I have had the privilege of being mentored by some phenomenal people. My earliest mentors were teachers that encouraged me to write and teach. When I was deciding where to do my Master’s degree, a Dean of a research institution helped me look for schools to go to and gave me an analysis of each programs and their strengths. When I was preparing to choose a university to get my doctorate, a senior Asian American female administrator, gave me this advice, “you can have many different jobs, but you only have one chance for your training”, thus I selected the university where I had excellent professors who were mentor to me. Having a senior female mentor was valuable to me because we were able to talk about gender and cultural issues. When I talk to people of color, they often say they would like to have mentors of the same race and gender, but often there are not senior people of color to mentor them. In my experience I have benefited from mentors of all races and gender. If there was someone who willing to take the time to help me, I was grateful and open to receiving their guidance. I have found three different types of mentoring important: peer mentors in my graduate program, my circle of Asian American women in academe on the East and West coast, and senior mentors who have guided my career trajectory.
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