In two days, I will have the tremendous opportunity to take part in a culmination of events that have come together to provide opportunity to hundreds of aspiring women professionals across the globe.

November 29, 2008 will mark the first annual Women Mentoring Women Mentoring Walk hosted by women leaders in Peru, Serbia, Ghana, Kenya  and Nigeria.  The story of this event is truly a remarkable one; one that vividly illustrates the concept of “paying it forward” and affirms Vital Voices’ motto that investing in women improves the world.

Where it All Began…

In a room with 33 women professionals from 15 countries across the globe, Women Mentoring Women began.

Bells sounded in shared recognition as the diverse group of women listened intently to the story of media industry icon, Gerry Laybourne in her New York City home.  Ms. Laybourne explained that in her long career as Founder of Nickelodeon and Founder & Former CEO of Oxygen Media, she struggled to find female mentors and grappled with male mentoring relationships that were at times extremely positive and at times less fulfilling.  She also revisited the positive impact that her female mentor, Bernice Coe, made on her career and her development as a leader.

Once her career was established, Gerry revisited the challenges she and her female colleagues faced and sought to leverage her knowledge and experience to help rising women professionals.  She described how she began to incorporate mentoring into her busy schedule by inviting young women to join her on her daily walks through Central Park and continued on to establish more formalized mentoring walks, both in New York City and throughout the United States.

The international women leaders drew inspiration from her experience and achievements.  As recent participants of the groundbreaking FORTUNE/US State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership in collaboration with Vital Voices, they understood the power of female mentoring relationships and returned home empowered and ready to give back.

Investing in Women Leaders and Making the Connection Online

Each of the women who met Geraldine Laybourne and have continued on to organize mentoring walks participated in the FORTUNE/US State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership in collaboration with Vital Voices.

Each year, United States Embassies in targeted countries select mid-career women leaders in business to participate in the program.  FORTUNE’s Most Powerful Women’s Summit matches these women with a top female executive from a FORTUNE 500 company who mentors them for three weeks.  Vital Voices then works with its partners to facilitate the international businesswomen’s journey to the United States and organizes an orientation and closing program to prepare them for their mentorship, provide them with leadership and skills training and inspire participants’ elevated engagement in their home communities.

As part of the program, Vital Voices established an online community for alumnae to continue networking and dialogue.  It was on this site, that 2008 alumna Lucy Kanu  of Nigeria introduced the concept of bringing mentoring walks to the international community in a gesture of solidarity and commitment to paying their experience forward. The response was immediate and the work began.

Paying It Forward- Bringing Opportunity to a New Cadre of Emerging Women Leaders

On Saturday, November 29th more than one thousand women leaders, both emerging and established, will engage in career enhancing dialogue at Women Mentoring Women Mentoring Walks across the globe.  As they journey through neighborhoods and city streets in Peru, Serbia, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, the women will forge mentoring partnerships to share challenges and explore strategies for achieving success.

Each mentoring walk will be tailored to fit the needs of the locale in which it’s held.  In Nigeria, Women Mentoring Women will include over 400 women professionals and serve to launch an ongoing mentoring program organized by Idea Builders in partnership with the Kudirat initiative for Democracy, LYNX Nigeria, ASSEED, MeeMe and supported by ExxonMobil.  In Kenya, Nigeria, Serbia, Argentina and Peru the mentoring walks will include hundreds of women leaders and serve to promote ongoing one-on-one mentoring partnerships for professionals in the public and private sectors.

Moving forward, Vital Voices and many of its alumnae hope to host the Mentoring Walks annually in Asia, Africa, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa.

The Exponential Impact of Investing in Women

Women Mentoring Women serves as a prime example of the exponential impact of investing in women. The story behind this event shows how any and every woman can affect change by sharing resources and knowledge with their peers.  Bernice Coe’s impact on Geraldine Laybourne’s career development served as a catalyst for Geraldine Laybourne’s commitment to investing in rising women professionals. In turn, Ms. Laybourne’s commitment inspired international women leaders to pay it forward.  Women Mentoring Women also illustrates how partnerships across sector can empower women to make change in their communities.  Inspiring!