Remembering Your Mentors, from the Carolina Communiqué

mentor advice career

By Ann-Marie Grissino, STC Fellow

Ann-Marie Grissino

During your technical communication career, did you get help on a skill, instruction on a tool, or advice from an experienced professional? Think back and recall how fortunate you were to get that assistance and advice.

Now, it's your turn to provide that assistance and advice to newcomers in our field.

The STC Carolina Chapter is initiating a Mentor Program this fall. We'll do it in two phases:

Phase 1: Invite experienced communication professionals to become a mentor. If you have experience in technical communication skills, tools, or project management, consider giving maybe three hours of your time for one to three months to someone new in our field.
Phase 2: Extend the web-based listing of mentors to mentees, those folks who could use assistance or advice in their careers.

Mentors

It's easy to register here: http://mentoring.stc-carolina.org

Think back and recall how fortunate you were to get that assistance and advice.

You can indicate the skills on which you could provide assistance, the time that you prefer to work, the general location where you typically are, and how best to contact you.

It takes only a few minutes to register.

Remembering my mentors

Here are just a few mentors along my path:

When I was just starting my own business, I worked with another consultant, Lori. I was certainly green, didn't know how to complete financial ledgers, and was just beginning to establish my network. Lori took me under her wing and taught me the business side of running your own business. When she later decided to close her business, she transferred her clients to me! I remember her saying, "You can do this." Although I was still uncertain, she had belief in me. That has stayed with me for many years.
Some of you might recall that I managed the STC Carolina Competitions for over 10 years. During the early years, Diane Feldman, a close friend and STC colleague, was also involved. Before one awards banquet presentation, I asked her to give the speech because I was so nervous speaking in front of a crowd. She refused. She told me that I could do it and do it very well. Ha! I was just about to throw up before each speech! But, I did it. And, even today I recall her faith in me.
Finally, my Dad. My Dad ran his own television, stereo, and record business. In fact, he had four stores north of Boston. My Dad taught me how to be independent, how to make a path where no path existed, and how to persevere without much direction.

If you're a successful, experienced tech comm professional, you have probably had mentors as well.