Mentoring Matters - Mark Picard

The L3 Alliance is the women’s group for the Wells International Foundation. We believe that mentoring is one of the premier ways successful women can give back to the world. It is a fundamental part of the legacy that we encourage our members and like-minded women to build. We are featuring stories about women and mentoring in the article series called Mentoring Matters.

This Mentoring Matters article features Mark Picard, who recently graduated from Medgar Evers College with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Mark has served as a student ambassador for the Society of Financial Education and Professional Development and as an intern for the Research Foundation CUNY and RR North Crown Corp in Brooklyn, NY.? He is currently pursuing a year of general study abroad at the London School of Economics.

L3 Alliance: Describe the Mount Sinai West Youth Mentoring Program.

MP: The Mount Sinai West Youth Mentoring Program was a six-week youth employment and mentorship program that had students participate in volunteer-style work within hospitals and nursing homes to get hands-on experience within these fields and to learn how these places operate

L3 Alliance: ?What inspired you to participate in this program?

MP: My mother works at Mount Sinai West, and I saw this as a good opportunity to see what her work environment looks like. I also saw the program as a great learning experience for me.

L3 Alliance: ?How did you feel about doing the program remotely?

MP: The program was originally supposed to be an in-person experience but due to Covid it was forced to be a remote program, and although the program being remote was the right thing to happen I was still a little bit disappointed that I couldn’t get the hands-on experience that I wanted.

L3 Alliance: ?Malikka Karteron was an early contributor to Mentoring Matters, and we appreciate her introducing you to us. Would you describe your relationship with her as one of mentorship?

MP: It's safe to say that we had a mentorship relationship, as although the program was remote she tried her best to make sure we were engaged and provided feedback on questions or issues that we had.

L3 Alliance: ?If so, what did it entail?

MP: During the program, they taught us many things and had us do projects with our peers. Malikka would make sure that she was available for questions and would give feedback to us as both a group and individually if we sought it out.

L3 Alliance: ?Please describe any additional mentor-mentee relationships you’ve had, whether as a mentor or a mentee.

MP: A more recent mentorship setting I have been in is the Train the Trainer program at my home university Medgar Evers College. Within this program, I was able to meet many entrepreneurs who have vast knowledge and experience in their fields, and I was able to learn and grow from their guidance in learning entrepreneurship and business. My mentors personally helped me create and refine my elevator pitch as well as create a business pitch presentation which allowed me to compete in the Bank United business pitch competition. I won second place in the competition with a grand prize of $1,500. If it weren't for my learning from the experience of my mentors and receiving feedback from them, I do not believe I would have been able to place as well as I did. It was because of their review and feedback that I was able to develop not only as an entrepreneur but as a person.

L3 Alliance: ?What is your experience with peer-to-peer mentoring, if any?

MP: I enjoy some peer-to-peer mentoring as it allows me to learn new skills from my peers as well as refine my own skills by helping my peers with their own issues.

L3 Alliance: Please share any negative mentoring experience(s) you’ve had, either as a mentor or a mentee.

MP: I have been lucky to receive a mostly positive experience as a mentee. Although my mentorships were not perfect, nothing big enough arose that would make me complain about them.

L3 Alliance: ?What could have made this / these experience(s) better?

MP: A lot of the issues that arose within my mentorship programs were due to unavoidable circumstances, but some things that would have made these experiences better would have been more organization and structure as some delays or issues arose because of the slow speed of an organization.

L3 Alliance: ?Any additional thoughts about mentoring?

MP: Mentorship is an extremely powerful tool. It is something I believe is necessary for the growth of skills as well as growth as a person. With a mentor, you can avoid easily-made mistakes and gain a clear direction in what you need to do. ?Being self-taught is something that can only take you so far as you can consume all the books and articles relating to a discipline and become an “expert”, but you can't self-teach experience. Having hands-on experience and practicing a skill is very different than reading about it. Having a mentor allows their experience to be passed down to you and reach a level that could have taken years had you learned the skill on your own. This is why mentorship is so important, especially if you are passionate and want to excel in the field you wish to go into.