June 28, 2025 • 21 mins
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Janice Omadeke.
Founder of The Mentor Method and author of Mentorship Unlocked: The Science and Art of Setting Yourself Up for Success. Here's a breakdown of the key highlights and takeaways:
🔑 Key Themes & Insights 1. Janice’s Background & Vision
- Former defense contractor and management consultant.
- Founded The Mentor Method to address the lack of inclusive mentorship in corporate America.
- One of the first Black women in the U.S. to raise over $1 million in seed funding for a tech startup.
2. What Is a Mentor?
- A mentor helps you become the best version of yourself.
- They don’t have to be older, in the same location, or even in the same industry.
- The key is values alignment, mutual respect, and a willingness to grow together.
3. The Problem with Traditional Mentorship
- Often exclusionary and based on superficial traits like race or gender.
- Many mentorship programs are performative, not transformative.
- True mentorship should be about growth, not conformity.
🌟 The 7 Types of Mentors You Need
-
Company Insider
Knows the internal politics, culture, and history of your organization. -
Skill Master
Helps you refine a specific skill (e.g., public speaking, coding). -
Money-Minded Mentor
Guides you on financial literacy, wealth building, and independence. -
Industry Mentor
Offers insights into your field and helps you stay competitive. -
Network Mentor
A connector who expands your professional circle. -
Influential Ally
Uses their reputation to advocate for you and open doors. -
Peer Mentor
A trusted equal who provides emotional safety and real-time support.
💬 Notable Quotes
- “Mentorship is not about fixing you—it’s about amplifying who you already are.”
- “If someone is trying to change your values, they’re not mentoring you.”
- “You deserve to feel good about the work you do every day.”
📘 Book Mentioned
- Mentorship Unlocked: The Science and Art of Setting Yourself Up for Success
A guide to building meaningful mentor relationships and advancing your career with intention.
#SHMS #STRAW #BEST
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald, a host the weekly Money Making
Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. If you
want to be a guest on my show, please visit
our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click the be a
Guest button. Press submit and information will come directly to me.
(00:24):
Now let's get this show started. My next guest, who
is The Mentor's Method founder and CEO, became one of
the first black women in the United States to raise
over one million dollars and seed funding for a tech startup.
So please welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. The author
of the book in Mentorship Unlocked the Science and Art
of setting yourself up for Success, Jannis Omadeki. How you doing, Jannis, I'm.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Doing both things. So excited to connect with you today
and I'm so honored. I am honored to be here,
honors to discuss mentorship. It's so important. While I had
an hr software company called The Mentor Method that I
built for six years and we had incredible customers like
Amazon and Department of Education and others, and before then
I worked in defense contracting and management consulting. Oftentimes I
(01:15):
was left at as mentorship conversations because they were always
the old boys club, And anytime I participated in a
corporate mentorship program, I was just matched to the only
underrepresented executive that also signed up for the program to
mentor someone. And I found that it wasn't just my
story that was impacted by this, but hundreds of thousands,
(01:36):
if not millions, of people experience the exact same thing.
And when you're working at a company and mentorship is
supposed to say I see you in this individual because
of your leadership traits, and instead of saying I don't
see you at all, I just see you as a checkbox,
and I see your external factors such as age, race,
and gender. It hurts and it can be moralizing. And
(02:01):
so I took those feelings and built my first company,
the Mentor Method, that matched people to mentors based on
industry skills, values, and their personality, and ninety percent of
the matches were in communication. Three years later, we saw
great success with it, and I've just been obsessed with
how people connect and engage and the way that's meaningful
(02:23):
and the way that built this joyful, passionate career that's
fulfilling for everyone because it's a right. We deserve to
feel good about the work that we do every day.
We deserve to feel good about the community that we're
building around us, and mentorship is one of the best
tools to make that happens.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
What is a mentor.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
A mentor is somebody that helps you become the best
possible version of yourself. It could be something in your career,
which is typically where we hear mentorship, and that's helping
you either refine a skill, get a promotion, enter into
a new company, get a new job. And this person
is exceptional at an area that you seek to develop in.
