As a younger professional, I was blessed with a number of mentors. I found these women through my involvement in internships, volunteer positions, and professional organizations. These mentors taught me not only how to be a professional, but how to navigate the business world. I\u2019m grateful that now, even as an established professional, new mentors appear in my life just when I need them.<\/p>\n

These days, I find myself feeling like a proud mama bird. I\u2019ve had the great privilege of both employing interns from and participating in a formal mentoring program at my alma mater, and this month I will watch four amazing mentees of mine graduate, leave the nest, and move on.<\/p>\n

What surprises me most as a mentor is that I learn just as much as I do as a mentee. I have learned that there\u2019s not that much difference between 40 and 20. At 40, I can be as unsure of myself as any 20-year-old, and sometimes these 20-somethings have it way more together than me. By asking questions that stumped me, they taught me that I can\u2019t ease up on my own education. And they reminded me that I have valuable life experiences to share. My mistakes have become their cautionary tales, although I am sure they will all repeat some of them anyway; tis human nature and some lessons have to be learned first-hand. Our relationships have transcended the professional and are now friendships, and I am proud to have had a hand in making these women who they are and who they will become.<\/p>\n

Teach something and learn something. Share what you know, and grow as you do.<\/p>\n

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Tanzi Merritt has made a career out of words. She spent several years working as an academic reference librarian and a community college library director, teaching students how to locate and evaluate information as well as to choose reading materials purely for pleasure. A career shift landed her in the position of sales and marketing coordinator for a technology consulting company, where she translates things written by software engineers into words that the non-developers of the world can understand. In her free time, she sits on a number of nonprofit boards, reads, knits, crafts, listens to (and sometimes makes) music, obsessively watches documentaries, buys art, and frequents lots of local restaurants and craft breweries.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Pinterest: pinterest.com\/tanzimerritt<\/em><\/p>\n

Goodreads: goodreads.com\/tanzimerritt<\/em><\/p>\n

Instagram: tanzimerritt<\/em><\/p>\n

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com\/in\/tanzidmerritt<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Twitter: @tanzidawn<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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