What's in a mentor?

He's just a bucket of advice. Good advice. And so he encouraged me to try again,

navigating the working world as a young person and it's a person who really didn't feel like I

had a place there and feeling all the things in poster syndrome.

Are they a fellow person of color who can validate your experiences, help you overcome a toxic

workplace, give you advice on finding a new job, all of the above and more. We're in the middle

of this nationwide reckoning. Not only are we experiencing this catastrophic pandemic,

but protests against racial injustice and a financial crisis have rocked our nation.

Mentorship might be the last thing on your mind right now, but it could be the answer to some

of your problems. This is NPR's life kit. I'm Anjali Sastry. I'm a producer at NPR and one of the

co-founders of the marginalized genders and intersects people of color mentorship program here.

You've just heard from one of my mentors that I called up recently. Her name's Martina Castro.

Hello. Hello. Hi. Can you hear me? I can. Cool. She's a CEO and founder of the podcast company

Adonde Media. She's also a former NPR producer. As my mentor, she's helped me figure out what I

want to do in my career path. Martina and I talked last spring. When COVID-19 was just starting to

spread in the US, self-quarantine measures and required work from home orders were just being put

in place. I couldn't not talk to her about that. I live alone and debating whether to go stay with

my dad and what that would entail. It is a tough time. How about you? Yeah, same. We just take

for granted being able to go anywhere at any time. Oh, yeah. Well, the good news is that I think

exercise is super encouraged. So I think we're going to honestly exercise is the thing that's

keeping me sane right now. Thank you, Martina for reminding me about that. Martina also dropped

some practical professional advice on me during our chat. This advice came from her mentor, Doug

...