Research shows the positive impact from having a mentor in a young person’s life, yet 1 in 3 young people are growing up without a mentor today. That translates to 9 million youth at-risk for falling off track growing up without an answer to the question: “In real life, who can I turn to?”
A group of industry experts from Direct Operations, Merchandising, HR, and Information Technology team from Target’s Asian Business Council joined Asian Media Access to provide a 16-weeks eMentoring to support Asian Media Youth, with a focus on:
A. Career Coaching. A coach is a guide, a helper, a supporter, an encourager and a partner. Coaching is about being an ally helping your mentees explore new ideas, realize their dreams, plan goals, and make decisions.
Photo Courtesy: AMA Stock Photo with Mentor Amy Okaya
Part of Mentor’s role might include some career exploration. Mentors will encourage and support mentees as they:
b. Explore career and educational possibilities
c. Set challenging but achievable goals
B. Academic Learning. Assisting the mentees for their academic courses
Each week, mentors build natural relationships with mentees through simple interactions. We all want the mentees to move forward with something to hold onto, be it a lesson, moral, goal setting or something more tangible.
Below are many takeaways from our mentees with much pleasant memories:
“Over the past four months joining the mentorship program offered by Asian Media Access, it opened my eyes to the Information Technology sector in a way that has shaped my perspectives not only on the IT coding world, but how IT works in the “real” world in general.”
“Brennan welcomed me with enthusiasm and tons of useful resources. We created a goal setting at the very beginning, and set monthly goals and actions to achieve the goals. Every time after our meet up, I felt myself improve day by day. I see the impacts this program had on me.”
“Participating in the mentorship program like mine, there is no doubt I had many takeaways. Here are a few pointers based on my experience for future mentees:
- Take advantage of the resources. Talk to different mentors, ask questions, and build the network connection with mentors from different organizations
- Be accountable. Take notes during the meeting, prepare the questions you want to ask beforehand, and reach out to the mentors if you need clarification
- Be responsible. Take the initiative of the meetings with the mentors, and be responsive to communications with the mentors.”
For More program information – xianping.he@amamedia.org.
