Many people have been exposed to mentoring programs, but what is peer mentoring?
Peer mentoring has been studied extensively in academic settings with students. But did you know that it can lead to positive career outcomes? In this episode, you will learn more about the benefits of peer mentoring on your career.
Our host and CEO Porschia, alongside our guest, Fibia Gee, will share their insight on the significance of peer mentoring and how it can be helpful to have this neutral person in your career support system.
Fibia Gee is the Founder and Creative Director of Leona. She is a serial entrepreneur, whose goal is to create a safe, fun, and authentic community for women leaders driven by faith. Fibia is the host of Leona Podcast and wants to empower women to live life to the fullest.
What you’ll learn:
- What is peer mentoring?
- Why peer mentoring is important
- Characteristics of a good peer mentoring match
- How executives and professionals can benefit from having a peer mentor in their career support system
As a thank you for listening to this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, we are sharing our FREE master class – Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have! It’s a training based on solving the common problems our clients have experienced to reach their goals. You can get access to the master class here!
Episode Transcript
Porschia: [00:00:00] Hello, I’m Portia Parker Griffin, and I want to welcome you to the Career 101 Podcast, a place for ambitious professionals and seasoned executives who want an edge in their career. We’re talking about all of the things you were never taught or told when it comes to career growth, development, and change.
Now let’s
Fibia: get into it.
Porschia: The day we are talking about peer mentoring 101. What is peer mentoring with Fibia Gee? Fibia is a Romanian girl with a big American dream. She calls Atlanta her home, but also refers to going home when traveling back to Romania to be with her family. She’s married to her best friend, Rob, and together they are parenting Kitty, as much as you can parent a cat.
Fibia is a serial entrepreneur, having founded two companies, a recruiting company, and the latest, Leona Community. [00:01:00] Leona creates a safe, fun, and authentic community for women leaders, driven by faith, and empowers them to live life to the fullest. Fibia is also the host of the Leona podcast. She considers herself to be a world citizen.
Fibia loves to travel, going to yoga retreats, connecting and bringing people together, laughing with friends, and eating European chocolates. Well, Fibia, we can definitely eat some chocolate together. I think Belgian’s my favorite, but I like a lot of other European chocolate. Uh, how are you today, Fibia?
Fibia: I’m doing well, Portia, thank you. And just to be clear, I do not discriminate against European chocolate. So it could be Belgian, it could be Austrian, it could be German, Swiss, Romanian, they’re all great.
Porschia: Yes, yes, I agree. I agree. Well, I am excited to have you with us to discuss Peer Mentoring [00:02:00] 101. But first, we want to know a little more about you.
So tell me about seven year old Fibia.
Fibia: Oh my goodness, 70 year old Phoebe, uh, you know, I could go into it depends on how much you want to, you want me to detail here, but I was pretty much this happy little kid. You know, I’ve always been a little bit of an optimistic. So, um, I just, um, I was a joyful kid. I am a joyful adult today.
And I was a joyful kid when I was seven, uh, grew up in Romania, obviously, as you read in, in my bio, uh, no pretty cool family with two older brothers. I was, I was the youngest of the family and my brothers are quite older than me, nine and six years older. So. There was definitely this feel of me being very protected at all times.
Um, which is cool. I really appreciate it now. Maybe I didn’t as [00:03:00] much at the time, but now, um, now I do. But yeah, that was seven years old. Very determined. Um, funny, I was talking to someone not long ago. How, um, some of the, um, characteristics that I see in myself today, as far as just work ethic and school, because, you know, as you and I were talking back in school, I can trace back to when I was seven, eight years old, I would finish my homework.
And walk across the street where my elementary teacher lived and ask for more. I’m like, who does that at seven? Who does that? And that’s the achiever in me, right? I just had to, to perform and achieve and show that, Hey, I finished, I can do more. So that gives you a little bit of an idea of who I was as a seven year old.
My parents never had to, to wonder if I’m doing my homework. I always did.
Porschia: Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like some drive and some ambition in there as well, Fibia, early on. Um, so what did you [00:04:00] want to be when you grew up?
Fibia: Oh, everything. I went through phases. I got, I believe like most of the kids, I went through phases for a long time.
I wanted to be an, um, an astronaut. I wanted to be a doctor at some point as I got a little older and I understood business. I really saw myself in the business world. Um, but that was more as. As a older teenager, um, but as a little kid, yeah, I remember I wanted to go to space. That was one of my biggest things I wouldn’t today.
I would not want to go to space anymore. Yeah.
Porschia: I’m, I’m with you. I’ll stay on earth. I’ll stay on earth. So Phoebe, tell us about some highlights or pivotal moments in your career before you started, you know, your own businesses.
Fibia: Yeah, so it’s very interesting because I, I worked in a couple of different industries, but if I was to look back at my 19 [00:05:00] years corporate plus entrepreneurship career.
I think I’ve done a lot of the same thing, which is business development, honestly, um, but I started in finance and investments, which is really crazy in banking, really. Um, so I spent a few years of my career there and, you know, it didn’t matter what the position was because I started as a financial service rep and then I.
Quickly moved into management, but I felt like the whole time I was focused on building relationships with my clients, which very much is, you know, looking for new business or business development. And then from there, I went into more the tech world software and then project management and somehow landed on recruitment.
But even while doing recruitment and staffing. a large part of my role was to, um, look for new business and nurture relationship with my clients. And I do that now as an entrepreneur, as you know, you have your own company. So that is a [00:06:00] huge part of being a business owner. So I would say that’s the main part of what I’ve always done in different industries and different capacities.