(03:08):
So if you're an engineer and you want to learn
a very specific skill, you would find a mentor that
can help you become great at that. In your personal life,
this might be somebody that helps you learn more about
financial wellbeing, or somebody that helps you get out of
a tough life situation where you can see yourself becoming
(03:29):
a different version of yourself thanks to their leadership. A
mentorship does not have to be older than you. I
have mentors that are several years younger. They don't have
to be in the same location. You can meet them virtually,
you can meet them in person. But it's really boiled
down to having the same value system and being eager
(03:51):
to learn from each other.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
That's really important because of the fact that I always
tell people, you know, if you want to be a doctor,
you don't go to a mechanic for advice or mentorship.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
You have to be aligned with that.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
You know, you have to be aligned with that thought
process because a lot of people get bad advice because
they're talking to the wrong person. Or their dreams can
be stymy because the person who's telling you that's not
your dream doesn't even understand what you're talking about. And
you know, sometimes I remember early on in my career, Dennis,
I was writing on television, you know, sitcoms like Sister Sister,
(04:24):
Jamie Fox Show and The Monique Show, which was The
Parker's and people will ask me, Individuals said, so, Chean,
what do you do? And I can never explain to them. Okay,
I go to work at ten, not just in the room,
just start pitching jokes and we write script and at
the end of the day, maybe ten hours later, we
have an episode. Now if I'm telling that to somebody
(04:46):
who's not a writer. They're looking to me like that's it,
and they pay you money for that, so they become sarcastic.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So you have to be able to get.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
A mentor align yourself with somebody who understands that path
correct one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
And you also want to make sure that there is
a strong values alignment and that that mentor will not
try to change you or fix you, because that's actually
not mentorship. They should be willing to see who you are,
what makes you unique, give you the tools to augment.
Obviously nobody's perfect. Help you refine your documen, your strengths,
(05:23):
things that you want to develop in. But it's not
meant to If you're a circle, they're not going to
try to make you a square or a triangle. They
will see that you're a circle and make you the
best possible circle there ever was.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
You know, it's really interesting, and again, thank you Janis
for coming on the show. Because a lot of people
are listening to the show and they've heard the word mentor,
or they want to seek somebody to be their mentor,
or they want to be a mentee. They're just trying
to because in my role. Like you know, you can
google me and people have always approached me about mentoring them.
(05:56):
Now that's key right there, because you know you can
approach me, that mean I'm going to mentor you. Because
like you said earlier, it's about alignment. It's about getting
somebody who one has the time and understands what your
expectations out of their relationship. Because mentorship or mentoring has
to be a partnership.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
When you say that, absolutely it goes both ways. I
have had relationships where I was being mentored by somebody
and now seven years later, I'm mentoring them in a
completely new realm of our careers and it just ebbs
and flows and it's a really beautiful process when you
(06:36):
can take your walls down and be vulnerable and just
learn from each other. But that doesn't happen unless you
have that alignment and you feel emotionally and psychologically safe
around each other, right.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
You know, Because again, as a female and I'm a male,
there are different roles we all play. Not saying that
a female can't have a male mentor and a male
can't have a female male. We need to make sure
we understand these values of trying to get information, trying
to get motivation, trying to get the next step.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
And I think that when.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I look at my life and I want to use
my life as an example, is that, like you said,
people younger than you, I always tell you people, when
I wake up, I try to I always tell this phrase.
I say to myself, I wake up stupid. That way
when I acknowledge myself is you know, because what happens is,
you know, you don't want to be the smartest person
in the room. And if you wake up saying, hey,
I'm stupid today, okay, so that allows me to accept information,
(07:32):
so I can be a lot more, you know, toned
down when the information comes to I'm more accepting of it.
Because when you become successful, you tend to people tend
to not want to give you information because they think
you know it already. And so your success can also
damage you from getting the right people in your life
as potential mentors who can take you to the next level.
(07:53):
And I think that you, as a successful person, do
you not feel that people think you know it all
that you're successful?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Jane one hundred percent. I wish you could see me
nodding right now. I almost broke my neck in agreeance.
