Hezah, 26 (Elizabeth 32)

Allow me to get up on my soapbox here for a moment so that I might spout some twenty-something wisdom. Even though I think I am wise beyond my twenty-six years, I’m pretty sure I really know shit. However, there is one nugget of advice I can pass on to twenty-somethings of any age.

Find your mentor.

I was lucky enough to find mine at the age of twenty-two. She was the first person to see potential in my freshly printed degree, and nubile enthusiasm. She later told me that her decision of whether or not to hire me was sealed by three things: my casual yet professional outfit (size 0, kill me), my cover letter, and the fact that I had a Coconut Records song playing on my MYSPACE profile.

In typical twenty-something fashion, I left this job nine months later because I thought I could do better. When you are twenty-two, you feel invincible and hire able by anyone. The next few years were a roller coaster; my career consumed and spit back out by an unforgiving economy. I was engaging in a two front war, both internally and externally. I struggled with what I wanted to do, who I wanted to be. Where would I find fulfillment in my work? Even if I had it pinpointed, it didn’t matter because there were no jobs available.

I went back to waitressing, interning for free, and figuring out where I belonged in the professional world. Just when I thought I had found my footing, my mentor came back to me. She had a job opportunity for me at a new agency, where she had been hired. I had since moved to Denver in favor of an easier lifestyle in the midst of my quarter life crisis, and my mentor was calling me back home to Los Angeles. I trusted her and my gut, so I packed up to rejoin her. I didn’t realize until much later, how much she had rescued me, when I wasn’t even aware I was drowning.

My mentor’s name is Elizabeth. Over the past four and a half years, she has helped shape my life, both professionally and personally. About a month into my first job out of college, she turned to me and said, “You are me, at a six year delay.” Call it a self-fulfilling prophecy, but from that point on, I followed in her footsteps (including a predicted obsession with red shoes at the age of 23). I knew she was someone I needed to look up to, and not just because she had an impressive collection of v-neck t shirts. I also knew she would be a piece of my life forever.

Now, she isn’t my boss any more but I still turn to her for career advice, to whine about my love life, seeking critical writing feedback (she is also a talented writer), oogle expensive clothes online, and ask her to solve my general life mysteries. We even still get mistaken for sisters. When I expressed to Elizabeth how much she had helped me over the years, she responded by telling me how it is just as important to have a mentee. Much to my surprise, Elizabeth confessed how much I helped her grow into the person she is today.

Oddly enough, this year I will turn the same age as Elizabeth was when she decided to hire me. She told me it was time for me to start looking for my mentee; the sensei was telling the grasshopper it was her turn to pay it forward. I am on the lookout for this person to influence my life, and for me to open the same doors for someone else. I can only hope to go to bat for a younger person, and believe in them as much as she has for me.

Today, Elizabeth is embarking on an amazing opportunity that will ultimately change her life and career forever. She is officially leaving the office building and flying to Sydney, Australia where she will help head up our company’s new Aussie branch. I couldn’t feel more excited for her, or devastated that I will miss seeing one of my best friends and mentor every day. To be honest, I kind of feel vulnerable without her physical presence and support. But at the same time, I also feel a sense of strength in the tools she has given me, and the knowledge that she is only a Skype away.

Takeaway….FIND YOUR MENTOR AND NEVER LET HIM/HER OUT OF YOUR SIGHT!