it's in your hometown
Speaker 4: or you know, from your desk, for an hour once
Speaker 4: a week, once a month, once a year, whatever you
Speaker 4: have available to contribute to a young woman's journey.
Speaker 1: Fantastic.
Speaker 2: Thank you so.
Speaker 4: Much for this conversation, Dolores, Thank you, Thanks so all,
Speaker 4: and thanks Dadielle.
Speaker 2: Have so much fun. Delores. Julie Morton is the CEO
Speaker 2: of the mentorship nonprofit Step Up.
Speaker 3: That's it for Today's show Tomorrow, economist, best selling author
Speaker 3: and the founder and CEO of parent Data, Emily Oster
Speaker 3: is back.
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