I am very glad that I was matched with my mentor, Kavita Gidwani , a senior vice president in Investment Finance at Citigroup. The mentor information sheet that Career Development prepared for each mentee was very helpful in starting off our conversation. I learned that my mentor is passionate about philanthropy and community service, which is something that we both have in common. I was interested in what causes she supported, and also her future goals in possibly starting a social enterprise.
We discussed a new non-profit venture fund, Acumen Fund, which uses a different approach in solving global poverty by investing capital to entrepreneurs who then provide basic services and goods at affordable prices to low income individuals. I think that low income individuals will greatly benefit from Acumen Fund by having access to the basic necessities and I hope to help her with her philanthropy efforts in the future.
I mentioned that my sorority, Kappa Phi Lambda will be holding an annual benefit dinner, ARISE: Fight for Freedom to donate to victims of sex trafficking on October 29th at Lerner, and she immediately took out her smartphone and logged the date. With such a demanding position at Citigroup, I appreciate seeing her actively trying to support me in a cause that I believe in.
I know that each student’s experience with their mentor was different. My goal was to get to know her better as a person, and learn about the amazing things that she has done since graduating from Barnard. We will be meeting again on a Friday afternoon for lunch since we work around the same area.
I am grateful for the match that Rachel made, and I look forward to further developing our relationship.
It is very interesting to hear where your first conversation went, and how it was not confined to speaking about Kavita's current position at Citigroup. I am excited to hear how your mentoring relationship progresses.
ReplyDelete-Rachel Tannenbaum, Program Director