Mwambo Kate's wall answer on TwoCents

First because I’m a woman in STEM  too. Secondly , because , I had difficulties navigating through my  early STEM career  as I had no Mentor . All decisions I took was from my own calculations which were not always the best and didn’t reflect the trends . Thirdly , when I finally got into my first STEM Mentorship program to which I was awarded an Outstanding Mentee, my perspectives changed greatly,  and I could understand a lot and analyze stuff from different angles - for the first time in my life and career  , I felt I was on track . I was paired with a very renowned lady as my Mentor during this first Mentorship program. It was for girls in Africa and the MENA regions  . Her name is Doctor Brenda Namumba . She’s  the first Zambian to have a PhD in Astrophysis . She is my bedrock and has been one of the best things to happen to me even from a distance . Till date , despite the mentorship program being over , we’re still in active communication and she’s still actively mentoring me . I equally have other Mentors . Lastly , I attended a Tech Event years ago and these two young ladies taking a Bachelors in Computer Engineering walked up to me . They  expressed their areas of lack and they were vulnerable enough to not hold anything back . They asked me to  Mentor them . I genuinely felt their frustrations as at some point I was exactly like them .  They were my first Mentees . Fast forward to today , they both graduated with 1st class honors . One is Teaching at a private university and doing her Masters program. The other got a job courtesy of me (I’m humbled 😁) where she was paid soooo good and now just recently travelled abroad for her Masters program . Long story short . Being a Mentee myself opened so many doors for me that wouldn’t have been easily archived without having someone or some people to guide me .  To this I’m extremely grateful .I have other Mentees I’m actively mentoring and I know with time, the stars are going to align . Cheers !