Pay-It-Forward Mentorship Programme 2024: Opening Ceremony

The YWLC 2024 Pay-It-Forward (PIF) Mentorship Programme began on September 21, 2024, with around 60 attendees gathered at EY's newly renovated Wavespace. This year’s theme, “Navigating Personal Identity and Relationships,” brings together mentees from International Women Forum (IWF) Singapore, Singapore Management University Collegiate Integrative Studies (SMU CIS), and Shine Children and Youth Services.

The Opening Ceremony aimed to establish connections between mentors and mentees and equip them with key insights for a meaningful mentorship journey.

Panel Discussion 1: Value of Mentorship

The event started with an inspiring panel discussion on the importance of mentorship which brought together external speakers Sherilyn Chan and Sharan Bhinder, from EY and LinkedIn respectively, YWLC member Kaela Montgomery, alongside Samantha Lim as the moderator.

Their combined experiences with mentorship helped participants shape the key qualities in having an effective mentor-mentee relationship. As a start, it is important for mentees to be intentional on what they hope to achieve with the mentorship and clearly articulate it to their mentors. There has to be open communication, authenticity, and a safe space between mentors and mentees interactions. These can be achieved by first getting to know the mentors, discovering traits they admire,and going in with an open mind to learn.

Panel Discussion 2: Mentor-Mentee Sharing

The second panel discussion featured fellow YWLC members who were past PIF mentor-mentee pairing and past PIF mentor - Casherine Goh, Keerthana Janmugam and Vivian Sim, alongside Hazel Chan as the moderator. They shared stories around their experiences with PIF that gave participants a glimpse into their mentorship journey.

The ownership and proactiveness of mentees in over-communicating was emphasised in making the best of the mentorship. This will enable the mentor to better guide the mentee. A guiding mentorship framework was also shared where mentees were encouraged to set 3 short-term (6-month) goals and 1-2 long-term goals that they could work on together. These can then be broken down into specific measurable outcomes. In this way, mentors can keep mentees accountable to their goals.

Mentor-Mentee Breakout Groups

To provide support systems for the mentorship journey ahead, the concept of Tribes were introduced and tips were covered to the respective mentors and mentees groups. 

The purpose of Tribes was to facilitate better communal support. Each Tribe consisted of 2 mentors and 2 mentees who were encouraged to meet and chat in their groups apart from having a 1-to-1 relationship with their main mentor/mentee.

On guiding mentees around intentional goal setting, the differences between “internal” and “external” goals were shared. Internal goals are things within your control, such as being consistent with one’s habits and learning. External goals are outside the locus of control, such as getting into a certain school or job. A framework on “Thoughts, Feelings and Actions” was shared for mentees journal and reflect mindfully throughout the journey.

Meanwhile, mentors were encouraged to share stories from a place of authenticity and humility that are relevant to their mentees, with clear learnings to bring new perspectives to their mentees.

Upcoming PIF Events

In November 2024, a workshop and human library session will once again bring PIF mentors and mentees together to cover topics in alignment to the programme theme. Subsequently, in January 2025, our programme will come to a close.