But I think it's also our responsibility to share that
we don't know everything. I am the first person to
go out and ask anyone that is exceptional something that
(08:20):
i'm speaking to gain knowledge in and say, hi, I
don't know a thing about this skill. So, for example,
I make videos for my Instagram and LinkedIn if you
follow me on either account on mentorship and career development,
and I'm really enjoying it, but I'm very intimidated at
first because that is not my natural wiring. I am
(08:41):
such an introvert. My favorite part of the week is
Friday at five PM and pajamas watching the Great British
Fake Show. So to learn how to make these videos
and to put myself out there, it required some peer
mentorship where I thought out advice and guidance from friends
and colleagues and friends of friends who are so exceptional
(09:03):
and are almost fearless in the way that they present
themselves and just learned I mean pages and pages of
pages of notes of how they do it, their thought process, everything,
and now I'm very comfortable with it. But if I
didn't take the time to say, this is not me,
but I'm really learning, and how do I make this
something that feels like me and is naturally aligned to
(09:27):
my own personality, but using the strengths and skills of
these peer mentors to really make it shine. I wouldn't
be doing that, and you and I may not be
connecting today. So I think there's a lot of value
in having this humility to say that you don't know everything,
still being confident, but also asking for help when needed
(09:47):
and being open to feedback from others to help you excel.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Well.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Grey, we're talking about mentorship. We're talking about mentors. We
talk about mentoring, mentoring, we're talking about mentees. Jenners, what
are you based it?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I'm based in Austin, Texas, but originally from Washington, DC.
I see that there's a lot of gatekeeping in the
way in which people build their networks, and it really
shouldn't be that way. Creating a fulfilling career is something
that if you follow a strategic process and you know
exactly what steps to take, anyone can do it. And
(10:20):
there is an art and science of setting your stuff
for success through mentorship.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
And that's such a popular term that's being thrown out there.
And they are gay people. There's people that you know,
you come in there and they mentor you based on.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
How they feel you should be.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Always follow your dreams. I always talk about that if
somebody starts shifting your value, start shifting your dream they're
not mentoring you anymore. They're guiding you on a path
that they feel comfortable, or they have time to deliver
the information that they want to give you. That's really
important in this whole mentoring process. The mentoring process breaks
down to this one thing. You're there to meet someone
(10:56):
who can assist you and guide you to a share
process of reaching your dreams. And if you feel uncomfortable
that that's not happened, to get out of that. And
it's important that we hear that. And I brought Jennis
on the show so we can discuss that. And we're
going to go to break and we come back. I
want to hear about the seven types of mentors you
(11:16):
need in your life. Because I am Jennis. I got
some goals I gotta say, and guess what, I need
some mentors to get there.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Okay, please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with
more Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money
Making Conversations Master Class. Hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Now, before we went to break, Jennis, we were talking
about this seven type of mentors you need in your life.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Can you expound on that?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yes, So there are seven types of mentors that I
recommend you have over the span of your career. We're
not going to hungry hungry at both list. I recommend
no more than three at time, but across your career
I recommend the following. So the first one is the
company insider. This person knows where all of the bodies
are buried, they know the ins and outs of the company,
(12:11):
they have tenure there, they know company politics, they've had
a history of experiencing either layoffs, promotions. If you have
a question about how the company has been built and
how the culture has been established, that's the person you
want to go to. And those are the types of
questions to ask them. This skill master mentor could be
inside your company, could not be. But if you want
(12:33):
to get very if you want to be gain experience
and a very specific skill, maybe it's creative writing or
public speaking, find somebody that's exceptional at that and have
them help you or find that acumen. Third is the
money minded mentor finances are very important, and it's important
nowadays to not just be reliant upon your employer for
(12:56):
your entire wealth management process. So you have your for
a one K, you have your savings, but get a friend,
get a mentor that can help you understand a holistic
view of your financial landscape to help you reach your
financial goals.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Value.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
You're less dependent on your employer, and it reduces your
likelihood of having a scarcity mindset. Very important. The first
one is the industry mentor whatever industry you're in. It
could be, you know, the creative field, it could be entrepreneurship.
Find somebody that is exceptional in your industry and gain
(13:29):
an understanding of how they've been able to build their
positive reputation, Understand what skills and resources they're leveraging to
upskill and remain an industry expert in that field, potential
job opportunities, and how they've been able to form their
portfolio of work to make them somebody that you look
up to within that industry. The fifth is the network mentor.
(13:53):
I feel like this is probably you. Like this person
is the social butterfly, knows everybody, knows their dogs names,
knows everything about everyone. This person will help you expand
your network and also teach you how to be yourself
while building a community that positively resonates with that because
you never know what you'll end up and again, you
(14:14):
don't want to be reliant on just one single employer.
You want to make sure that you have options whenever
you need them. Sixth is the influential Ally, this person
will put their name and their reputation behind you, and
whatever they say goes and holds a lot of weight.
