Early Signs: Seeing Successful Role Models Plus Mentorship Helps Young Girls, Women
Seeing role model examples, plus mentorship, at an early age yields results for young women.
When they see it, they can not only be it, they can succeed.
A new global study of nearly one million people from adolescence to adulthood shows that teenage girls 13-16 more often become successful entrepreneurs by the time they are 35-40 than boys do. They also are more successful than girls that same age who are not seeing successful entrepreneurs in these formative years.
The study by Maddalena Ronchi, a Northwestern University assistant professor of finance at Kellogg School of Management, found that “‘Exposure to their peers’ entrepreneur parents as a teenager seemed to alter girls’ educational and career trajectories: such girls were more likely to continue their education after compulsory school and had a lower risk of holding low-wage jobs throughout their working years.”
According to Kellogg, researchers also “found that girls who had early exposure to entrepreneurs and then pursued their own entrepreneurial ambitions went on to create more successful and more women-friendly companies than the average entrepreneur.” Girls with entrepreneur parents “were as much as 59.3 percent more likely to become an entrepreneur by age 35.”
This raising of awareness of possible career paths and offering specific knowledge as well as mentorship can shape not only the present, but the future for women and girls across the world.
“This raising of #awareness of possible #careerspaths and offering specific #knowledge as well as #mentorship can shape not only the present, but the #future for #women and #girls across the world. ”
Across multiple industries and niches, programs aim to provide inspiration, education, instruction, and mentorship to young women and girls, in order to shift the numbers of women succeeding all the way to the top.
Learn more about Take The Lead coaching here.
Mentorship is a key element of Take The Lead’s principal mission to reach race and gender equity in leadership across all sectors. It will take generations working together across all levels and niches of industries.
“#Mentorship is a key element of @TakeLeadWomen principal mission to reach #race and #genderequity in #leadership across all sectors. It will take generations working together across all levels and niches of industries. ”
Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead, says, “Mentorship makes a difference. How many times even in our adult lives have we failed to realize the power we already had in our hands when we wanted something that seemed out of reach? And how many of us can point to something we learned from a mentor, whether the mentoring relationship was formal or informal, that influenced us for the rest of our lives?”
Read more from Gloria Feldt about mentorship
Governing magazine reports, “Research suggests mentorship programs have significant benefits both for participants and for their organizations. One study from the Wharton School of Business found that programs lead to a 25% increase in salary for mentees and a 28% increase for mentors. Retention rates were also much higher for mentees (72%) and mentors (69%).”
Additionally, “Organizations with strong mentoring programs are also more likely to see a higher rate of women and minority representation in leadership roles.” On average, according to the Harvard Business Review, “mentorships boost the representation of Black, Hispanic, and Asian American women, and Hispanic and Asian American men, by 9% to 24%.“
The International City/County Management Association offers mentorship for young women aiming to be in government leadership. According to Governing magazine, “ICMA, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Association of Counties, along with organizations like Engaging Local Government Leaders and the Center for American Women and Politics — have formal mentorship and networking programs for women.”
ICMA West coast regional director says, “My very first mentor saw something in me that I didn’t even see in myself. People need to see who they can be. If they have never seen a woman in this capacity, they can’t envision it for themselves.” ‘
A new twist in modern mentorship is not just top-down tips, clever code switching, and mimicry. Today’s mentorships are collaborative, instructive and multi-generational, perhaps a bit like the two leading characters in the award-winning series, “Hacks,” with Jean Smart playing Deborah Vance and Hannah Einbinder playing Ava, her 25-year-old head writer.
“A new twist in modern #mentorship is not just top-down tips, clever #codeswitching, and #mimicry. Today’s mentorships are #collaborative, #instructive and #multigenerational”
According to Essence, ”Millennials and Gen-Z professionals like myself are creating a new wave of ‘reverse mentorship’ where we, the so-called mentees, actively guide and educate the mentor. It flips everything on its head, allowing younger, more junior employees to bring our unique perspectives and fresh skills to seasoned leaders. This two-way street empowers us by making us equal partners, while giving mentors access to new ideas and current practices.”
According to Mentorcliq, 72% of companies using reverse mentoring programs “saw better cross-generational collaboration and communication.”
Jenn Labin, the former Chief Talent & Diversity Officer at MentorcliQ, and now a coach for Rocket Brain Coaching, earlier told Take The Lead, “The idea of a single mentor is a myth that is disruptive because we are taught by movies and books that there is one person like Yoda who will give you everything you need and everything will be great,” says Labin.
