How To Approach Mentorship, Fundraising and Knowing Your Value With ColorComm CEO

Forbes

Founder and CEO of ColorComm Corporation Lauren Wesley sat down with Forbes Reporter Rosemarie Miller for this episode of New Money to talk about her new book 'What Do You Need', helping women of color navigate the their careers, and her own journey to entrepreneurship.   0:00 Introduction 0:33 What Inspired Lauren's Book: What Do You Need 2:41 Know Your Worth And Apply For That Job 5:06 Lauren Breaks Down How To Analyze Your Needs/Wants For A Better Career 5:59 The Creation of ColorComm  9:06 How Lauren Wesley-Wilson Handles Her Current Role And Business Endeavors 14:22 Lauren Shares How She Hustled Her Way To Success With An Unlikely Audience 19:34 Lauren Wesley-Wilson On Overcoming Struggles In Business  20:31 How Did Lauren Learn To Manage Her Money? 23:37 Lauren Wesley-Wilson Shares Vital Advice On Mentors/Mentorship  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 I mean, what you want can expand the gamut,

00:02 but what are some of your basic needs

00:05 for you to be able to enjoy the work that you do,

00:08 for you to be able to be satisfied and fulfilled,

00:11 and for you to be in a position

00:12 where you're really, truly growing?

00:14 (upbeat music)

00:17 - Hi everyone, and welcome to New Money,

00:20 where we talk to movers and shakers about how they made it.

00:23 I'm your host, Rosemary Miller,

00:24 here with the CEO and founder of ColorCom,

00:27 Lauren Wesley Wilson.

00:29 Thank you so much for joining me today, Lauren.

00:31 - Thank you for having me.

00:33 - Yes, and Lauren, you just wrote a book.

00:36 What do you need?

00:37 What inspired you to write a book right now?

00:39 - Oh my goodness, I mean, well, I didn't write it.

00:42 You're right, I did just write a book.

00:44 This process has been going on since 2021,

00:48 so I'm so excited for it to be live

00:50 and launching in April, 2024.

00:52 But I decided to write this book.

00:54 I'm really writing this for women of color,

00:57 but as I read through it, as I look at the material,

01:00 it's really for all women.

01:01 It's really for all women to understand difference

01:05 and our place in the workplace and how we can advance,

01:09 because we're in a new era, we're in a new climate

01:13 in how we approach the world

01:16 from a business perspective post-COVID.

01:19 And some of the rules have changed.

01:20 Some of them have remained the same,

01:22 but we as employees have certainly changed

01:25 in how we have expectations for our companies

01:28 that we work for and the goals and our needs.

01:31 And so this book is really talking to women of color

01:35 and women how to understand the professional game

01:38 that's being played around you

01:41 and how to approach your work in a new way

01:45 and how to approach your career from a new direction.

01:48 - You know, in the book, you mentioned imposter syndrome,

01:51 and we've heard a lot about that.

01:53 I'm curious, what are your biggest pieces of advice

01:56 for someone who's battling imposter syndrome

01:58 in the workplace?

01:59 - I think the best way to battle imposter syndrome

02:02 is to really be prepared.

02:05 We oftentimes doubt ourselves for what?

02:08 Why are we doubting ourselves?

02:10 I think if we remove the doubt and we go to the facts,

02:15 we wouldn't necessarily be in the roles that we're in

02:17 if we weren't prepared.

02:19 So thinking through the process in which got us there,

02:22 but really thinking through the material

02:24 and having more confidence,

02:27 and having more confidence in our work

02:29 and our ability to achieve things

02:31 that we may not have been.

02:32 Maybe these things are stretch goals for us

02:34 or far-reaching items,

02:35 but being able to have the confidence to say,

02:38 "Look, I can do it," I think it starts there.

02:40 - Yeah, you know, and I get that,

02:42 because as women, especially women of color,

02:45 we'll look for a job, right?

02:47 And so we're looking for the qualifications

02:49 and maybe we don't meet two or three of them,

02:51 and we just won't apply.

02:53 Whereas a man, maybe he only meets one

02:56 and he's applying, just like that.

02:59 - Well, we see that so often,

03:00 and that's a really good point.

03:01 I think with women of color in the workplace,

03:04 there's so much pressure on us.

03:06 And what we wanna do is we wanna be able to perform.

03:09 We wanna be able to deliver,

03:11 and we need the confidence to be able to do that.

03:13 And so I think sometimes we're held back by ourselves

03:16 by saying, "You know, we don't have nine

03:19 "out of the 10 criteria, let me not apply,"

03:22 because there's a microscope on us, right?

