ACT-W Achieving Equity Conference

Last week, I had the pleasure to attend (and present!) at the ACT-W Achieving Equity conference in Portland, OR. The conference was designed to give Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) professionals, HR managers and line of business managers best practices in making their workplaces more diverse, more welcoming and more empowering for all. There were some truly wonderful talks, ranging from creating allyship in computer and technology companies, to allowing yourself to be human and crying at work, to creating spaces that are healthy for your mind.

My talk was on the power of mentoring and the best advice on how to construct and implement formal programs in corporate settings. I feel that mentoring can be a great tool for cultivating diverse talent – one of the things I mentioned in my talk was the ability for mentees to be able meet people not in their direct line of work, and thus, opening the lines of opportunity available to them. I know that I wouldn’t have had the opportunities that I have had without nurturing mentors who expanded my my mind – and my network.

It also marked my first “public”, public speaking event not tied to work. To say that I was nervous was a vast understatement. But my love of mentoring, and the strong belief I hold of how powerful mentoring (when done right) can be, carried me through. Loved the opportunity and hope to do it again in the future.