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Mentorship July 7, 2018
I didn't expect this.
I’ve heard it said that arriving five minutes early means arriving ten minutes late. Unfortunately, I arrived at ENTITY Academy two DAYS late.
After driving 18 hours from Colorado, I finally approached the ENTITY headquarters. I was immediately greeted by a mosaic entrance, a grand staircase, and the ghosts of the Knights’ of Pythias past (read about the building’s strange history here). But when I made it to the second floor, my worries disappeared as I met 60 smiling faces. These are the women (and men) who I would spend every day of the next few weeks with.
I expected to learn hard skills to improve my writing and design but ENTITY Academy taught me more than I ever could’ve imagined.
My greatest weakness going into the Academy was in networking. Like a lot of people, I hate forging superficial relationships simply for the sake of furthering my own career. The ENTITY Academy, along with mentor and speaker Sarah Zapp, taught me that networking isn’t what many of us expect. By creating strong, genuine connections through ENTITY Academy, we can grow and succeed.
The most important thing to do in order to be successful is not to take whatever you can from people around you, but to form meaningful, non-transactional connections with people you admire. These connections and friendships will not only help your career, they will lead to a more full life. It’s the best of both worlds.
Successful careers are never easy. I’m at the beginning of mine, so it feels difficult. The ENTITY Academy isn’t easy, so that certainly didn’t help. We wrote and learned something every day. Besides technical skills, the Academy taught me the importance of committing to the issues, people and passions that matter to me.
I needed to be resilient no matter how hard some days were.
Perhaps the most important lesson I learned was the true meaning of the word “mentor.” ENTITY is built around the idea that mentorship means supporting, appreciating and encouraging the women and men around us.
Throughout this experience, I gained mentors that I would never have had otherwise. I am also equipped with the skills and confidence to go forward and gain more female mentorship and to be a mentor to those who I may be able to help.
The ENTITY Academy has given me the confidence to be a successful woman wherever I am. I’ll never forget this summer, these people or the lessons I learned in such a short amount of time.