03:24 I mean, there's a microscope on us,

03:26 because when we're in the working world,

03:28 we're the ones that stand out.

03:29 There's only oftentimes a handful of people of color

03:34 in the room, in the work environment,

03:36 and we're more noticeable than ever.

03:38 And so I think our issue is really wanting to deliver,

03:41 and I think we have the capabilities to do so.

03:43 - But okay, let's go back to the title of the book,

03:46 "What Do You Need?"

03:48 Why did you decide that this was the title?

03:50 - That's a great question.

03:53 Well, this title derived from

03:57 how I started the business of Color Comm.

04:00 And nearly 13 years ago, when this business was started,

04:03 it was started over a lunch.

04:05 It was nowhere where it is today,

04:08 but over this meal, we were gathering women of color

04:11 in the business, and we were asking them,

04:13 "What do you need?"

04:15 Because to be able to excel,

04:17 it's a mutually beneficial experience.

04:20 I have needs, you have needs.

04:22 How can we help one another?

04:24 So oftentimes we go to networking events,

04:27 or we think solely about ourselves.

04:29 How can I get a job?

04:30 How can I meet this person?

04:32 But what about servicing the needs of other people?

04:34 Because that's really what community is all about.

04:38 And so I want readers to be able to pick up this book

04:42 and define what they need to be able to advance at work,

04:47 which is very different than what you want, right?

04:51 I mean, what you want can expand the gamut.

04:54 But what are some of your basic needs

04:57 for you to be able to enjoy the work that you do,

05:00 for you to be able to be satisfied and fulfilled,

05:03 and for you to be in a position

05:04 where you're really, truly growing?

05:06 - And so you mentioned, okay, let's not be selfish here

05:09 and only think about what we need and what we want,

05:11 but also thinking about what others need

05:14 and what they want in these networking events.

05:17 How do you determine what someone else needs or wants?

05:20 - By having the conversation.

05:22 I mean, I want this book to reach a wide audience,

05:25 and I wanna have a national conversation

05:27 about what do you need?

05:29 Because if you start listening,

05:32 we ask ourselves this a lot.

05:34 We ask ourselves this at work.

05:36 We ask ourselves this at home.

05:37 We ask ourselves this to our spouses, to our kids.

05:41 What do you need?

05:42 And so thinking about your career in a new direction

05:46 as what do you need?

05:49 That question is so powerful, but it's about community.

05:52 In order to be able to know what the other person needs,

05:55 we need to be having a dialogue about it.

05:57 We need to be having a conversation about it.

05:59 - So you kinda mentioned the origin of ColorComm.

06:03 Take us back.

06:04 What was going through your mind

06:05 when you decided to create this?

06:07 - So nearly 15 years ago,

06:11 my career started in Washington, D.C.,

06:13 and I was working in the media relations,

06:15 corporate communications space, and crisis communications.

06:19 I had a myriad of jobs in that space.

06:21 I worked for President Obama on his re-election campaign.

06:25 I worked on Capitol Hill

06:26 as a Texas Congresswoman's communications director.

06:29 And I had some really amazing early experiences,

06:33 some big experiences in my,

06:35 you was just starting out in my 20s.

06:38 And what I noticed through those experiences

06:40 is that I didn't see people of color doing this work,

06:43 and I felt very isolated, felt very alone.

06:45 And some of the challenges were finding mentors, sponsors,

06:49 people to advocate for you,

06:51 and learning some of those tools and resources

06:54 that are needed as you navigate the professional landscape.

06:57 And so started this launch nearly 13 years ago,

07:01 and we gathered over a meal

07:03 and brought women together in this industry

07:07 and asked them the question of, "What do you need?"

07:10 And it was the idea of somebody there has something to give

07:14 and something to receive,

07:15 and so that conversations and connection

07:18 can truly be mutually beneficial.

07:20 And so what started back then was truly just a launch.

07:24 It has since evolved into a corporation

07:26 where we are a client-service-based business,

07:29 where we consult with clients

07:30 and do media relations and strategy.

07:33 We have our core business,

07:34 which is our membership organization,

07:36 where we help women of color advance to executive positions.

07:40 We have our conference series.

07:41 So we do a number of things under the brand,

07:44 but how we really got started was just a small lunch

07:47 of 30 women in Washington, D.C.,

07:50 gathering with the essence of community at its core.

07:54 - Well, Lauren, how did you get 30-plus women together

07:58 for a lunch?

