MODERN MENTORSHIP: From Mentee to Mentor as a Young Creative

As a young creative, I’ve naturally found myself as the mentee in most experiences, both educational and professional. I continue to eagerly look for those willing to share their experiences and wisdom so I can grow as an arts worker and human being. This summer, I suddenly found myself in the position of the mentor rather than the mentee.

I learned more through that experience than any other.

The Titles of “Mentee” and “Mentor”

Before I delve into my story, I’d like to recognize that just because someone is an intern, apprentice, or resident does not inherently mean they are a mentee. Additionally, just because someone is a “boss” does not mean they are a mentor. Language, in this case, matters.

In my experience, I have found the labeling of “mentee” and “mentor” to be very productive in creating a healthy co-learning environment. The use of these titles fosters a common understanding of certain explicit responsibilities that create a relationship where co-learning can occur.

One experience, in particular, taught me to seek out collaborative relationships with whomever is serving as my “boss” to be a mentor and create the type of relationship where we learn from each other. I’ve learned the importance of relationship-building - and naming those relationships with their explicit responsibilities around mentorship - within educational programs for young creatives. From my own experiences, I’m confident that these relationships lead to richer interpersonal connections, knowledge sharing, and overall positive learning experiences.

The Expected as a Young Creative: The Mentee

I landed my first internship last summer in the midst of COVID-19 working for an educational theatre program. Like many, the program was forced to navigate the transition to a virtual format for the first time, and it was incredible to be a part of that process. 

Expecting to be a fly on the wall at staff meetings exploring how to make the program exist in the new world, I was shocked when I was welcomed to voice my thoughts at each meeting. The staff’s willingness to listen and follow the opinions of a young creative was something I hadn’t experienced before.

One of the elements of this co-learning relationship as mentor and mentee is the ability to listen and even encourage sharing from the mentees. Mentees bring new perspectives, individual ideas, and different lived experiences to any decision-making table. It is an explicit responsibility of mentors to hold that space. Another element is the availability and patience of a mentor to foster the learning and growth of a mentee. If a mentor has an overfilled schedule, for example, they will not be able to provide the support that any mentee demands.

The Unexpected as a Young Creative: The Mentor

In early 2021, I got a call offering me the position I’d interned under the previous year. Suddenly I was going to be a staff member on the team that had so graciously supported my growth, and I’d even have my own intern. I felt a mix of excitement for the opportunity, as well as fear of not being prepared to share the same positive experience I’d had as an intern due to my young age.

In one of our first meetings, I shared the same notion with my intern that I did at the beginning of this post: I wasn’t interested in being their manager or supervisor. Instead I wanted to be their mentor. My expectation - and I hoped theirs, too - was to create a co-learning relationship with the set of explicit qualities I described above. 

I told myself I wanted to be a mentor that shared knowledge and led from an even playing field. I wanted nothing to do with any kind of structure where I was viewed as the “boss.” Over time, I operationalized this in a number of ways; I asked our staff and students to refer to us as a team, because that’s what we were. We were both young creatives looking to learn from one another through our shared experience in the program.

This leads to the final responsibility of mentors: to ensure their mentees become successful mentors and perpetuate the cycle of positive co-learning relationships. 

Too often do young creatives find themselves in early-career positions without an established or defined mentorship structured around richer interpersonal connections, knowledge sharing, and overall positive learning experiences. When this occurs, I believe it stunts the possibilities of the mentee’s potential learning outcomes. If more “bosses” of young creatives in internship, apprenticeship, and residency programs viewed themselves as mentors, and if they approached that title from this perspective, I think young creatives would benefit greatly.