So if you're inside an organization that this is the
(14:35):
person who's referral and recommendation sets you at the top
of the list for a promotion process and interview doesn't
mean that you'll necessarily get it, but you'll break through
the crowd of people that are also seeking that promotion
and at least get through the screening process. Externally, this
could be an investor. This could be something that you
(14:55):
meet over social media that promotes your clothing line or something,
and this individual helps set you up for success because
they've put their name behind you when other people trust them,
believe them, and they have a positive reputation. And the
last one is a peer mentor. As I was mentioning before,
a peer mentor is somebody that maybe is one to
(15:16):
two years of experience ahead of you. You feel very comfortable.
It's almost a friend relationship where you can really let
your walls down and just say, hey, I'm if this
is inside your organization, saying I am a manager, I
see that you're a senior manager in the same department.
What did you do like? What was that experience like
(15:36):
being promoted to that? What should I do here as
a manager so that in three years I can become
a senior manager too? Who should I know? What should
I do? If this is outside of the organization, this
person might be a senior manager outside in a different company,
but still be able to give you the applicable knowledge
based valley. You understand the road ahead of you, and
(15:58):
you can tailor your goals and your strategy based on
their lived experiences and may get work for you.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Right, you know, thank you James for that update. Peer management,
per mentor per mentor. I think it is really important.
All seven on are very important, but I want to
talk about that. I want to zero on in for
a minute because of the fact that when you become successful,
part of success is leadership and as you're dealing with leadership.
One word is not to show signs of weakness, you know.
(16:25):
In other words, if you're in the war, you don't
want you the guy who's telling you to go fight
and go over that hill start crying. That's a weakness
and you won't go. Is he crying and I'm going
over that hill. I'm not going over that hill.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Be crying.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
And so so my whole thing is that you got
to have people that you can be honest when she
said that, you got to have people that allow you
to be you in if you have a fear, yeah,
because if you have something that bothers you, you have
to have someplace where the turret. I'll tell you this,
Jane's in my life. I have been in hornered emotionally
(17:01):
a lot of times because I didn't know who to
talk to. I didn't know where to go, I didn't know.
You know, water calms me. So I go around water
a lot. You know, it calms me down to lis
my brain to settle. Because when you lead and you're
doing unique things in life, you can't always tell people
you don't know. You can't always tell people you're afraid,
you can't always tell people that I don't think that's
(17:22):
a good idea.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
When you pitch the good idea and.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
They all want to do that good idea, but you
might have after settling down and realize that's not the
path of the success. And so I just pulled that
one out because that's so relatable because a lot of people,
as they get become successful, all they're trying to gain
a love of success don't realize that it's all right
to be all right, it's.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
All right to be emotional, it's alright to say I.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Don't like that.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
That's really what you wanted to add that, because all
seven of the are topics that you put out there
were outstanding, but that's the one that I wanted to
really drooling on because that's the one that tends to
hold people.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Back in their decision making and their career. Pad your thoughts, I've.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Seen it both ways. I've seen where well, first off,
if you're calling someone a peer mentor and they're trying
to hold you back, they're not a mentor, they are
not your friend, trust your intuition and get out of
that relationship. Don't tell them anything else moving forward, because
they are there to steal your blessing. Yes, they are
(18:30):
not there to amplify them, So first and foremost take
that title away. They do not deserve you, and they
do not deserve that, and shame on them. So if
you actually have a proper peer mentor, they will have
enough security in themselves to want to help you, and
they'll recognize that life is a very long road and
(18:51):
it is cyclical and the world gets smaller and smaller
the further you are in your career. So while you
may be peer mentors today, you never know where they
other person's going to end up, and it's beneficial for
both of you to encourage each other, support each other,
share resources where applicable, within the proper boundaries so that
(19:11):
the rising tide lifts all boats. I mean, I've had
peer mentors and friends that I've known for a decade
now and I can't imagine life about them. Or when
I moved to Austin in twenty eighteen, some of the
people I met that really helped me understand the Austin
tech startup ecosystem have become really close friends where we're
(19:31):
no longer discussing the Austin tech ecosystem. We're discussing you know,
their children they're expanding families, bec we're discussing so much
more because life just continues to evolve. And when you
have these deep peer mentor relationships, they're really beautiful and
you can see that evolution from something tactical in just
(19:52):
one particular focus area into expanding across all areas of
your life. And like I said, you just never know
where each party will end up.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
My last question to you, and you have sixty seconds
to respond here, Janets, one size doesn't fit all when
it comes to mentorship. You know, you can't walk in
a room and go while that's the person because of
the fact that they may not be the person.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
How do you find your mentor.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Learn who you are, Embrace who you are, find people
that will see what makes you unique and cultivate that
to make you an exceptional leader. That then creates a
tidal wave of changing your community. If they're not willing
to accept who you are and hold you accountable for
your growth, they are not your mentor. And continue saying
no until you find those right people. As we wrap up,
(20:42):
was that sixty seconds?
