Mentoring, Working Moms Mean Business

Like a Mother

Successful people often give credit to their mentors for their triumphs. But where do you get one of these magical career guides? And once you find one, how do you make the most of the relationship?

On this episode, Patrice D’Eramo, vice president of the Americas Field Marketing Organization for Cisco Systems, talks about the importance of mentoring for women in their lives and careers. D’Eramo is a member of the leadership council of Million Women Mentors (MWM), a nonprofit initiative aimed at increasing the number of high school girls pursuing undergraduate STEM degrees, and improving workplace retention of women through mentoring programs.

“We’re not born with a book on how we are going to be successful in life. A lot of it is by learning, by observing, by reading,” says D’Eramo. “Mentors have been critical in my success. I’ve looked at mentors in a couple different areas — whether it’s been the types of jobs they have had, the types of leaders they are, and working moms — those have been the general categories I looked at throughout my career. What I’ve done is attach myself to those particular folks depending on where I was in my career.”