“I was always focused on mentoring and mentoring skills,” says Labin, the author of Mentoring Programs That Work and Real World Training Design. “The one mentor with all the answers doesn’t exist and we do ourselves a disservice thinking that.”
“I was always focused on #mentoring and mentoring #skills. The one #mentor with all the answers doesn’t exist and we do ourselves a disservice thinking that. –@JennLabin”
Mentorship in all forms is undeniably valuable. Guider reports that in 2024, 84% of Fortune 500 companies have mentoring programs, and 100% of Fortune 50 companies. Three quarters, or more than 76% of employees see the importance of mentorship, and 97% of those with a mentor say they are valuable. Almost nine in 10 of those who have been mentored will also go on to mentor others.
The bad news is, only 37% of professionals have a mentor, with 63% of women saying they have never had a formal mentor. 89% of those who have been mentored will also go on to mentor others.
The positive track record of those who mentor and have been mentored is a driving force for many leaders. According to WHYY News, Erin Elman, the new CEO of Girls Inc. for Greater Philadelphia and South Jersey, says the mentoring group “works with young women on an individual level in often girls-only spaces to become ‘smart, strong and bold.’
In the current economic climate that is anti-DEI and pressuring a limit to women’s rights, economic opportunity, research, and education, Elman says these programming efforts are crucial
“Strong’ focuses on health and well-being, ‘smart’ on academics and intellectual rigor and ‘bold’ focuses on life skills, career, and leadership, so it is really a holistic approach,” Elman tells WHYY. “There continue to be barriers for girls across our society. And so there needs to be a vigilant sustained core of people that can really help support girls as they grow.”
“There continue to be #barriers for #girls across our #society. And so there needs to be a vigilant sustained core of people that can really help #support girls as they grow. –Erin Elman, CEO of Girls Inc. for Greater Philadelphia and South Jersey”
Andrea Schulze, VP and CIO of Toshiba America, Inc., Toshiba International Corporation, and Toshiba America Energy Systems, tells CIO, “she feels fortunate to have had strong female leadership at Toshiba, but knows that isn’t the case for many women in tech. During her career, she says she was lucky to have strong representation of women leaders, and both male and female mentors who helped guide her career path.”
Schulze tells CIO, “I think that’s why I enjoy mentoring others so much as well, because of the things that shaped me and what I have learned. If there’s anything I can carry forward to the next person, then that feels really fulfilling and rewarding.”
A longtime advocate for mentorships, Elaine Welteroth, bestselling author, columnist, editor and founder of BirthFund, says whether it is formal or not, mentorship is mutual. “It is very fulfilling to be a mentor,” she says. “And they mentor you too.”
Read more in Take The Lead on Elaine Welteroth
Amy Holtzman, chief marketing officer at XCXHEQ and former vice president of marketing at Splash, an event marketing software company that has created 670,000 events with 21 million RSVPs, told Take The Lead that she learned in her first job from a bad male manager (who made sexist remarks) what she did not want in a mentor.
“Now I had an amazing male boss who did not treat women differently, and wanted to accelerate women. He helped me understand my value to the company and how to find my voice,” Holzman says.
And if you want to be a mentor, let it be known. “You can make it clear to your organization you are willing to be a mentor. LinkedIn also has a setting available and you can offer to be a mentor.”
Nicole Hannah-Jones, Pulitzer-winning author, journalist, creator of the 1619 Project, and Knight Chair in Race and Journalism at the Howard University School of Communications, founded the Center for Journalism and Democracy and also created the Ida B. Wells Society to mentor young journalists.
Considered an iconic role model for all journalists, and especially WOC journalists, Hannah-Jones told Take The Lead, “My hope is that …this work will make it easier for the next journalists of color to do something radical and big. I didn’t know this would be the most important work of my life. I hope I have made our ancestors proud.”
Janet Phan, Founder of Thriving Elements, writes in her Power To Change Story in Take The Lead, “When I thought about how I got to where I am, I couldn’t help but give the credit to my mentors who believed in me and took a chance on me. I started a nonprofit to address the lack of women, particularly BIPOC women, in STEM through the best way I knew how — mentoring.”
I can relate to the change possible in a young person with early exposure of role models and the impact of mentorship. Wanting to be a newspaper columnist and author from the time I was in third grade, I saw as a teenager the humor columns and books by Erma Bombeck, who by 1978 was a humor columnist syndicated in 900 newspapers around the country.
So I read her in the local newspapers and checked out her humor books from the local library and dreamed of writing books as she did.
I had the chance to interview my idol when I was a Dallas newspaper columnist in the 1980s, and she was so happy when I told her I emulated her. When she passed in 1996, she had written 13 books; so far I have written seven.
