What's obvious in these episodes is the presence of a mentor or coach. You can see they are a stand and support for their mentee's goals and dreams. They provide guidance and encouragement when things aren't clear or when hope seems lost. I've included links to full episodes below and see for yourself how hard work, determination and partnerships are key ingredients to success. TV is one thing, but how does it play out in real life?
Well if you're interested, would you like to know who's MADE me? I've been fortunate to have had support throughout my life. From my parents and teachers to my friends and managers, they've all played a key role in making me who I am. They were pivotal in encouraging me to apply for that job, to stick with it when times got tough, to try something new, and to ask for help. This last one is really important because if you get anything out of this post at all it's to realize that knowing-it-all and thinking-I-can-do-it-by-myself flat out doesn't work.
To answer my earlier question, I would like to acknowledge and thank Assunta Ng, publisher of the Northwest Asian Weekly and Seattle Chinese Post newspapers. She was the one last year who encouraged me to apply for the NAAAP Seattle Board of Directors. If it weren't for her encouragement, I wouldn't be here writing today. Assunta (left in picture) and I have what is called an informal mentoring relationship. It's a form of mentorship where we don't have a structure of weekly meetings, but I can definitely email or call her with questions relating to how to run a business or to get her perspective on a situation.
Another type of a mentoring relationship is a structured type. Unlike an informal type, the structured type has a weekly face-to-face or conference call, an agenda, specific outcomes and you as the driver of the relationship. Marianne Barkman was my coach in Landmark Education's Self-expression and Leadership Program. She MADE me into a team manager. As a coach, I was responsible for coaching 5 program participants with their projects and ensuring they received support throughout the 3-month program. Marianne and I had weekly meetings and she taught me what conversations I needed to have with my participants so that 1.) they stayed in the game and 2.) they were engaged in their projects.
So as I reflect on who's MADE me, there are many people as I said before, but I'd like to especially thank these people for being a mentor to me in their own way: Stafford Mays, Mylene Padolina, Beth Strack, Parri Munsell, Joyce Allen, Mark Bishop, Susan James, Jim Bachaud, Jacob D'Nunzio, Christopher McKormack, Don Peterson, Starr MacDonald, Tom Pearon, Sue Hadi, Michele Mercer, CJ Johnson, Andy Yip, Ki Kim, Jon Boulton, Ador Yano and Lorraine Yu. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
In conclusion, I want to leave you with this bit of encouragement. No matter where you are in your journey in life, you can always call on a mentor for guidance and assistance. They're there willing to help you succeed. Listen to what they say. Do what they say and thank them when the job is done.
Regards,
Gil Gido
NAAAP Seattle
President
Links:
- Watch Brittany get MADE: http://www.mtv.com/videos/made-season-10-ep-30-pageant-queen/1631318/playlist.jhtml
- Watch Sidhart get MADE: http://www.mtv.com/videos/made-season-9-ep-20-football-player/1597806/playlist.jhtml
- Be a mentor: http://www.wamentors.org/
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