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Well, you were good.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I'm gonna just add a little color to it because
I feel that I needed to hear someone communicate to
me and to get in on the show to talk
about misership because this is a word that.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Brand is about, branded about a lot. Janis.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Thank you for coming on the show. I really really
learned a lot and that's important and I hope my
listener were there to own this journey, to appreciate the
information did you provide it on Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
It was such an honor. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you our listening to
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
(21:31):
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Keep winning.
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald, a host the weekly Money Making
Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. If you
want to be a guest on my show, please visit
our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click the be a
Guest button. Press submit and information will come directly to me.
(00:24):
Now let's get this show started. My next guest, who
is The Mentor's Method founder and CEO, became one of
the first black women in the United States to raise
over one million dollars and seed funding for a tech startup.
So please welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. The author
of the book in Mentorship Unlocked the Science and Art
of setting yourself up for Success, Jannis Omadeki. How you doing, Jannis, I'm.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Doing both things. So excited to connect with you today
and I'm so honored. I am honored to be here,
honors to discuss mentorship. It's so important. While I had
an hr software company called The Mentor Method that I
built for six years and we had incredible customers like
Amazon and Department of Education and others, and before then
I worked in defense contracting and management consulting. Oftentimes I
(01:15):
was left at as mentorship conversations because they were always
the old boys club, And anytime I participated in a
corporate mentorship program, I was just matched to the only
underrepresented executive that also signed up for the program to
mentor someone. And I found that it wasn't just my
story that was impacted by this, but hundreds of thousands,
(01:36):
if not millions, of people experience the exact same thing.
And when you're working at a company and mentorship is
supposed to say I see you in this individual because
of your leadership traits, and instead of saying I don't
see you at all, I just see you as a checkbox,
and I see your external factors such as age, race,
and gender. It hurts and it can be moralizing. And
(02:01):
so I took those feelings and built my first company,
the Mentor Method, that matched people to mentors based on
industry skills, values, and their personality, and ninety percent of
the matches were in communication. Three years later, we saw
great success with it, and I've just been obsessed with
how people connect and engage and the way that's meaningful
(02:23):
and the way that built this joyful, passionate career that's
fulfilling for everyone because it's a right. We deserve to
feel good about the work that we do every day.
We deserve to feel good about the community that we're
building around us, and mentorship is one of the best
tools to make that happens.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
What is a mentor.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
A mentor is somebody that helps you become the best
possible version of yourself. It could be something in your career,
which is typically where we hear mentorship, and that's helping
you either refine a skill, get a promotion, enter into
a new company, get a new job. And this person
is exceptional at an area that you seek to develop in.
(03:08):
So if you're an engineer and you want to learn
a very specific skill, you would find a mentor that
can help you become great at that. In your personal life,
this might be somebody that helps you learn more about
financial wellbeing, or somebody that helps you get out of
a tough life situation where you can see yourself becoming
(03:29):
a different version of yourself thanks to their leadership. A
mentorship does not have to be older than you. I
have mentors that are several years younger. They don't have
to be in the same location. You can meet them virtually,
you can meet them in person. But it's really boiled
down to having the same value system and being eager
(03:51):
to learn from each other.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
That's really important because of the fact that I always
tell people, you know, if you want to be a doctor,
you don't go to a mechanic for advice or mentorship.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
You have to be aligned with that.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
You know, you have to be aligned with that thought
process because a lot of people get bad advice because
they're talking to the wrong person. Or their dreams can
be stymy because the person who's telling you that's not
your dream doesn't even understand what you're talking about. And
you know, sometimes I remember early on in my career, Dennis,
I was writing on television, you know, sitcoms like Sister Sister,
(04:24):
Jamie Fox Show and The Monique Show, which was The
Parker's and people will ask me, Individuals said, so, Chean,
what do you do? And I can never explain to them. Okay,
I go to work at ten, not just in the room,
just start pitching jokes and we write script and at
the end of the day, maybe ten hours later, we
have an episode. Now if I'm telling that to somebody
(04:46):
who's not a writer. They're looking to me like that's it,
and they pay you money for that, so they become sarcastic.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So you have to be able to get.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
A mentor align yourself with somebody who understands that path
correct one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
And you also want to make sure that there is
a strong values alignment and that that mentor will not
try to change you or fix you, because that's actually
not mentorship. They should be willing to see who you are,
what makes you unique, give you the tools to augment.