07:59 - Oh, well, back then, no one knew who I was.

08:01 - Right, right.

08:02 - So to get 30-plus women together

08:04 really involved a mix of a grassroots effort,

08:09 is identifying some of these women.

08:11 LinkedIn was such a great resource and tool,

08:13 and it still is to this day,

08:15 but being able to identify who they are,

08:17 scheduling calls, and sooner or later,

08:20 it became word of mouth.

08:21 Friends would tell their friends,

08:22 and then these luncheons really became sold out.

08:24 And we figured out there was a demand here.

08:27 There was a need to connect beyond just lunch.

08:30 The women there said,

08:32 "These are women we've never met before.

08:33 "We're doing business together.

08:35 "We are in each other's weddings.

08:37 "We are connecting on calls every Friday.

08:39 "How do we turn this already built-in community

08:42 "into much more?

08:44 "How do we become a membership organization,

08:46 "structure this with a board,

08:48 "and do monthly programming in D.C., in New York,

08:51 "in L.A., in San Francisco, in Atlanta, in Chicago?"

08:55 And we spread to nine of the biggest cities in the U.S.,

09:01 and we've reached out to membership communities

09:03 across the nation,

09:04 and it evolved so much more from there.

09:07 - So I imagine this was all very new for you.

09:10 You are the CEO and founder of this growing, growing company.

09:15 How are you handling it all?

09:17 What's going through your mind day by day?

09:20 When did you realize,

09:21 "All right, I can quit my full-time job

09:23 "and focus on this completely"?

09:25 - That's such a great question.

09:27 Well, I come from a family of entrepreneurs,

09:29 my mother started an advertising agency many years ago.

09:32 She was in the financial services business.

09:34 I'm from Missouri, and so she had partnered on,

09:38 and she had a business in Chicago and St. Louis,

09:41 and St. Louis is where I'm from,

09:43 and it was a large business.

09:44 My grandfather owned a funeral home in Nebraska

09:47 for 100 years that was in the family,

09:49 and so entrepreneurship was definitely in my blood,

09:53 but then I had the safety net of my father,

09:55 who had been in corporate America for 30-plus years,

09:58 who thought that was the path to go.

10:00 And so having experiences from both parents

10:04 and my grandfather really kind of taught me

10:07 the framework of how to build a business.

10:09 And so what people saw on the outside

10:13 was very different than what was happening on the inside.

10:15 And so on the outside,

10:16 these experiences looked fun, and they were,

10:19 but on the inside, there was a real structure being made.

10:22 There was a real structure in the beginning

10:23 from sourcing out your accounting to your lawyer

10:27 to, I was working on Capitol Hill at the time early on,

10:30 and I always talk about early on,

10:32 I would go to this small business session every Fridays

10:36 when we were in recess on the hill,

10:40 and it was called SCORE, a nonprofit organization

10:43 and helping small businesses

10:45 redefine their business plans.

10:46 And so every week, I was being challenged,

10:49 and I was learning how to really build a business,

10:52 and the support of my family,

10:54 who really helped guided me and mentored me

10:56 in this space meant that I wasn't doing it alone.

10:59 I had information, I had education,

11:03 and I had resources to be able to do this.

11:05 But I also started this business

11:07 with $10,000 of my own money.

11:09 So there's always this misconception

11:12 that you need to go out and fundraise

11:13 to make a business.

11:14 You need to, people throw out numbers to you.

11:16 You need $100,000, you need millions of dollars,

11:19 you need $50,000, and those numbers are sometimes incorrect

11:24 because you don't have the facts to back that up.

11:26 Starting small, financing as you go along,

11:29 and really figuring out what your revenue drivers are

11:32 to building a business is the place to start.

11:36 And so I think that's where I started.

11:39 I blocked out the noise.

11:41 I was focused, built a plan, had those around me

11:44 who had experience challenge that plan,

11:47 and really made a plan to be able to execute a structure

11:51 into a profitable business.

11:53 - Into a profitable business.

11:55 So how did you get there?

11:56 I mean, you make it sound easy.

11:58 - Oh, it's not.

11:59 - You make it sound real easy.

12:01 (laughing)

12:03 - I mean, you know, it takes dedication

12:07 and real determination and focus.

12:09 And I know that all this was going on

12:11 in my mid to late 20s, really providing the structure

12:15 for how this business was going to grow.

12:17 And that meant I sacrificed a lot.

12:19 I sacrificed a lot of my social time.

12:23 I sacrificed a lot of my free time, my after hours time.

