MENTORSHIP
Buffalo, NY
We advance women's leadership and gender equity through employer education, individual mentorship, and elevating female entrepreneurs
We advance women's leadership and gender equity through employer education, individual mentorship, and elevating female entrepreneurs
Through its ALL IN initiative, the WNY Women's Foundation offers the Aspiring Leader Pathway, which gives individuals the tools to take on leadership roles in their communities. The WNY Women's Foundation is proud to partner with Women Who Lead - a team of local female leaders committed to sharing their skills, knowledge, wisdom, and connections with young women - on this initiative.
Women Who Lead matches Aspiring Leader Pathway applicants with a mentor whose experience is relevant to the aspiring leader's goals. Once they're paired, the mentor and mentee coordinate their own mentorship schedule.
Mentors provide support as aspiring leaders:
"It doesn't matter where you are in your career, everybody needs a mentor. I look at it as someone I can build a companionship and a relationship with who can help coach and guide me. I feel like everyone needs that person."
Women with mentors experience increased connection, broader perspective, and more engagement at work, plus women with mentors are more likely to advance in their careers. Mentorship can also help the bottom line: recent studies have reported how a more gender-diversified C-suite positively impacts profitability.
Yet roughly half of all women have no access to a mentor.
As such, the WNY Women's Foundation's ALL IN WNY initiative recognizes the importance of facilitating opportunities for mentorship as part of its Aspiring Leader Pathway. ALL IN is proud to partner with Women Who Lead to bring together women and encourage female mentorships throughout the region.
Founded in 2017 by Ellen Grant, executive director for corporate social responsibility and community education for Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Women Who Lead established a partnership with the WNY Women's Foundation in 2020.