Obviously nobody's perfect. Help you refine your documen, your strengths,
(05:23):
things that you want to develop in. But it's not
meant to If you're a circle, they're not going to
try to make you a square or a triangle. They
will see that you're a circle and make you the
best possible circle there ever was.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
You know, it's really interesting, and again, thank you Janis
for coming on the show. Because a lot of people
are listening to the show and they've heard the word mentor,
or they want to seek somebody to be their mentor,
or they want to be a mentee. They're just trying
to because in my role. Like you know, you can
google me and people have always approached me about mentoring them.
(05:56):
Now that's key right there, because you know you can
approach me, that mean I'm going to mentor you. Because
like you said earlier, it's about alignment. It's about getting
somebody who one has the time and understands what your
expectations out of their relationship. Because mentorship or mentoring has
to be a partnership.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
When you say that, absolutely it goes both ways. I
have had relationships where I was being mentored by somebody
and now seven years later, I'm mentoring them in a
completely new realm of our careers and it just ebbs
and flows and it's a really beautiful process when you
(06:36):
can take your walls down and be vulnerable and just
learn from each other. But that doesn't happen unless you
have that alignment and you feel emotionally and psychologically safe
around each other, right.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
You know, Because again, as a female and I'm a male,
there are different roles we all play. Not saying that
a female can't have a male mentor and a male
can't have a female male. We need to make sure
we understand these values of trying to get information, trying
to get motivation, trying to get the next step.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
And I think that when.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I look at my life and I want to use
my life as an example, is that, like you said,
people younger than you, I always tell you people, when
I wake up, I try to I always tell this phrase.
I say to myself, I wake up stupid. That way
when I acknowledge myself is you know, because what happens is,
you know, you don't want to be the smartest person
in the room. And if you wake up saying, hey,
I'm stupid today, okay, so that allows me to accept information,
(07:32):
so I can be a lot more, you know, toned
down when the information comes to I'm more accepting of it.
Because when you become successful, you tend to people tend
to not want to give you information because they think
you know it already. And so your success can also
damage you from getting the right people in your life
as potential mentors who can take you to the next level.
(07:53):
And I think that you, as a successful person, do
you not feel that people think you know it all
that you're successful?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Jane one hundred percent. I wish you could see me
nodding right now. I almost broke my neck in agreeance.
But I think it's also our responsibility to share that
we don't know everything. I am the first person to
go out and ask anyone that is exceptional something that
(08:20):
i'm speaking to gain knowledge in and say, hi, I
don't know a thing about this skill. So, for example,
I make videos for my Instagram and LinkedIn if you
follow me on either account on mentorship and career development,
and I'm really enjoying it, but I'm very intimidated at
first because that is not my natural wiring. I am
(08:41):
such an introvert. My favorite part of the week is
Friday at five PM and pajamas watching the Great British
Fake Show. So to learn how to make these videos
and to put myself out there, it required some peer
mentorship where I thought out advice and guidance from friends
and colleagues and friends of friends who are so exceptional
(09:03):
and are almost fearless in the way that they present
themselves and just learned I mean pages and pages of
pages of notes of how they do it, their thought process, everything,
and now I'm very comfortable with it. But if I
didn't take the time to say, this is not me,
but I'm really learning, and how do I make this
something that feels like me and is naturally aligned to
(09:27):
my own personality, but using the strengths and skills of
these peer mentors to really make it shine. I wouldn't
be doing that, and you and I may not be
connecting today. So I think there's a lot of value
in having this humility to say that you don't know everything,
still being confident, but also asking for help when needed
(09:47):
and being open to feedback from others to help you excel.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Well.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Grey, we're talking about mentorship. We're talking about mentors. We
talk about mentoring, mentoring, we're talking about mentees. Jenners, what
are you based it?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I'm based in Austin, Texas, but originally from Washington, DC.
