Stop for a second and think about who helped you decide on your career, find your niche, overcome a work challenge or embark in a new direction. There are a lot of people who we can consider mentors in our lives. Parents, teachers, family, friends, work colleagues along the way, bosses, clients, neighbors, pastors and more.

I’ve been thinking a lot about mentorship lately – both as the mentor and the mentee. I recently participated in an online fundraiser for a local nonprofit dedicated to supporting mentorship for Kansas City high school youth. “C” You In The Major Leagues was started by Kansas City Royals GM Dayton Moore to help local families in need and provide mentorship to a group of young high school men and women in a yearlong mentorship program.

A few of us who’ve been a part of the marketing efforts for CYITML were asked to record a video telling the world about a significant mentor in our lives. It was a challenge for me to choose just one person. And I started thinking about all of the people who’ve made a difference in my life. But mostly I started thinking about how I want to be someone who makes a difference in other people’s lives.

With my new master’s degree, I’m hoping to continue teaching college and be able to continue to mentor young professionals and college students as they feel their way through the college experience and then into professional lives in communications, marketing, PR, social media, etc.

This month I was asked to be a mentor as part of Digital Women Kansas City’s structured mentorship program. This professional development nonprofit pairs mentors and mentees in similar professions to work together. I’m looking forward to getting to know my new mentee, and I know I have a responsibility to offer feedback, share knowledge and listen.

Throughout the years, I hope some of the MNPR interns think of me as their mentor because I learned SO much from each of them. And that’s the best part of the mentor – mentee relationship. We learn from each other and ultimately build a strong friendship.

As an entrepreneur working out of her home, my internship setup hasn’t been a typical PR agency experience for college students. They usually get a taste of what it takes to be a PR pro, a business owner AND a busy mom trying to run her own business! Some may leave knowing this is nothing they’d ever want to do in a million years and a few others – the crazy ones – end up doing this very same thing!

For example, Ashley Cleveland is the Grande Dame of all interns. She started with MNPR as a college senior finishing at Park University, and stayed on with Megan Neher Public Relations after graduation for more than a decade. Called “Ashley the Intern” so not to confuse her with another Ashley in our family, she became an integral part of the business. Together, we produced quality PR work for a variety of clients. We took business trips, laughed… a lot, hosted many work events, developed secret acronyms, brainstormed, loved eating sushi and somehow managed to get our work done!

But before her, my very first intern was Erica Cohen and although she didn’t stick around immediately like Ashley did, she ended up joining MNPR years later to assist on a big client. I was fortunate enough to have Erica’s sister as an intern, Lauren Hensley, and her mom as a client. We continue to mentor each other to this day, depending on each other’s counsel.

Another standout intern: Maris Panjada was an overachieving college student juggling multiple jobs while getting dual degrees at UMKC. She was focused and knew what she wanted. I was inspired by her attitude and even was able to convince her to stick around an extra semester.

Rachel Pedersen was never an intern, but we have a mentor-mentee relationship after working together for so many years. She started at MNPR shortly after graduating from college as a part-time PR coordinator in addition to her full-time job. Today, she remains an enormous support to me – especially as my social media guru.

After 17 years in business and sometimes multiple interns a year, this list is only the tip of the iceberg. I’ve worked with many amazing young, up-and-coming professional communicators, and I love staying in touch to see where they land in their careers and watch as they grow.

Unfortunately, I met and hired one intern at a bar in Lawrence after drinking dirty martinis with friends. Not advisable! Surprisingly, I had to fire her a short time later, and then had to argue the point with her angry father who called me to try to save her job! Of course, this only guaranteed my resolve.

That hire aside, I’m confident that every single intern can report that they learned something working at MNPR… even if it is just the meaning of the acronym FIO. This is my mantra for all interns. Can you Figure It Out? 😊