Mentoring Spotlight: Susan and Simone
We talked with Susan Harmon (’67) and Simone Liano (’17) about how their mentorship started, how they’ve structured and restructured it over time, and what advice they have for other mentors and mentees.
Susan (the mentor) and Simone (the mentee) met on the Wellesley Hive, a platform that provides a space for students and alumni to connect for flash and long-term mentoring. The Wellesley Hive is powered by PeopleGrove.
Highlights
- Initiating the mentorship: “If you see somebody whom you’d love to mentor, or you see someone whom you’d like to have as your mentor, you should snap them up — just approach them and see if something like that could work” (Susan).
And for mentees, “I would say absolutely go for it… Mentorship can be one of the most rewarding and helpful things you can possibly do for yourself” (Simone). - Connecting over distance: “What I find so fabulous about the digital platform is that you can see one another’s profiles and it’s easy to connect. And obviously there are no geographical limits… The ability to connect across distance feels like a really important aspect of mentorship now” (Susan).
- Building the relationship: “I thought mentoring always had to be extremely career focused and you didn’t veer from that. But one of the most enjoyable parts of having this mentorship relationship is that I’ve learned that you can talk about your lives in general and things that make you excited. So I’d recommend not being afraid to talk more informally” (Simone).
“What we always find in pretty much every conversation … is that personal comes into it” (Susan). - Asking questions: “I would say that just absolutely the core of a healthy mentor-mentee relationship is that you’re both asking each other questions, so that you’re really sure you’re talking about what’s most important and most pertinent to both of you” (Susan).
- Getting the most from each meeting: “Before you have a call with your mentor, you should think about … some things that you think it would be helpful to talk about.
“Then keep some type of notes after the calls . I enjoy looking back … sometimes and thinking ‘Oh, that was a really good piece of advice, maybe now that I’m two months more into my job, that’s more applicable — I might try to do this’” (Simone). - Structuring the mentorship: “We don’t want it to ever be artificial. We’ve maintained a sense of flexibility but are always planning ahead to see if the next time works for us to get together… I love having this relationship. So long as we have, you know, good things to talk about and it’s useful, we’ll do it. It’s very mutual” (Susan).
Full Interview
What was your previous experience with mentoring and being mentored before you started this mentorship?
Susan: For me, it’s never been a structured thing, but throughout my career, mentoring has always been a fairly important, almost instinctive relationship that I’ve had, both with people who have reported to me and people to whom I have reported or whom I’ve worked with. I’ve always appreciated my mentors and enjoyed mentoring people who’ve worked for me in the sense of how can we all get the best out of our work experience — and our personal lives as well. That’s what got me here.
Simone: On my end, during college and even in high school I knew mentorship was really important, especially for women, but most of my experiences with mentorship were either informal mentorship with peers or students who were a couple years older than me — what we call Flash Mentorship on the Wellesley Hive. It was really short interactions, kind of targeted and focused about a company or internship. And so I had actually never had the experience of calling someone my mentor, or of having a mentor who is successful and established in their field, or of scheduling regular meetings. This has been my first experience doing that.
How did you make the switch from those shorter, flash interactions to a more formal, long-term mentorship?
Simone: This kind of happened naturally, because Susan and I were working together to help launch the Hive, and through that we had some good conversations and, at least on my end (and I think on Susan’s as well), we kind of got to know each other a lot better. I was really excited when Susan said she’d be interested in staying in touch with me through a more formal mentorship.
In terms of why I became interested in longer term mentorship, I think knowing that it’s so important was an incentive. Then trying it — and finding someone who really fit with my interests and values — was a great experience.
Susan: I have to say, on my end, I was so flattered that Simone wanted to set up this relationship, cause there’s nobody I would rather do this with.
This relates to one of the features of the Hive that I think is so great, which is that we can say how much time we have available. I think it makes it a lot easier for many of us to participate because we don’t have to think, “Oh my gosh, I’m just going to be inundated and I’m not going be able to do a really good job with anybody.” I’m a pretty busy person so when I was signing up for it I said I was available for two flash meetings a month and one long-term mentorship, so when I landed Simone for my long-term mentee I thought that was really great. It’s been a joy.
