Mentorship for Women: How to Find a Mentor and Become One for Others

In the rapidly changing world of business and careers, where every day brings new challenges and opportunities, mentorship is becoming a key tool for self-promotion and building a successful career. And we are talking not only about finding a mentor and learning, but also about being one for others! Both are especially important in the sphere of female leadership and development. In this article, I want to share with you my own experiences, thoughts, and practical advice on how to find your role model and ideal mentor if you are a woman, build an effective relationship with them, and, just as importantly, become an inspiring mentor yourself. After all, the more successful women there are, the more successful women there will be!

Why Do You Need a Mentor?

There are fewer successful women than successful men, and that’s a historical fact. Why? There are a huge number of reasons, from socio-economic to psychological; to list them all would require a separate article. I’ll name the one that is particularly important to us now and leads us to the topic of mentorship: it’s simply easier for men to see examples of success and understand what to follow to become successful themselves, that’s all. Women have far fewer such examples (just look at the covers of glossy magazines, after all), and therefore fewer career paths and strategies that they can adopt. Thus, women dreaming of success experience an acute shortage of successful female role models. Therefore, if you have achieved success, becoming a mentor and showing other women how it’s possible is almost your sacred duty!

Women also still face unique challenges on their career paths. These include gender stereotypes, bias in hiring or promotion, and the constant need to maintain a balance between professional ambitions and family responsibilities. In all controversial or just morally difficult situations, a mentor becomes a compass, a guide, and a source of support, helping women confidently move forward, overcome obstacles, and fully realize their potential.

Personally, mentorship played a crucial role in shaping my career. One of my mentors, recognizing hidden abilities and potential in me, sparked the idea of mastering coaching. This led me to Marilyn Atkinson, an outstanding founder of Ericksonian coaching, living in Canada. Several months of intensive training with her gave me a powerful and effective toolkit for working with myself, my inner states, fears, and doubts. Among other things, I had many mentors from the United States, including famous businessmen and even multi-millionaires. For me, other people with their amazing, complex, and captivating stories are an inexhaustible source of inspiration and invaluable practice-oriented knowledge. What could be better than when someone who has already walked a certain path takes you by the hand and helps you walk it?

How to Find “Your” Mentor: A Step-by-Step Guide

The appearance of a mentor in life is not a random miracle that falls on you from the sky, but the result of a targeted search for a person with whom you have mutual understanding, respect, shared values, and goals. It’s like finding a good friend – it’s important to find someone who will support you, inspire you, and help you grow. Therefore, first and foremost, you must, of course, admire this person, and you should also be comfortable with them. Here are some specific steps to help you:

Clearly Define Your Goals and Needs. Before you start looking for a mentor, ask yourself important questions. What do you want to achieve in your career? What skills and knowledge do you need to develop? What obstacles do you want to overcome? A clear understanding of your goals and needs will help you narrow your search and find a mentor with relevant experience and knowledge. For example, if you want to master public speaking skills, look for a mentor who is a successful speaker. If you want to build your business, look for someone who has already created and successfully develops their company. Logical? Logical!
Start by Analyzing Your Current Network of Contacts. You don’t need to immediately run off in search of strangers. Look around: perhaps your ideal mentor is already in your network of contacts. These could be former managers, colleagues, university professors, successful graduates of your educational institution, business partners, or simply people you admire and whose opinion you value. Think about who among them has the experience and knowledge you need, and who is willing to share it with you.
Use the Power of Professional Communities and Events. Attend conferences, seminars, trainings, master classes, and other professional events in your industry. This is a great opportunity to meet new people, make useful contacts, and find potential mentors. Don’t hesitate to approach speakers, ask questions, and share your thoughts and experiences.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help and Advice. Many successful and experienced people are willing to share their knowledge and help others. Don’t hesitate to contact them with a request for mentorship. The main thing is to correctly formulate your request, show that you are serious about development, and explain why this particular person can become the ideal mentor for you. Prepare for the conversation, talk about your goals, ask specific questions, and show that you value the time and experience of your potential mentor.
Be Open to Different Mentorship Formats. Mentorship does not have to be formal, long-term, and require regular meetings. It can be a one-time consultation on a specific issue, advice in a difficult situation, feedback on your project, or just an inspiring conversation that will help you look at the situation from a different angle. Or you can work with a mentor on a regular basis, for example, together create a roadmap and report on your progress once a month. In short, everything depends on your own capabilities and the mentor’s consent to certain formats.
Use Online Platforms and Social Networks. In today’s world, there are many online platforms and social networks that help people find mentors and advisors. LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram – all these resources can be used to find people whose activities and experience you are interested in. Subscribe to their pages, study their publications, ask questions in the comments, and don’t hesitate to contact them personally with a request for mentorship.

Sometimes we look for a mentor among those we know personally, forgetting that our personal “university” of history and culture contains a huge number of potential mentors, available to us practically free of charge. After all, you have an incredible toolkit in your hands in the form of streaming platforms, the Internet, and libraries! All the wisdom of the ages, all the knowledge that people have accumulated for centuries, is already in your hands.

Thus, anyone can become your teacher: from Gaius Julius Caesar, whose military and political strategies are still amazing, to Benjamin Franklin, a man of the Enlightenment, whose life path is an example of versatility and self-development. Explore the biographies of such large-scale personalities as Nicholas Roerich, who devoted his life to art, philosophy, and spiritual quests. Study their autobiographies, films about them, interviews, and video recordings (if they lived in an era close to modern times). You can choose any famous person who has left a significant mark in history and turn them into your mentor. Analyze their decisions, their approaches to problems, their motivation. In fact, you are learning from the best, based on their life experience, and this costs practically nothing except your time and desire to learn. Use it!

