Going from strength to strength - Joy & Natalie discuss the power of mentoring

Natalie & Joy having fun at Duke of York Square Market, Chelsea

Each of our young people are supported by a volunteer mentor throughout their time on our programmes. Mentoring takes on many forms, from providing 1:1 CV advice to having a day out exploring London. It allows our young people to expand their networks, get tailored support and have fun along the way! It is a core element of all our programmes and one thing’s for sure, both mentors and mentees learn a lot from each other. 

We caught up with Joy and her mentor Natalie who have just completed the Risers Programme, to hear how they found their mentoring experience.

For Joy, the best part of the programme was ‘getting to come out, meet new people every week, see new faces and be a good salesperson.’

When I asked her about how she found having a mentor, her face lit up, ‘Thank you so much! Natalie is awesome! I’m so glad I got to meet my mentor.’ 

Natalie’s experience as a mentor has been equally as positive. ‘I've learned so much from Joy, about her culture and background. It’s been amazing being able to speak to somebody that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to before and hopefully I’ve been able to help her become more confident.’

Joy - now a confident salesperson

Natalie explained that their mentoring sessions took on many different forms. ‘Joy spoke to me at the start about wanting to become a more confident written communicator as well as verbal so we spent time looking at more formal written communication, like how we draft emails. We also set her up with a library membership so that she could take out books to help with both her studies and for reading in her spare time to help her with written communication.’

`We also did some fun stuff, like going to the Science Museum, and going to the Chelsea Football ground because Joy's a huge football fan. So we tried to do a bit of a mix of more serious learning things and more fun things!’

Joy’s highlight was going to the Science Museum. She told me that, ‘I want to be a nurse and we got to see a lot of things about medicine. It was really fun because I got to go back to my roots as some of the things there reminded me of Africa and my country - Nigeria.’ 

The most memorable part for Natalie has been seeing Joy’s progression. ‘I've most enjoyed seeing Joy grow and become super confident. Every week she’s become more and more confident talking to customers and is more chatty with them. It's really nice to see her develop.’

And to someone thinking of becoming a mentor? ‘I would say, just go for it! It can be a bit nerve wracking at first and you may have some quite deep conversations about their experiences which can be quite emotional. But overall it's been such an amazing experience. I'm so glad I did it!’

And what would Joy say to a young person thinking about taking part in the programme? ‘Oh please, come and join Breadwinners! It’s amazing! I’m telling people already to join.’

Thank you Joy and Natalie for taking the time to talk to us