Mentorship

Today I wanted to share one of the things I’m most proud of accomplishing in 2018.

This fall, I attended Fashion Week as I do almost every year, but this time I did so a little differently. Instead of focusing on myself, getting photographed or juggling a crazy amount of collabs the way I normally do, I focused on someone else. I chose 3 mentees from a BK-based Black Girl Magic high school program and brought them with me to fashion week! And today I’m sharing my experience with you guys!

Once I had the idea, I immediately pitched it to my partners at Uber (read why here) and we got the opportunity to document the whole process in a video series for you!

Check them out:

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

DAY THREE

If you haven’t yet, check on my article introducing this program here.

So today I wanted to share some of the takeaways from the project!

I started each day hopping in Uber and picking up the girls from their perspective homes in Brooklyn or Queens. I used Uber’s scheduled rides feature to schedule our rides for the day, mapping them out all either the night before or the morning of, as you just need to make sure you schedule at least 60 minutes in advance. (Pro tip: you can schedule up to 30 days in advance!) Anyways this trip planning made it so I didn’t have to worry about requesting rides throughout the day, and could focus all my energy on the girls — and I’m so glad I did because I learned SO MUCH.

Each girl brought a different perspective, energy and hope to our day. They all have diverse interests and goals that I wanted to tap into in unique ways. Additionally, the days were tailored to their individual aspirations and set up specifically for each girl.

Although our days were really meant to be career focused, almost all of them took a different turn. We talked about things like representation, confidence and how others see us as women of color. It got more emotional (at least for me) than I ever thought it would and I hope they got a lot out of our time together.

As black women there are so many barriers that are initially thrust upon us when entering the work place. Our skin color, our culture and our gender can all be considered “negatives” to those who choose to see us as less than, and it happens more than you would think. But a greater barrier can be the one we put on ourselves – the preconceived notions associated with knowing that you are more likely to be discriminated against in your work world, than accepted because of what you look like or where you come from – and being petrified by that fear to move forward can be more damaging than anything else. I didn’t realize that fear existed until I met these girls. In hindsight, I guess I was pretty privileged because I never grew up with that fear, but its something thats very real for them. The plus side? They’ve turned this awareness into their super power. Where I was kind of naive to what I night face, they’ve prepared for it and are ready to face it head on.

This reality, even now, can be daunting, but all I know is there is one sure fire way to face it – by coming together. So if you’ve taken anything from this post, I hope it’s pay it forward. If you’ve overcome some discrimination to get where you are, help mentor someone who hopes to fill your shoes. If you’re looking to overcome in the future, offer your services to someone you aspire to resemble someday. Either way, our only real shot at change as African Americans, women, or both is to band together and support each other. When we lift each other up, we all win.

Thanks again to Uber for sponsoring this series and always empowering me to tell such compelling and important stories – I’m really thankful to have such a great relationship with a company who is driving change both within their organization and through their partnerships they trust. Using their scheduled ride feature was really key in giving me more time to mentor these girls and took a ton of stress off of me as an organizer. I’ve also used it in my personal life quite a bit to schedule rides for early airport trips and for when I’m running between meetings. t’s a huge time saver and helps make me work smarter – which I love! I hope you’ll give it a whirl.

Also if you have any recommendations for girls who I should mentor in the future, or other ways I could get involved and continue to spread this message of empowerment – don’t hesitate to reach out. I cant wait to hear from you.