12:28 I would wake up and, first of all, back then I had no money.

12:32 I was making no money.

12:33 And in the scheme of things now, I mean, you know.

12:36 I lived right across the street from the Marriott Hotel,

12:42 and I would go to the Marriott Hotel

12:44 before work and after work to use their internet.

12:46 I was like that strapped,

12:49 where I'm using internet from a hotel.

12:51 But I would use their internet to be able

12:53 to work on the business, you know,

12:55 to be able to work on the business.

12:58 I remember one summer we formally launched our business,

13:02 which was, we had started in 2011,

13:04 but we had launched in 2012 with this launch party.

13:07 We were transitioning our luncheons

13:09 to a membership-based community,

13:11 and that took infrastructure, and that took time.

13:14 And I was working full time, you know, 8.30 to 6.30 at work,

13:20 and I was going to the Marriott Hotel at 6 a.m.

13:23 to use their internet and do work before work

13:25 and do work after work.

13:26 So it really took time, dedication, and focus.

13:31 And all my friends, they were going to Las Vegas.

13:33 They were partying.

13:35 They were going on whitewater rafting trips.

13:37 They were having fun.

13:38 They were going outdoor camping.

13:40 They were going to Miami.

13:42 I mean, I was skipping all of that

13:45 because I had a greater focus and determination,

13:49 and I really saw what the long-term strategy could be.

13:53 You know, sacrifice now for what we are in 13 years later,

13:58 and this is the business that I wake up every morning

14:03 and get excited to do and go into our offices

14:06 and Rockefeller Center with our team and our staff

14:09 and being able to ideate and be able to plan

14:12 and be able to grow.

14:13 But, you know, none of that would have happened

14:15 if I didn't think of what that short-term sacrifice meant

14:20 for a greater, greater goal.

14:22 - So you were in your mid to late 20s

14:25 starting this business.

14:27 How did you get people to take you seriously

14:29 at such a young age?

14:31 - That was really challenging

14:32 to get people to take me seriously.

14:34 I think on the one hand, people,

14:37 the community I was reaching out to were very interested.

14:39 You know, it was something that hadn't been done before.

14:43 There are a lot of groups out there

14:44 that on paper sound similar to the work that we do,

14:48 but what the feedback we received is how experiential

14:52 this was for the women that were there,

14:56 how life-changing and how productive connecting

15:01 in the way that we structured our programming

15:03 and events were.

15:05 And it just wasn't your,

15:07 I'm gonna go to another program and hear from a speaker.

15:10 It was you were walking away with business.

15:15 You were walking away with new business leads.

15:18 You were walking away with people

15:19 who can point you in a direction

15:21 that could save you 10 years off your professional life

15:24 because that's the type of community that we're curating.

15:27 And so, what was the original question?

15:30 I'm so sorry.

15:31 - How did you get people to take you seriously?

15:32 - So how did I get people to take me seriously?

15:35 So I think on the one hand, people did take me seriously

15:38 when it came to curating and programming and events,

15:41 but on the other hand, it was challenging to fundraise

15:44 because I was in rooms with women

15:46 who were 15, 20 years older than me,

15:48 and they were thinking,

15:49 who is this young little whippersnapper?

15:52 And I often got told, your passion project is cute.

15:57 Your side hustle is darling.

16:00 We love it.

16:01 But it was challenging at times to be able to say,

16:06 this is not a passion project.

16:07 This is a business.

16:09 And this is what I'm looking for from you,

16:11 and this is how, as a partnership,

16:13 we're gonna help grow together.

16:15 And over time, it became a no-brainer,

16:19 and people got used to seeing me in the room,

16:21 and I was oftentimes the youngest person in the room,

16:23 and they got used to that,

16:25 and we were able to do some great business

16:29 with some great corporations.

16:30 - Well, Lauren, I wanna stop you there

16:32 because you're saying people are telling you,

16:34 oh, you know, cute passion project.

16:37 What did you do when you went home

16:39 and you looked at yourself in the mirror and,

16:42 okay, Lauren, keep going, keep going.

16:44 Like, how did you keep going?

16:47 How did you stand up when these people that you admire

16:50 are telling you that it's cute, but you know.

16:53 - It's cute. - Yeah.

16:55 - I mean, it hurt.

16:56 I mean, it hurt at the time.

16:57 Younger Lauren was hurt, was frustrated,

17:01 but then I paused and said, I need to redefine my pitch.

17:06 My talking points might not be together.