What changed as the mentorship progressed? What did you expect, and what surprised you?
Susan: I would say that when I started this whole project, I didn’t understand that we were doing a digital platform, and so it sounded much more stultified. I was still back there thinking it was going to be like the old days where you go into an office and you find your mentor or your mentee, but what I find so fabulous about the digital platform is that you can see one another’s profiles and it’s easy to connect. So all of that was quite surprising and it was wonderful to me that we could do this thing. And obviously there are no geographical limits. Simone could be traveling or I could be traveling, and we can always set this up across the miles. The ability to connect across distance feels like a really important aspect of mentorship now.
Simone: I think we’ve met via video chat, phone, and in-person at this point! We did video chat at the beginning and then more recently we’ve been doing calls and we did meet once in person. We live on opposite coasts, but Susan was over in Boston for an event and she made the time to see me while she was here, so we met at a coffee shop in Boston, which was really fun.
On my side, one thing that I didn’t necessarily expect is sometimes we’ll end up talking about what’s going on in the news or politics — or one time we were talking about podcasts! I never really expected to be learning about those other things as well through a mentorship relationship, but I have been, and that’s really exciting on my end cause it’s always great to learn what your mentor is interested in and what their thoughts are on other things in the world in general. So I would say that that’s wonderful.
Susan: I’m part of a group called Business Leadership Council at Wellesley, which is women who have been in executive positions at businesses and at non-profits, and one of the things that has struck me in all the years I’ve been a part of that is that we sort of started thinking it was about career and work (and of course it is about that, about women moving ahead and taking more powerful positions and responsibility), but what we always find in pretty much every conversation we have in that group is that personal comes into it. So that’s also been a learning and an “Ahah” for me throughout my facilitation there and in my career, so it’s fun to play it out with Simone now in our relationship.
Simone: One thing that didn’t necessarily surprise me but which was kind of validated was that having a mentor in a different career was really great. I think most of the informal mentors I’d had before were all in the same career that I intended to go into (which is consulting), so I was really looking forward to having Susan as a mentor because she’s involved in media and film, which are areas I don’t know that much about. I think having a mentor in a different field has actually been super interesting, I’ve been able to get an eye into the other fields, and beyond that you also see the commonalities among all the different fields and just being in a professional setting.
Susan: I would add to this that there is so much you can learn from mentees. I enjoy hearing about the culture of Simone’s new organization and seeing how cultures and companies differ so much. Talking to her and hearing about what she’s up against or what she’s learning about is quite interesting to me.
What are one or two things that you think made this mentorship successful?
Susan: We’re always good about scheduling something for next time, and we’re good about not being too rigid about needing to meet exactly once a month — from November to December we put our meeting off a couple weeks because there wasn’t a need to talk right then. We don’t want it to ever be artificial. We’ve maintained a sense of flexibility but are always planning ahead to see if the next time works for us to get together.
Simone: I couldn’t say it better. The fact that we always set up a time during our meeting for the next meeting is super effective, cause then you don’t have to email back and forth. I would agree with what you were saying about flexibility as well, cause that way we make sure that the conversation is always fruitful.
Susan: And I think part, too, of our relationship, is that we just ask each other a lot of questions. In any kind of social situation, people ask one another questions, and I think people kind of miss out when they don’t do that. I would say that just absolutely the core of a healthy mentor-mentee relationship is that you’re both asking each other questions, so that you’re really sure you’re talking about what’s most important and most pertinent to both of you.
Do you have any goals for the mentorship that you defined either together or separately?
Simone: We did discuss goals in our first meeting, though we haven’t stuck to them as the mentorship has developed. We had kind of planned to touch base again sometime this winter, so that might come up again soon.
Our focus definitely changed after I graduated. Our first couple of calls were more about preparing for me starting my job in ways that I could make a good impression, then as I started to get more into the job we started to talk about things like work-life balance, and that was really interesting, because that was something I’d never have imagined talking about during college, cause it’s just something you hear about but haven’t actually experienced, and now I have actual experience and challenges in that, so the topics have certainly shifted.
