The Power of Mentoring: Real-life stories of impact from the LGBT Great Mentoring Program
"To live a life true to oneself,” this was my goal when I started this program back in 2022 with my first mentor. In many Asian countries, like the one where I grew up, laws and regulations are pretty much stacked against LGBT. Many boys like me grew up struggling to openly express the love they have for someone of the same gender, driving most of it underground. Imagine having a boyfriend but only to introduce him as a friend to relatives, colleagues and having to filter your life constantly on social media as many of us have the fear of being outed. Most of us live a double life, managing expectations from multiple angles. I wanted to learn from societies and countries that have built progressive change and acceptance over the years. At the same time, I want to build my character that is authentic to who I am.
The LGBT Great Program is tailored to the individual. The focus is you and all areas of your development. The range of topics I have shared with my mentors is so vast, some issues we have discussed include career progression and retrenchment, life passion and how to pursue it, coming out to colleagues, staying true to oneself and managing priorities. I was also much more comfortable in expressing my sexuality and concerns since I am able to freely express myself without fear of prejudice.
The application progress is very straightforward. There were some open-ended questions asked when I first applied on the program. One of them is “Tell me about yourself”. It is important to fill an accurate representation of yourself as this will give your mentor the insight about your personality and what you are going through. Thereafter, your mentor will adjust accordingly to your comfort level. What you convey to your mentor before every meet up is essential prep work. I usually write something about myself or something I need advice for. A few pointers will help your mentor prepare better before the meet up so they can advise according to your needs. I have applied for this program twice and both my mentors are halfway across the world. That was not an issue. As the mentee, I am eager to learn as much so I adjust my time to my mentors, even with a 16 hour time difference, I make sure I am committed and punctual and open to feedback.
The first time I applied for mentorship was back in 2022. That was an interesting pairing process. I remembered that there was a large cohort of mentors and mentees, so they did a matching to give the best possible combination. It kind of felt like a blind date but I must say the matching team did well. I think they matched mentors who might have experienced similar situations as the mentee, these scenarios might be from a crossroad in life or some hiccups in your career. This pairing helped me to navigate the challenge I was facing at that point of life with advice from firsthand experience, for which I am truly thankful.
The program is great, but you have to drive it to get the best out of it. The one thing I can say is know what you want and ask for it. That is the only way you can get the best out of anything.
Being a mentee helped me develop a strong relationship with myself. Self-awareness. This is an important ability I develop along the years of mentorship and advice. Before, I was generally a soft-spoken person, someone who tends to take the direction from someone else, hiding parts of my life because largely I failed to understand myself. My mentors have guided me along to become more self-aware, figure out my strengths and weaknesses, what excites me, what truly drive me as a person and where I get my energy from. Knowing all these, I work on them and build the person I am today. In 2025, I am much more fearless, self-assured, eager to take on tougher challenges, more importantly be proud of who I am and show the world the life I am living.