Post by Cheryl O’Donoghue, MS
Nancy Ridge is a revered and passionate advocate and industry thought leader for women in technology. She uses her voice to be a part of a collective conversation so that the next generation of girls and women who love tech, as she does, will reach new heights and, ultimately, change the world.
Nancy cares deeply about helping women rise into their own power as business leaders and provides inspiration, support, and practical, actionable guidance through leadership and coaching programs offered through Ridge Innovative, as well as the Alliance of Channel Woman, a nonprofit she co-founded in 2010 specifically for women in technology.
Nancy also recognizes women are at a pivotal point in history and that situations may get worse before they get better. That’s why she gets involved with a number of women-focused nonprofits, including Aspire2STEAM.org. As an advisor to Aspire2STEAM, Nancy connects the nonprofit to businesses interested in sponsoring scholarships for underserved and often overlooked young women and girls pursuing STEAM-related careers. Many of these businesses are tech companies interested in taking meaningful action to help close gender and opportunity gaps still widely prevalent today.
And Nancy is a leader who has gone through her own transformations and speaks candidly about her experiences in Chapter 17 of my book How to Be a Woman in Technology.
Now, here’s a short excerpt from Nancy’s chapter for your reading enjoyment!
From Nancy’s perspective, accountability is crucial to making the most of the mentoring experience. It also requires a commitment to the mentoring process and all it entails. She finds that it’s easier for women to make commitments on behalf of others than it is to make commitments on behalf of themselves. “We can be these really forward-thinking, modern women, but we still have this conditioning belief that being committed to activities that benefit others is more important than being committed to something like mentoring, which benefits us directly.”
Inherent in being committed to mentoring is being consistent. Nancy finds that often women tend to contact their mentors sporadically or when something goes wrong and they need a dumping ground. That’s not how mentorship works. What you put in is what you get out. Talk to your mentor frequently and keep them engaged in your career development.
And above all else, remember that when you enter a mentoring relationship, you’re entering a two-way relationship. “In a mentoring relationship, you get to know each other,” Nancy reminds. “It’s not all about you. You have to be willing to show an interest in that person’s life and be open to their feedback and listen to what they have to say.”
She continues, “Mentoring has given me a fast-track in my career in many ways. It’s helped me learn things that I would never have learned in college. At the same time though, it’s very much a slow and unfolding process. It’s unrealistic to say you’re going to get a mentor, and in sixty days your life will change dramatically. That’s a sure way to set yourself up for disappointment. Yet, life-changing insights can occur from the very beginning.”
Nancy is grateful for all the breakthrough moments she’s experienced while working with her mentors over the years. She’s also equally thankful to be in a position where she can help others achieve their own memorable mentorship moments.
One young woman intern who Nancy mentored sought advice concerning a recurring theme in her life. Specifically, when the woman would have a group assignment at school, she regularly found that she ended up contributing the most to get the project completed while the rest of the group contributed very little. The group received a good grade on the project, but she was left feeling unfulfilled by having to carry the load. The intern was concerned that the same scenario would play out again and again after she graduated from college and secured full-time employment.
Nancy’s first piece of advice to the young woman was to… (continued)
To read Nancy’s complete chapter, How to Be a Woman in Technology is available on Amazon. All royalties earned from book sales are donated to Aspire2STEAM.org to help fund the nonprofit’s scholarships for hard working, underserved and underrepresented young women and girls pursuing STEAM-related training, certification, and college education. Be a part of these extraordinary students’ future by helping Aspire2STEAM fund their dreams. Learn more about the nonprofits’ annual scholarship campaign “21 in ‘21” today.
Cheryl O’Donoghue, MS is an executive, author, and emotional intelligence leadership champion. She has written three books featuring emotional intelligence leadership—How to Be an Emotionally Intelligent Leader (While Crushing Your Goals); How to Be a Woman in Technology (While Focusing on What Matters Most); and How to Be a Woman in Business (While Being True to Yourself).
Cheryl is committed to the advancement of women in the workplace through professional development and education. In 2018 she co-founded the 501(c)(3) humanitarian organization Mission Sisters Who Work, which has recently been renamed Aspire2STEAM.
The nonprofit is in its fourth year of operation and provides scholarships and mentoring to underserved and often overlooked young women and girls pursuing STEAM-related careers. Aspire2STEAM supporters believe that when you give young women and girls access to an education and mentoring to become self-empowered, you lift them up, those around them…and ultimately the world. Donations fund scholarships for young women and girls experiencing financial and opportunity barriers as they complete their STEAM-related education.
Cheryl also founded Emotional Intelligence Leadership Resources—a training, communications, and coaching company that transforms organizations and the results they achieve through proven emotional intelligence leadership practices. Philanthropy has played a prominent role throughout Cheryl’s life. All royalties earned from her book sales go to women served by Aspire2STEAM.org, in addition to a portion of all earnings from her work through Emotional Intelligence Leadership Resources.