17:09 For you to think something is cute

17:10 when it's really a business,

17:12 and months from then, I was going to leave,

17:16 eight years ago, I was leaving my full-time job,

17:18 well, nine years ago now,

17:20 leaving my full-time job to go run ColorComm full-time.

17:24 So it's more than just a cute business,

17:26 but everyone doesn't know your plans.

17:28 Everybody doesn't know your goals,

17:30 and everybody doesn't align with your mission.

17:33 And so the way to keep moving forward

17:36 is to keep moving forward.

17:38 You have to be able to decipher between advice

17:42 that you're going to take seriously,

17:45 or that you're going to ignore,

17:47 and you have to be able to understand

17:49 where it's coming from,

17:50 because the people who might think it's cute

17:53 or give you a dig, they really don't know you,

17:55 they really don't know your goals,

17:57 and you have to take it with a grain of salt.

17:59 - Yeah.

18:00 So what was the turning point in your story

18:02 with ColorComm?

18:03 When did you realize, okay, this is something.

18:06 I created something, I made it.

18:09 - I think, when I decided to leave

18:15 my full-time position in Washington, D.C.,

18:20 working at a crisis firm called Corvus,

18:23 and we had worked on international governments

18:26 and stakeholder engagement,

18:27 and it was very serious, serious work that I was working on.

18:31 And I was making good money,

18:33 and I said this was too much.

18:37 It was too much to balance a full-time position

18:40 that required a lot of me,

18:41 and it was too much to be able to work on ColorComm,

18:45 which was feeling like full-time.

18:48 The business started to grow tremendously

18:53 through some of the initiatives that we had launched

18:56 that year, which was 2015,

18:59 and I had to make a decision, and a real hard one,

19:01 to say what was the turning point.

19:03 Am I going to stay working like this,

19:05 or am I going to take a leap of faith and leave,

19:08 and bet on myself, and I've been doing that.

19:12 And this is the longest full-time job I've ever had.

19:15 So the years of ColorComm get murky,

19:18 but the business has been around for 13 years.

19:20 Nine of those years, I've been working full-time.

19:23 Those other years, I was working for a company

19:26 and doing this on the side.

19:28 So this is the longest full-time job that I've ever had,

19:32 working for myself and working for ColorComm.

19:34 - So what are some challenges you've had to overcome

19:37 while working at ColorComm?

19:39 - I think some of the challenges,

19:40 it's a new set of challenges.

19:43 People are the biggest commodity to your business.

19:46 Hiring the right people who are mission-aligned

19:51 with your work, who are in it for the right reasons.

19:57 After all these years, we have such an amazing community,

20:01 a network, a huge database, a Rolodex that expands,

20:06 whoever you can think of.

20:07 And we want people who are there to do the work

20:10 who are mission-driven.

20:11 So hiring is certainly a challenge at times.

20:14 Knowing when to fire can be hard as well.

20:17 And continuing to think of strong revenue streams

20:22 that help grow the business.

20:27 - So speaking of money.

20:29 - Yes, let's talk money.

20:30 - Yes, your money situation has changed a lot

20:34 since you first started. - It sure has.

20:36 - How did you learn how to manage your money?

20:38 - That's something that I've also learned

20:41 from a young age too about money management.

20:44 The ambition and drive that I had started in my youth.

20:50 And so even when I can remember as early as 16 years old,

20:55 I had three jobs.

20:57 And it's not because I had to,

20:58 I was also getting an allowance from my parents.

21:00 But I was always driven for more.

21:03 And I remember that summer, my mother said,

21:06 "You made $4,000 this summer."

21:09 And back then I'm like, "Well, that's good, that's good."

21:13 And she's like, "And since you made $4,000,

21:16 "we're putting this money away into a mutual fund."

21:18 And I said, "No, I wanna spend it on CDs and clothes."

21:23 And I invested early on, as early as 16.

21:28 And I've continued to invest.

21:31 I carry no debt and really low credit card balances.

21:36 And so I think I learned about,

21:38 there's seven principles of money

21:40 that are often talked about, which is paying off debt

21:43 and making sure you're investing and carrying on good debt.

21:48 I mean, they're all out there.

21:52 But being able to follow those

21:54 and also really knowing what you're spending your money on

21:57 and having a strong accountant to be able to see cashflow,

22:00 because that's important to any business

22:02 is really paying attention to what's coming in

22:07 and coming out.

22:08 - So what have been some of the money challenges

22:10 you faced in your business?

22:13 - So some of the money challenges I would face,

22:15 I would say early on is probably fundraising.

22:19 That was certainly a challenge

22:22 and not setting our parameters high enough.

