On Thursday the 25th of February TopFem organized a Mentor-Mentee drink session in the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam. After an inspiring opening by chairwoman Maria Schoenmakers on the benefits of having a mentor, Aukje Ravensbergen, one of TopFem’s first mentees, shared her experiences. According to her, the mentor-mentee relationship is really valuable and can help you to make the right life decisions or in the thinking processes leading up to them. For instance, her mentor had really motivated her to make a career switch and to follow her passion.
Next up was a speed dating session with Kelly Pender (Deloitte), Zaitoon Shah (Deloitte), Paulo Schreiber (SAOZ) and Marja Willemsen (Heineken). It was really inspiring to hear that these mentors themselves also valued their relationship with mentees. For them, talking about and reflecting on their own life choices also creates insights for themselves. When listening to your story they can also come up with relevant ideas or tips, perhaps even to contact people within their network. A mentor-mentee relationship does require some effort from both sides, but when you have a good connection with your mentor, it can be really fruitful for both of you. In the end it is of less importance that your mentor does exactly what you want to do later in life; it can be even more inspiring to have a mentor that does something that you are interested in or passionate about, because he or she might know just what you need to do to find a job in that field!
Are you that motivated student willing to get a mentor? Or do you want to visit one of our events first? In both cases we would love to see you on Thursday the 31st of March for our next event. In addition, don’t forget the TopFem College ft LOF session on the 8th of March, where inspiring women will tell about their career paths and life decisions. For more info or signing up, please visit www.topfem.nl or contact us at info@topfem.nl.
