With strategic focus, effort and time, Dr. Walker is on a mission to make a difference for Black professional women in all areas of their lives.
The Power of Mentorship for African American Women in Leadership
Many people who have experienced being mentored recognize that something special has happened—but they may not know what to call the experience. Defined as a process whereby the mentor and mentee work together to discover and develop the mentee’s latent abilities, provide the mentee with knowledge and skills, and serve as a tutor, counselor and friend to the mentee, the mentoring process can be priceless.
However, a growing number of scholars have recognized that women seeking to enter mentoring relationships face a myriad of challenges as a result of gender biases. More specifically, voices of the Black women are often left unheard in areas of leadership, which gives cause for the need to have a mentoring program tailored to professional Black women. The challenges facing African American women can be seen as not just filling a void, but as adding more patches to an ever-evolving quilt.
Women, and the marketplace as a whole, can be enriched by exploring the unique pattern of each patch. It is this diversity, among the patches, that provides the answers to the questions—questions that serve as the threads that hold the quilt together. Once the issues that impact African American women are identified, we can increase our understanding of their challenges and work to address solutions.
In this book, you will learn:
Oftentimes throughout her career, there were times when Dr. Brenda J. Walker found herself being the only woman of color in a male-dominated and/or majority white organization. Walker knowns firsthand how it feels to be underappreciated and undervalued. As the only woman of color at the table many times, she found herself questioning her self-esteem, overall capabilities and her seat at the table altogether. After completing her dissertation project, she realized that it would reward her with more than a doctoral degree. It catapulted her into purpose and alignment. Today, with strategic focus, effort and time, Dr. Walker is on a mission to make a difference for Black professional women in all areas of their lives.