How to Become an Inspiring Mentor for Other Women?

If you have already achieved certain successes in your career, realized your goals, and accumulated valuable experience, consider becoming a mentor for other women. This is not only a noble way to pass on your knowledge and experience to the next generation, but also an excellent opportunity for your own growth, leadership development, and expansion of your professional network. However, mentorship is not just “I told you to do it this way.” It is primarily about creating a supportive environment where every woman can realize her potential and believe in herself.

Here are some practical steps to help you reach a new level in your professional development and become a full-fledged role model for someone:

Be an Expert in Your Niche. Well, this is more of a requirement, the most important and logical one. Before sharing knowledge, make sure that you yourself are a recognized expert in your field. Accumulate real experience, achieve significant results, and constantly learn and develop. This takes time, effort, and a constant striving for excellence. Do not stop there, attend conferences, read specialized literature, take advanced training courses. An example is Oprah Winfrey, who went from a difficult childhood to one of the most influential women in the world of media. Her experience in creating a successful television show, publishing business, and charity can be valuable for those who seek to build a personal brand, create content, and influence society. Your authority as an expert is the foundation of your mentorship, so invest in your professional development.
Actively Broadcast Your Knowledge and Experience. It is not enough to simply possess knowledge, you need to be able to convey it to other people. Become a visible expert in your field, using various communication channels. For example:

Create Valuable Content: Write articles, keep a blog, record podcasts, create videos on professional topics. Share your insights, case studies, and tips. For example, Arianna Huffington, the founder of The Huffington Post, shares her experience in media, business, and stress management through her books, articles, and speeches. Her knowledge and style can be useful for aspiring journalists, entrepreneurs, and anyone seeking balance in life. Don’t be afraid to share your knowledge for free, this will attract new subscribers and potential mentees.
Speak at Events: Participate in conferences, webinars, master classes as a speaker. This is a great way to show your expertise and attract those who are looking for a mentor. For example, Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, actively participates in business forums and conferences, talking about her experience in leadership, career, and gender equality. Her stories can be inspiring for young women leaders. The main thing is to prepare for speeches thoroughly, share practical advice and case studies, and answer questions from the audience.
Actively Maintain Social Networks: Use your professional accounts to demonstrate your expertise, exchange opinions, and build a community around yourself. Answer questions from subscribers, participate in discussions. For example, Natalia Vodianova actively uses her social networks to promote charitable projects and draw attention to social problems. Her experience can be useful for those who want to use their platforms for good deeds. Regularly publish interesting and useful content, interact with your audience, and build trusting relationships.

Develop Your Communication and Empathic Skills. Mentorship is first and foremost a relationship. Learn to listen, ask questions, give constructive feedback. Understand the emotional state of your mentees, be patient and tactful. Your task is to help them realize their potential, not to impose your opinion on them. Be prepared for the fact that you will have to adapt your approach to each mentee, taking into account their individual characteristics and needs.
Organize Mentoring Sessions or Programs. If you feel that you are ready for this, you can initiate your own mentoring programs within your company, professional community, or even online. For example, many large companies, such as Google and Microsoft, have internal mentoring programs for women that help them develop their leadership qualities and advance their careers. You can create a similar program in your company or join an existing one. Offer individual or group mentoring sessions, conduct webinars and trainings, create online courses and communities.
Be a Role Model. Your actions speak louder than words. Demonstrate professionalism, ethics, a desire for development, and a positive attitude. Your mentees will look up to you. Show them that you can be a successful, self-confident, happy, and harmonious woman without sacrificing your values and principles. Be open and sincere, share your successes and failures, and your mentees will trust you and value your experience.

In the process of mentorship, it is important not only to give advice and share experiences, but also to receive feedback from your mentees. Ask them what helps them and what doesn’t, what they would like to change in your relationship, and how you can become an even more useful mentor for them. And don’t forget about self-analysis – constantly evaluate your actions, your results, and your contribution to the development of your mentees. Once, while working with a mentor, I encountered an unexpected discovery. He asked me: “How do you talk to yourself?”. It turned out that I was rephrasing feedback from other people, giving it a negative connotation. This experience showed me how important it is to pay attention to even such small things as your habits of processing information and focusing on something specific. If you become a mentor, be sure to ask this same question to your mentees and see what they answer!

Mentorship is not just a fashionable trend, but a powerful tool for career development, achieving success, and realizing your potential. And for women striving for leadership and professional growth, mentorship becomes especially important and valuable. Whether you are looking for a mentor or want to become one, remember the importance of openness, trust, mutual respect, and continuous development. Invest in mentorship, and you will see how it transforms your life and helps you reach incredible heights. Use all the opportunities that the world offers and help other women realize their potential, believe in themselves, and build the career of their dreams. By the way, an excellent place to find potential mentors and role models is the WE Convention, which will be held on November 1-2 in Dubai. There you will find meetings and panel discussions with successful women from all over the world and from different industries, starting with the author of the world bestseller “Sex in the City” Candace Bushnell and ending with the former editor-in-chief of Vogue Anna Wintour – the very woman who became the prototype for the character of Miranda Priestly in the movie “The Devil Wears Prada”. Don’t miss this phenomenal event and, of course, don’t forget about this valuable key to new achievements – mentorship!