Susan: Originally we said “Ok, let’s do this until the end of the calendar year, and then see how it goes.” But on my side, I love having this relationship. As long as Simone finds it of help for her, I’m willing to do it. So long as we have, you know, good things to talk about and it’s useful, we’ll do it — that’s kind of how I approach it. It’s very mutual.
What advice would you have for other mentors and mentees who are looking to start a mentorship or already in engaged in a mentorship relationship?
Susan: Well, I’ll jump in on that. Simone mentioned that we got to know each other beforehand. I know that not everyone has that luxury, but since the Hive has live events where people meet one another, I think if you see somebody whom you’d love to mentor, or you see someone whom you’d like to have as your mentor, you should snap them up — just approach them and see if something like that could work.
Chemistry is so essential to this, and with Simone I feel we have very relaxed and quite natural conversations, and I always look forward to them. First of all, I think that’s because I saw her in action and saw how responsible she was, and thoughtful, and so on, but it’s also because our chemistry just works. So I think that’s something that cannot ever be underestimated.
Simone: It’s actually funny that Susan said that; it’s the first thing that came to my mind too. My first perception of mentorship and interacting with alums came from when I was a younger student. I thought mentoring always had to be extremely career focused and you didn’t veer from that. But one of the most enjoyable parts of having this mentorship relationship is that I’ve learned that you can talk about your lives in general and things that make you excited, you can explore the different things you’re doing that aren’t related to work, you can share stories and experiences. As Susan said, that builds the relationship and makes it really enjoyable for both people. So that’s one thing I’d recommend — not being afraid to talk more informally.
Then I think a second piece of advice for other mentees is, before you have a call with your mentor, you should think about something that you might be struggling with at work, or just have in the back of your mind some things that you think it would be helpful to talk about. I’m in my first 6 months at my first job out of college, so when I have a call with Susan coming up, I’ll kind of take a few minutes to sit down and thing about what has been going on at work over the past few weeks, and what she might be able to offer insight on, having worked in her career for a while.
And a third recommendation would be to keep some type of notes after the calls — I’m not sure if Susan knows I do that, but sometimes I’ll write down little tidbits that she’s given me as we’re talking, cause we have so many discussions, and I get really critical insights from all of them, but it’s easy to forget in the moment. I enjoy looking back over the notes sometimes and thinking “Oh, that was a really good piece of advice, maybe now that I’m two months more into my job, that’s more applicable — I might try to do this.”
Susan: I love that. When we first started, I also took some notes to make sure I really had a good position on what you were doing in the company and all that kind of stuff.
Simone: In terms of starting a mentorship, on the mentee’s side, I would say absolutely go for it. I know a lot of students feel intimidated, so sometimes it takes them a while to get over the hump of reaching out to someone. For me this wasn’t necessarily the case, just from doing a lot of business things in college, but for a lot of other students, there’s a bit of intimidation there, so I would just go for it, cause mentorship can be one of the most rewarding and helpful things you can possibly do for yourself.
Susan: Well, I think that’s great advice also for the mentors, Simone, because this is really what is at the core of this new Hive and how we get people either over their shyness or realizing “Oh, gosh, I could connect with this person.”
I would add a couple other things to this in terms of what I’ve learned from talking to other mentors, particularly older mentors. I graduated from college in ’67, and some of my peers are a little bit concerned about “Gosh, could I be a mentor to a younger person cause I’ve been out of that division for so long.” But it is amazing: these things all come back to you. Simone will say something and I’ll remember exactly how I felt at her age or what I was doing or something that might pertain from some other part of my career. So I think that to older mentors, I’d say don’t shy away from this, cause you have plenty in your head; whether you just did it yesterday or you did it 40 years ago, it’s still with you.
My advice for mentors is to really try to be proactive. For instance, seeking out in-person events [hosted by your alma mater] may really help spark mentorship relationships. Again, I’m thinking back to how Simone and I found each other, which was we worked together before we set up this relationship. So wherever prospective mentees and mentors can participate in some kind of live event, that’s a great starting point for this kind of relationship.
And for mentees, there’s a treasure trove of alumni sitting in the Hive waiting to be selected, so I’d encourage students to just be proactive and reach out.
