By Shara Talia Taylor
Photos: Shara Talia Taylor
ABOVE PHOTO: sUPosium event producer Sophia Chang (in hat) with attendees.
“One of the things we found out was those women who rise to the top often have multiple mentors over their career and use their mentors in ways that help and support them.” –Barbara Kurshan, Ph.D, senior innovation advisor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
There has been an uptick of interest in recent years regarding exploring the value of mentors. One program has addressed the need for women of color with encouragement, career guidance, and a mission to build community, coalition, and citizenry with their second annual event, which took place in Brooklyn, N.Y. last month.
Women from coast to coast met together for “sUPosium,” an all-day event held by Unlock Her Potential (UP), a program started by event producer Sophia Chang to provide free mentorship for women of color in the United States aged 18 and older. Panelists explored topics that included breaking in, financial wellness, pitching, health and overcoming imposter syndrome, while attendees shared personal experiences regarding their career pursuits, many learning how a platform like “sUPosium” is valuable.
Susan Jin Davis of Al Roker Entertainment and Danielle Belton, editor-in-chief of Huffington Post.
“Part of the reason why I wanted to be a part of Unlock Her Potential was because I didn’t have mentorship when I started out,” said Danielle Belton, editor-in-chief of Huffington Post.
Belton was a panelist and a mentor for UP. She participated in order to give back and help other women of color navigate through her industry. Attendees at the sUPosium learned the importance of mentoring in various industries and had the opportunity to engage and network.
The event’s title “sUPosium” is a word play on symposium and Unlock her Potential (UP). UP explores career opportunity gaps for women of color with meaningful guidance by mentors that meet with mentees one hour per month.
“There are plenty of people in here who applied (to the UP program) and didn’t get a mentor, but they’re still here (at sUPosium) to build community, because that’s really what it is about,” Chang said.
Chang, a screenwriter, author, career coach and past manager of hip-hop artists like D’Angelo, A Tribe Called Quest, members of Wu-Tang Clan and more, credited much of her career growth to the men who accepted her.
“The artists embraced me, but no embrace as potent and as important as Wu-Tang Clan for sure,” she said about her music career experience in New York. “Method Man was the first one to say, ‘Soph, you’re family.’ I never heard that before, and it was breathtaking.”
Chang also attributed much of her success to her own mentor. She worked for Paul Simon and became the mentee of entertainment veteran and musical artist Michael Ostin, who opened doors for her. She wanted to keep it open for other women like herself as well.
According to feedback following the sUPosium, 98% of attendees felt the event was a unique gathering experience; 99.1% were inspired to take a step towards something purposeful; 91.5% made meaningful connections; 94% would consider attending next year, and 97.4% would recommend attending the sUPosium to a friend.
Belton helped lead a panel about imposter syndrome.
“It’s often difficult being a woman of color in a high-power position, because you do not see a lot of people who look like you in these same rooms that you enter, so you immediately question, ‘Like, should I even be in this room?’,” Belton said. “But the reality is if you shouldn’t be in the room, you wouldn’t even be there.”
She fought negative thoughts and continued to push through by using logical thinking.
“I would imagine a defense attorney who would argue on my behalf as to why I am not terrible and I am supposed to be here,” she said.
Los Angeles filmmaker Maegan La Trese Philmore speaks to the audience.
“Often, I will think of my father. My father worked in management in the aerospace industry for over 30 years, and he often had to navigate various rooms where he was the only person of color, the only Black man, and he dealt with a lot of racism and discrimination, but he always went into everything with the same confidence, the same attitude [that affirmed] ‘I’m supposed to be here.’”
Reading her résumé would also help validate a sense of belonging.
Susan Jin Davis, the social impact officer for Al Roker Entertainment (ARE), joined Belton in leading the panel on imposter syndrome.
“I had parents who were immigrants from Asia who reminded me over and over again that I wasn’t defined by this place in the United States,” she said about how she fought the feeling of imposter syndrome. “Number two, was the fact that I had allies and advocates that literally would push me into rooms, open doors for me, [and] give me visibility, even when I tried to shrink from it.”
Davis suggested those without family support should search online for mentors.
“Even if you’re shy, put that note out to somebody that you admire and ask for 10-15 minutes of their time,” Davis said. “Catch people on LinkedIn and connect with them, and ask for some advice from people.”
While Davis found value in her mentors, Belton said a mentor would have been beneficial to help her navigate her career.
Belton has been part of a Unlock Her Potential since its inception. She met Chang when she was editor and chief for The Root and joined her and other women on a panel about women of color and mentorship.
“None of the women, with the exception of Sophia, had ever had a mentor,” Belton remembered. “So, she was literally the only one, and she realized how rare it was for women of color to have mentorship and that’s why she ultimately chose to start the organization.”
Belton agreed to be a mentor.
“I bumped my head against ceilings and walls and doors and windows and everything trying to get where I was trying to go, and I would say like maybe I would’ve got there a little faster if I had someone who I could trust and rely on who could give me really good advice,” she said.
Senior innovation advisor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, Barbara Kurshan, researches the entrepreneur mindset of women and how they rise to the top. Kurshan did not attend the event, but co-authored a book called “InnovateHERs – Why Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurial Women Rise to the Top.” She said the book includes results from 10 years of study on what mindsets make women rise to the top, and has a chapter focused on mentoring.
“They tend to have an imposter syndrome, and that’s where mentors can play a big role of making sure women realize they should be having a seat in the room and they are just as smart, [and] in many cases, smarter than the men in the room,” she discovered during her studies.
Following interviews with 29 women in leadership roles, she found that mentorship and sharing stories were key to women running an organization versus being in operational roles. Kurshan also found every woman interviewed shared the impact of a mentor that influenced the trajectory of their career.
NBC Universal recently delved into the topic of the value of mentors. NBC held a Next Level Summit event in April for their NBCU Academy entitled, “Unlocking Your Leadership Potential.” Event guests explored growth through mentorship in a panel called ”The Power of Mentorship & Sponsorship.”
Two attendees at the sUPosium who were accepted into the UP program have found value in their mentorship experience. Twenty-six year old Atlanta filmmaker Ninel Nekay learned about the program through a friend, another filmmaker, who had also been accepted. She was inspired and applied three times before being accepted.
“I got to a point in my career where I was, like, ‘Should I even be doing this?’,” she said. “I received Alan Hughes as a mentor. He selected me, which was extremely affirming because he is THAT man.”
Nekay said she was working on her first project, “Grown Folk’s Table,” a documentary about spades and intergenerational trauma, and Hughes has helped her.
Los Angeles filmmaker Maegan La Trese Philmore heard Chang being interviewed in an online program and gravitated to her energy. She also applied three times before being accepted. She was paired with film, television, and theater producer Bruce Cohen as her mentor.
“It’s very personable,” Philmore said. “We get a mentor mentee packet of suggestions of how we should run it. Basically, give them an agenda of what we want to do.”
Chang hopes to continue to touch lives and expand the program from hundreds to thousands.
“Right now we are a nonprofit program under a physical sponsor,” she said. “We are not officially 501(c) 3. We have a physical sponsor and they accept the donations.”
She said they will have almost 600 women of color by the end of this year who will have been mentored.
“Expansion to me isn’t just about numbers of mentors, it is also, and perhaps even more importantly, turning around and looking back now and keeping in touch with these incredible classes that we have, this beautiful cohort,” Chang said.
The UP program is open to women of all ages, a fact Chang champions.
Learn more about UP and the sUPosium online at: https://www.unlockherpotential.com/.
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