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Mentorship July 31, 2019
Because it is about more than the hard skills.
When I set off for the other side of the country at the beginning of July, I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that I was setting off on a professionally-enriching journey. Little did I know I would get just as much personally out of the ENTITY Academy experience as I did professionally.
I am now on the other side of my four-week mentorship. Finally, I am able to grasp how much I have grown as a person. The main takeaways that ENTITY taught me simply can’t be taught in a classroom.
During my ENTITY Academy experience, I took on a four-week rigorous curriculum in hard skills, soft skills, and interactive learning. Every day I was met with new challenges and new opportunities to overcome them. I learned from some of the strongest writers, producers, actors, and entrepreneurs from all sorts of businesses. However, none of these people believed themselves to know everything, regardless of how long their resume is or old they may be.
I was equally impressed and humbled by the hardworking and well-established speakers and leaders that I was surrounded by daily. I saw professionals who were doing great work in their desired field and yet they welcomed any opportunity to continuously teach and learn. ENTITY CEO Jennifer Schwab is a perfect example of this. Rather than approaching this program as an opportunity to teach, she allowed for a give-and-take environment where everyone had the opportunity to be equal part learner and teacher.
The ENTITY Academy experience stresses the importance of having personal and professional mentors. Having someone to turn to for advice and growth can be game-changing in the corporate world. In a more traditional sense, a mentor is typically someone older, more established, and with more experience in a given field. Having a mentor like this is great, and ENTITY Academy introduced me to numerous potential mentors to help me in my career.
However, I also learned that mentors come in all shapes, sizes, ages, and professional capacities. Mentors can be peers or people outside of your career field. Anyone willing to help you out and provide you with advice or encouragement can be a mentor.
My fellow mentees even served as mentors to me throughout this four-week session. Anytime I needed a hand or a recommendation there was someone ready to help me, and we got to learn simultaneously.
Choosing to spend the summer in an intensive learning setting is not a traditional choice for a college student. Of course, while I expected that my ENTITY Academy experience would be academically challenging, I was pleasantly surprised by how fun each day was. I welcomed the idea of waking up to come into the office. There, I knew I would be greeted by eager, like-minded peers and enriching experiences.
ENTITY Academy showed me a clear-cut example of, “if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” I was excited for every workday to come and looked forward to the challenges and assignments I was presented with. Everything from the working environment to the engaging speakers showed me that the office does not need to be a dreaded place if you do work you truly love.
As I head back to the East Coast, I take with me far more than hard skills and new networking contacts. These three life lessons, along with many more, are just part of the reason that my ENTITY Academy experience was so enriching and worthwhile. Learning opportunities are not limited to a classroom and I am so grateful that I learned as much as I did on this journey.