22:26 Early on, we were working too hard, not smart.

22:33 We didn't have the proper pricing structure.

22:37 And so we were giving away too much of our service,

22:41 which is why everyone loved working with us.

22:42 It's why Coca-Cola would say, "You are our favorite client."

22:46 And then we would hear another company say,

22:48 "We love working with you.

22:50 "You give us everything."

22:51 And we were giving away too much.

22:53 - How did you realize this?

22:55 - It was through mentorship.

22:56 It was through having other conversations

22:58 with people in the business,

22:59 who I will say have been very helpful to reveal

23:03 what their structure was

23:05 and telling us how we needed to set our minimums higher.

23:08 And when there was a turning point

23:11 when we started to make those changes, we got backlash.

23:15 People complained.

23:16 Our partners had to pay more to work with us.

23:19 They didn't like it at first,

23:21 but they adjusted and accommodated the bar that we set

23:26 and not setting your bar high enough

23:28 because you don't know what you don't know.

23:30 And that's the biggest thing of business

23:31 and how you can lose a ton of money

23:34 by not asking for help and not knowing what you don't know.

23:38 - And so you mentioned that people in your network,

23:40 they were able to help you with your pricing structure.

23:43 Let's talk about mentorship a little bit.

23:45 We all have mentors,

23:48 but we don't really know how to navigate the mentorship

23:51 relationship and I have mentors.

23:52 And as a mentee, I sometimes struggle with,

23:55 okay, what's the most effective way to manage up?

23:59 Could you answer that question?

24:01 - So I love this question

24:03 because I see so many people doing it wrong.

24:06 And I think there is a right or wrong way

24:08 to approach mentorship.

24:10 Number one, I see mentors,

24:12 potential mentees going to ask someone,

24:15 will you be my mentor?

24:16 Will you be my mentor?

24:17 Don't ask.

24:20 Start to have conversations,

24:21 start to have questions with people you want to engage with.

24:24 You don't ever need to ask someone, will you be my mentor?

24:27 I've never asked any of the mentors in my life,

24:29 formally, will you be my mentor?

24:32 What I've done, the people in my life,

24:34 is I've asked for their time.

24:36 Can I have 15 minutes of your time?

24:38 I have a few questions of my business

24:40 that I'm having challenges with.

24:42 Those people have picked up the phone

24:44 and answered those questions for me.

24:47 And I never said, will you formally be my mentor?

24:50 Because it's an exchange of information.

24:53 That's really what it's about.

24:54 It's someone who's walked the path before you.

24:57 And as a mentee, what sometimes you don't realize

25:02 is oftentimes it's your job to maintain that relationship.

25:06 It's your job as a mentee to make that effort

25:09 with that mentor that you want in your life,

25:12 that you're seeking advice from.

25:14 Because the mentor,

25:15 they've walked this whole journey before.

25:17 And in fact, they have a ton of mentees

25:20 that they give back to.

25:22 So what makes you stand out?

25:24 What makes you worthy of giving of your time

25:27 is really putting forth an effort,

25:30 reaching out, scheduling those calls.

25:33 Early on in my career,

25:34 one of my biggest mistakes that I made

25:36 was asking this would-be mentor to lunch.

25:41 I asked her to lunch,

25:42 and that was the biggest mistake I could have made

25:43 because it took almost a year for us to go to lunch

25:47 because she had other commitments

25:48 that were more of a priority

25:51 than someone like me who she hardly knew.

25:53 And I really wanted to learn from her.

25:56 But I hung in there.

25:57 I hung in there, and I chased her down,

25:58 and I chased her down, and we went to lunch.

26:00 And a year later, I realized I wasted so much time

26:04 because I had spent a whole year chasing down this mentor.

26:07 And one of the things I also recommend

26:09 is a young person, or any level of career you're at,

26:13 have more than one mentor.

26:15 One person cannot be responsible

26:17 for your career and for your learning.

26:19 Have five mentors if you can, 10 mentors if you can,

26:23 because as you grow in your career,

26:25 mentorship will change,

26:27 and the role of that mentor that started off with you

26:30 will either evolve or not.

26:31 But you have to evolve with those around you,

26:34 so you'll need mentors to meet you

26:36 where you are in your level of your career.

26:39 - Well, that is a beautiful ending to this interview.

26:41 Thank you so much for joining me today, Lauren.

26:43 - Thank you so much for having me.

26:45 - Absolutely.

26:46 (silence)

26:48 (silence)

26:50 (silence)

26:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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