I see that there's a lot of gatekeeping in the
way in which people build their networks, and it really
shouldn't be that way. Creating a fulfilling career is something
that if you follow a strategic process and you know
exactly what steps to take, anyone can do it. And
(10:20):
there is an art and science of setting your stuff
for success through mentorship.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
And that's such a popular term that's being thrown out there.
And they are gay people. There's people that you know,
you come in there and they mentor you based on.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
How they feel you should be.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Always follow your dreams. I always talk about that if
somebody starts shifting your value, start shifting your dream they're
not mentoring you anymore. They're guiding you on a path
that they feel comfortable, or they have time to deliver
the information that they want to give you. That's really
important in this whole mentoring process. The mentoring process breaks
down to this one thing. You're there to meet someone
(10:56):
who can assist you and guide you to a share
process of reaching your dreams. And if you feel uncomfortable
that that's not happened, to get out of that. And
it's important that we hear that. And I brought Jennis
on the show so we can discuss that. And we're
going to go to break and we come back. I
want to hear about the seven types of mentors you
(11:16):
need in your life. Because I am Jennis. I got
some goals I gotta say, and guess what, I need
some mentors to get there.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Okay, please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with
more Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money
Making Conversations Master Class. Hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Now, before we went to break, Jennis, we were talking
about this seven type of mentors you need in your life.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Can you expound on that?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yes, So there are seven types of mentors that I
recommend you have over the span of your career. We're
not going to hungry hungry at both list. I recommend
no more than three at time, but across your career
I recommend the following. So the first one is the
company insider. This person knows where all of the bodies
are buried, they know the ins and outs of the company,
(12:11):
they have tenure there, they know company politics, they've had
a history of experiencing either layoffs, promotions. If you have
a question about how the company has been built and
how the culture has been established, that's the person you
want to go to. And those are the types of
questions to ask them. This skill master mentor could be
inside your company, could not be. But if you want
(12:33):
to get very if you want to be gain experience
and a very specific skill, maybe it's creative writing or
public speaking, find somebody that's exceptional at that and have
them help you or find that acumen. Third is the
money minded mentor finances are very important, and it's important
nowadays to not just be reliant upon your employer for
(12:56):
your entire wealth management process. So you have your for
a one K, you have your savings, but get a friend,
get a mentor that can help you understand a holistic
view of your financial landscape to help you reach your
financial goals.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Value.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
You're less dependent on your employer, and it reduces your
likelihood of having a scarcity mindset. Very important. The first
one is the industry mentor whatever industry you're in. It
could be, you know, the creative field, it could be entrepreneurship.
Find somebody that is exceptional in your industry and gain
(13:29):
an understanding of how they've been able to build their
positive reputation, Understand what skills and resources they're leveraging to
upskill and remain an industry expert in that field, potential
job opportunities, and how they've been able to form their
portfolio of work to make them somebody that you look
up to within that industry. The fifth is the network mentor.
(13:53):
I feel like this is probably you. Like this person
is the social butterfly, knows everybody, knows their dogs names,
knows everything about everyone. This person will help you expand
your network and also teach you how to be yourself
while building a community that positively resonates with that because
you never know what you'll end up and again, you
(14:14):
don't want to be reliant on just one single employer.
You want to make sure that you have options whenever
you need them. Sixth is the influential Ally, this person
will put their name and their reputation behind you, and
whatever they say goes and holds a lot of weight.
So if you're inside an organization that this is the
(14:35):
person who's referral and recommendation sets you at the top
of the list for a promotion process and interview doesn't
mean that you'll necessarily get it, but you'll break through
the crowd of people that are also seeking that promotion
and at least get through the screening process. Externally, this
could be an investor. This could be something that you
(14:55):
meet over social media that promotes your clothing line or something,
and this individual helps set you up for success because
they've put their name behind you when other people trust them,
believe them, and they have a positive reputation. And the
last one is a peer mentor. As I was mentioning before,
a peer mentor is somebody that maybe is one to
(15:16):
two years of experience ahead of you. You feel very comfortable.
It's almost a friend relationship where you can really let
your walls down and just say, hey, I'm if this
is inside your organization, saying I am a manager, I
see that you're a senior manager in the same department.
