How Two Mentors Changed My World.
For many young people, the opportunity to interact with a role model is one they always look forward to. Janet shares her inspiring story of how her experience with two mentors on the CoRe Programme have reframed her thoughts:
I am Janet Mensah, an interior decorator; I am so blessed to be part of the CoRe Programme e-mentoring sessions. It has been a humbling, learning experience for me hearing the inspiring life stories from our mentoring group leader, Aunty Farida as well as a well-known achiever like Gifty Anti. These two mentors have made a mark on my life. To start with, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Aunty Farida say, during the mentoring session, that she started off as a house help. Sometimes in life, when you see people at the top, you become so obsessed, and sometimes even jealous about their successes. But we fail to learn the stories behind their successes. I am so inspired by her story. It tells me that, with determination and focus, one can achieve whatever dream one sets for herself.
As an interior decorator, I learnt how to build good customer relations with my clients and not to always focus on money. Aunty Farida shared an interesting story about how she went to her client’s place to fix curtains she had sewn for them after several months without demanding money. I immediately knew what to do to build and keep my customers.
Our hang-out at the e-Lead with Oheneyere Gifty Anti was also very inspiring. The “breaking through the glass ceiling” session was a story of how to be humble even in success and I was so blessed by it. Despite the many achievements of the ace broadcast journalist and women’s advocate, Gifty Anti still believes there is more to learn and to achieve. Last year, she was awarded the super woman of the year; but she responded that she was not a super woman because she didn’t know it all.
I also learnt about how to be versatile in my work. Even though I am an interior decorator, I realized that there are other related businesses I could take advantage of to help me achieve my goals in life.
Closely related to that is what Afia Pokuaa also taught us. I learnt about how to be flexible in my line of work. I learnt that we must deviate from the norm to achieve our dreams. According to her, “Sometimes we keep doing the same thing repeatedly; and so, the outcome is still the same. We have to change”.
I learnt about the need to upgrade my skills and knowledge in my area of work. I also learnt from the hangout about how to make good use of social media to expand my business and provide better services to my clients.
For years, many of us have worked with no idea about what the outcomes would be; but my sessions with my mentors have taught me to be deliberate about life. We should be deliberate about the network of friends we keep and how we can keep improving those relationships all the time. I have learnt a lot from various CoRe mentors. I know the nuggets of wisdom I have received from them will help me a lot in building my business.
I am so grateful for this CoRe Programme; and I especially thank Aunty Farida and all our mentors for the impact they have made on my life and my business.