We started our scholarship fund at Femme Palette to make mentoring accessible to ambitious individuals in difficult financial or social situations - people in financial need, marginalized groups, women on maternity leave, students, and refugees.
To the date of this blog post, we have awarded around 70 people with mentoring scholarships to help them advance professionally and reach their goals. We reached out to five of our scholarship recipients and asked them to share more about their mentoring journeys. Read about what they were able to achieve!
Marketa Heralecka
Junior Project Manager at Norman Rourke Pryme s.r.o.
Marketa decided to seek out a mentoring scholarship to help her grow a project she had been working on. Besides working on her goals, she also appreciated having someone to bounce her ideas off. “My motivation to find a mentor was to move my project forward. I feel that having someone to discuss the project with, as well as discussing realistic goals, moves the project along much faster,” Marketa explains.
Based on her goals, Marketa was matched with mentor Martina Duskova (Co-Founder at printintin). “By having a mentor, my goals became more clear and I was able to set sub-steps that would lead me to my goal. My mentor quickly tuned into my project and is able to give me very helpful feedback that moves me forward. At each of our meetings I am one step further,” Marketa shares about how her mentor has helped her. “The scholarship has allowed me to move forward with my project now and not wait. So I had no excuse not to get started right away. I'm so glad I got the scholarship from Femme Palette,” she adds.
Dana Shino
Marketing consultant for legal companies
Dana came to us already knowing the benefits of mentoring, and determined to make the most of it. “Having studied under the IB programme I am used to a mentoring style of work and I know such an approach makes me thrive. I had a clear vision in my head but I knew I needed a sparring partner to challenge and guide me with experienced, impartial insights. Also, I found myself in such a life stage that I knew then was the time that I could put the mentoring to a true use,” she explains.
Dana and her mentor Jennifer Hoffman (CMO & Growth Advisor, Founder & CEO at SaaStock, Harlan, JHI) worked not only on hard skills, but also on empowering Dana. “My mentor made me realise how much I have already achieved and how much I have to build up on. In each and every session she provided me with valuable tips and food for thought, as well as support and sense of empowerment. I have learnt a lot about branding and marketing as my field of expertise, as well as starting up a Saas project. She made me put my idea into a set of actionable steps that I work on to bring the project to life,” Dana says.
And what does she value most about receiving a mentoring scholarship? “I honestly consider receiving the scholarship an honour. The level of care the FP team must have put into finding a mentor for me has taken me aback, because they did find the perfect match. Last but not least, since I already had to pay for nursery to be able to work I appreciated the financial burden being alleviated. I hope to be able to give back all the good one day through the project I work on with my mentor,” she shares.
Martina Radvakova
Martina’s journey too began with an idea for a project. “After my heavy burnout I left my job. After almost a year at home I was feeling well enough to start a new direction in my career and I was longing for having my own business. But I felt stuck, having no confidence in myself, my ideas and abilities. I was not sure how to start to move forward. That's why I decided to get a mentor,” Martina begins.
To set her up for success, we matched Martina with mentor Daria Somova (Business owner of Move To Prague Relocation Services), and Martina started making the progress she envisioned. “Each discussion with my mentor Daria helped me to become more self confident, I appreciated her supportive feedback on my ideas. This was exactly what I needed the most - somebody who listened to me, asked useful questions, gave feedback and suggestions, supported me.”
On the areas where Daria helped her, she adds: “She was my big cheerleader. To have a mentor helped me also to be more accountable and not procrastinate. Preparing for our meetings helped me to think about my project in a more structured way, every little success was a fuel to my motivation to move forward. The personal story of my mentor was a big inspiration for me, too.”
Through receiving a mentoring scholarship, Martina was able to make her goals reality and launch her project successfully. “Firstly it was a hope, that maybe I could move at least a little bit. Now I see it was an accelerator of a big leap I have made since the beginning of the program. I have turned my ideas into something real - I have created a free online program for real people, I´ve got valuable feedback and learned a lot, and now I have real paying clients in my 5-months training,” she explains.
Charlotte Golledge
UX Consultant at University of Surrey
Charlotte decided she wanted to get a mentor with specific goals in mind. As she explains: “I decided to get a mentor because I wanted to grow in confidence in my new role as a UX consultant. While I had some experience before, this role felt a lot more daunting especially as I was going into it alone so having a mentor guide and support me along the way was extremely helpful.”
She was able to make the progress she wanted thanks to her mentor Garrett Godsey (Lead Product Designer & Director at Studio Godsey). She credits mentoring with helping her not only to feel more confident in her role, but also to become a better communicator: “My mentor provided me with some tips so that I could work on those areas and by doing so, I feel as though I was able to achieve some of the goals I had set out at the beginning of the program,” Charlotte explains.
Charlotte adds that the scholarship was a great opportunity for her, and how she appreciated being able to grow in a safe and comfortable space. “I’m really thankful to have received a scholarship from Femme Palette. It’s been so good to have someone whom I feel safe with to advise me on how I can go about things at work. Knowing that this opportunity was available was also really encouraging because so many of us navigate through life alone but when we reach out for help, we are able to grow and learn a lot faster than on our own,” she says.
Sara Capobelli
Head of CRM and Customer Experience at Raisin US
“I decided to get a mentor to receive professional guidance and advice from an experienced individual,” Sara says of her motivation to apply for a scholarship.
In their mentoring sessions, Sara’s mentor Josiane Assaad (CMO at Delivery Hero) was able to guide her and inspire her. “Thanks to my mentor, I have made progress in challenging myself, building self-awareness, and staying accountable for my professional development,” Sara names the areas in which she was able to grow.
Like some of our aforementioned scholars, Sara applied while on parental leave. This opportunity from Femme Palette made mentoring more accessible to her: “Receiving the Femme Palette scholarship helped me afford the program while I was on parental leave and facing financial constraints,” Sara explains.
Are you in financial need, a member of a marginalized group, on maternity leave, a student, or a refugee? Apply for a mentoring scholarship here! We select applicants quarterly who will receive a scholarship to join our Mentoring program.