What did you do like? What was that experience like
(15:36):
being promoted to that? What should I do here as
a manager so that in three years I can become
a senior manager too? Who should I know? What should
I do? If this is outside of the organization, this
person might be a senior manager outside in a different company,
but still be able to give you the applicable knowledge
based valley. You understand the road ahead of you, and
(15:58):
you can tailor your goals and your strategy based on
their lived experiences and may get work for you.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Right, you know, thank you James for that update. Peer management,
per mentor per mentor. I think it is really important.
All seven on are very important, but I want to
talk about that. I want to zero on in for
a minute because of the fact that when you become successful,
part of success is leadership and as you're dealing with leadership.
One word is not to show signs of weakness, you know.
(16:25):
In other words, if you're in the war, you don't
want you the guy who's telling you to go fight
and go over that hill start crying. That's a weakness
and you won't go. Is he crying and I'm going
over that hill. I'm not going over that hill.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Be crying.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
And so so my whole thing is that you got
to have people that you can be honest when she
said that, you got to have people that allow you
to be you in if you have a fear, yeah,
because if you have something that bothers you, you have
to have someplace where the turret. I'll tell you this,
Jane's in my life. I have been in hornered emotionally
(17:01):
a lot of times because I didn't know who to
talk to. I didn't know where to go, I didn't know.
You know, water calms me. So I go around water
a lot. You know, it calms me down to lis
my brain to settle. Because when you lead and you're
doing unique things in life, you can't always tell people
you don't know. You can't always tell people you're afraid,
you can't always tell people that I don't think that's
(17:22):
a good idea.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
When you pitch the good idea and.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
They all want to do that good idea, but you
might have after settling down and realize that's not the
path of the success. And so I just pulled that
one out because that's so relatable because a lot of people,
as they get become successful, all they're trying to gain
a love of success don't realize that it's all right
to be all right, it's.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
All right to be emotional, it's alright to say I.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Don't like that.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
That's really what you wanted to add that, because all
seven of the are topics that you put out there
were outstanding, but that's the one that I wanted to
really drooling on because that's the one that tends to
hold people.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Back in their decision making and their career. Pad your thoughts, I've.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Seen it both ways. I've seen where well, first off,
if you're calling someone a peer mentor and they're trying
to hold you back, they're not a mentor, they are
not your friend, trust your intuition and get out of
that relationship. Don't tell them anything else moving forward, because
they are there to steal your blessing. Yes, they are
(18:30):
not there to amplify them, So first and foremost take
that title away. They do not deserve you, and they
do not deserve that, and shame on them. So if
you actually have a proper peer mentor, they will have
enough security in themselves to want to help you, and
they'll recognize that life is a very long road and
(18:51):
it is cyclical and the world gets smaller and smaller
the further you are in your career. So while you
may be peer mentors today, you never know where they
other person's going to end up, and it's beneficial for
both of you to encourage each other, support each other,
share resources where applicable, within the proper boundaries so that
(19:11):
the rising tide lifts all boats. I mean, I've had
peer mentors and friends that I've known for a decade
now and I can't imagine life about them. Or when
I moved to Austin in twenty eighteen, some of the
people I met that really helped me understand the Austin
tech startup ecosystem have become really close friends where we're
(19:31):
no longer discussing the Austin tech ecosystem. We're discussing you know,
their children they're expanding families, bec we're discussing so much
more because life just continues to evolve. And when you
have these deep peer mentor relationships, they're really beautiful and
you can see that evolution from something tactical in just
(19:52):
one particular focus area into expanding across all areas of
your life. And like I said, you just never know
where each party will end up.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
My last question to you, and you have sixty seconds
to respond here, Janets, one size doesn't fit all when
it comes to mentorship. You know, you can't walk in
a room and go while that's the person because of
the fact that they may not be the person.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
How do you find your mentor.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Learn who you are, Embrace who you are, find people
that will see what makes you unique and cultivate that
to make you an exceptional leader. That then creates a
tidal wave of changing your community. If they're not willing
to accept who you are and hold you accountable for
your growth, they are not your mentor. And continue saying
no until you find those right people. As we wrap up,
(20:42):
was that sixty seconds?
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Well, you were good.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I'm gonna just add a little color to it because
I feel that I needed to hear someone communicate to
me and to get in on the show to talk
about misership because this is a word that.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Brand is about, branded about a lot. Janis.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Thank you for coming on the show. I really really
learned a lot and that's important and I hope my
listener were there to own this journey, to appreciate the
information did you provide it on Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
It was such an honor. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you our listening to
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
(21:31):
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Keep winning.
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