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Women inspire women to create job change

On 6/20/2007

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Contributed by: Melanie Nolen on 7/4/2007

Who has inspired you the most? A teacher? A parent?

For participants in JVS' WoMentoring program, the answer is simple - the professional mentors who have dedicated their time and talents to helping women find their way back into the workplace after divorce, poverty or other hardships.

Both mentors and mentees were recognized for their achievements at a special luncheon on June 20, featuring keynote speaker Dr. Tessa Albert Warschaw.

Among the recent honorees are JVS mentor Sheri Ross of Santa Monica with her mentee and WoMentoring program graduate Judith Feldman of Valley Village, and JVS mentee Dana LaVerne of Reseda.

A celebrated author, psychotherapist/coach, and internationally recognized seminar leader, Warschaw is the founder of Big Thinking Women (BTW) Unliminted, an organization created for women 50 and older.

Its goals, like that of the WoMentoring program, are to help women, especially those over 50:

* - Shift the "aging" perspective

* - Create legacies for others to follow

* - Become a recognized voice politically, socially, and economically for women over 50.

In addition, Warschaw has served on the boards of Break The Cycle, NAFE Foundation's Esteem Team Mentoring Program, Madison Avenue Boys and Girls Club (Advisory Board), Women in Business, Women's Advisory Board for Mass Mutual and the National Museum of Women's History.

The JVS WoMentoring Program pairs each woman with a professional from the same or related field who will act as a mentor for one year. Mentees hope to increase job skills, improve their professional network, establish reachable goals and gain greater insight about career opportunities from their mentor.

Mentees will also receive two hours of professional career counseling and six hours of assessment to help them re-focus their career track.

They also participate in training on how to best utilize the mentoring partnership. Mentors also undergo training on how to be an effective mentor, and offer career advice and coaching, professional guidance, encouragement and support and, most importantly, a role model and career guide for mentees.

"We see a lot of women who have helped guide others all their lives, their children, their family, but didn't know how to do the same for themselves," said Claudia Finkel, WoMentoring founder and JVS COO. "WoMentoring does just that, gives them a guide to help them figure out what they want to do, whether they're just getting started in the workplace, or need to make a career change."

Funded by Union Bank and the Powell Family, JVS' WoMentoring program is beginning its 10th year this fall.

If you are interested in becoming a mentor or mentee, contact Bobbi Yanke at (818) 464-3222 or Rachelle Cohn at (323) 761-8888, ext. 8876.

For more than 75 years, JVS has enhanced hundreds of thousands of lives with vital employment and career services. Each year, JVS helps more than 24,000 people through 15 locations around the Southland.

A non-profit, non-sectarian organization, JVS works with city, state and county agencies to ensure everyone has access to the help they need, including career professionals, at-risk students, people with disabilities and newly arrived immigrants.

For more information on JVS' range of programs, please visit www.jvsla.org.

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