But, um, I think, The largest company I worked with, not, I think I know was, you know, when I was at the bank, um, and then from there, I just kind of moved to smaller companies and I’ve always enjoyed the smaller company feel more. I am not a rule follower, so I don’t do very well in a very structured environment of a, you know, large corporation.
So I knew in my twenties that I wanted to have my own business, uh, one day. And then because I was, um, at the point that just. I had been in recruitment for so long. I had helped a company really build their staffing and recruitment. branch, I knew how to do it. It just made sense for me to start my own business in that field of years ago.
So that was kind of my [00:07:00] transition from corporate America to more of the startup world. But I did spend a couple of years, um, working for a software company back in my twenties and I was part of the founding team. So that’s. That’s where I got that first taste of the startup tech world. And I really, really loved it.
So I wanted to get back into that at some point. Yeah, very
Porschia: interesting. So what would you say was your biggest career challenge before starting your own
Fibia: businesses?
Well, it’s interesting. I can honestly, I think going back to my banking job, um, cause it was, In my first year after moving to the United States, and I moved here as a young adult, right, with no work experience whatsoever. Um, I was 20 when I got hired and I still don’t know why they hired me. I wasn’t even speaking English at the time.
I was, I mean, I was, but I [00:08:00] was, I was struggling so badly with the language. I remember a year later, I asked my manager, I was like, why did you even hire me? And she said, I saw potential. Um. So I think that was hard because I’ve, I had not even walked into a bank before moving to the United States. I still remember my first, uh, day at, um, employed at a bank when I went to orientation and they were talking about checking accounts and saving accounts and money market accounts.
And I had no clue what those were like, I had no clue and never had an account before I in Romania at the time we didn’t. Keep money in the bank, you know, we just had cash. So if we even had the cash, so, um, it was just very interesting. I still remember at lunch. I went to the car and I cried and I call my brother and I was like, I don’t think I can do this.
I have no clue. [00:09:00] What this people are talking about, how am I supposed to work in this environment? And you know what, in two years I was managing a branch. So, um, that was a huge lesson for me that even if you don’t know anything, as long as you’re willing to learn and do well. And just put yourself out there and recognize that, yeah, I may not know, but I want to learn.
Um, I’m at the beginning, but I want to advance. Um, you can do it. And in this country, you can definitely do it. So, um, I would say that was the challenge, but it was also a great lesson for me that I can do it. So every time I found myself in challenging situations in my career later on, I would go back to that moment and be like, Well, I did it then, so that means that I can do it again.
Porschia: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think that is a great, great story to share. And thank you for sharing that with, with us, Fibia, because we, as a firm, we do have a lot [00:10:00] of, um, international clients and, you know, they are coming and, you know, they might. Have varying levels of confidence with, you know, their English and really just understanding, you know, how things operate in America.
And so it’s great that you just jumped in and, you know, we’re able to not only learn, but be promoted to a leadership.
Fibia: Yeah. And I think, you know, not that you mentioned that you have, you know, several international clients. It’s, it’s really tough, you know, coming from a different country where the culture might be different.
And, um, some of them are probably very educated people that have experience working experience in their country. And they come here and it’s, it’s really a struggle. And that’s something that, you know, I’m really passionate about. And it’s probably a good intro into the mentoring because I love working with this, um, the people that move here from other countries, you know, and they’re trying to figure [00:11:00] out how to integrate themselves, how to, cause some of them don’t even believe that they can have a good professional job here.
Um, Because they feel like they don’t speak the language, they don’t understand the work culture. So I’m really passionate and over the years I’ve been working with several people just kind of helping them understand that you can transfer your skills, you can learn the language, you can learn the culture, the work culture and really have a successful successful career here in the States as well.
So that’s that’s a little bit of part of my mentoring, I would
Porschia: say. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like definitely a lot of aspects of advising and peer mentoring, and that’s a great segue, Fibia. I want to kind of start with the basics for some listeners. What is
Fibia: peer mentoring? So peer mentoring is really, um, you know, I like to refer to it as a [00:12:00] relationship between You know, in our case, two professionals, right, is where both.
It’s a one on one mentoring, where both people are at very similar levels. in their professional journey, let’s say, right? So in traditional mentoring, you will always have a person that’s ahead, that it’s mentoring a person that’s maybe at the start of their career. Or it could be not just professional, it could be mentoring and other aspects of life.
In peer mentoring, Nobody’s really mentoring someone else or nobody’s more advanced, or you could be more advanced in maybe one area, but then in another area, the other your pair might be advanced, right? So the idea is, um, that those two people, you know, that are in this relationship are just helping each other navigate.
whatever they’re going through in life, you know, in our case, professional challenges, professional, [00:13:00] um, you know, just journey, you know, as a woman for us, it’s one on one peer mentoring for women, right? So women can go through so many different things. And we like to integrate personal life into it because as you know, you cannot be successful at what you do for work.
If you’re not successful at what you do. with yourself, right? You have to be doing well yourself in order to be successful at work. We believe that it’s an integration in between the two. So yeah, it’s just both person are pretty much a very similar level, a very similar stage in life. Um, and that’s kind of how we match them as well.
But that’s what peer mentoring is. It’s, I like to say it is doing life with someone. Oh,
Porschia: I love that. I love that doing life with someone. Um, and thank you for talking about the difference between traditional mentoring, um, where, you know, someone is perhaps Further along in their career, [00:14:00] generally they’re older and they are mentoring someone who is earlier in their career or earlier in that industry or that profession.
Um, so they are generally seen at as being on different levels. Um, and so thank you for clarifying that with. Peer mentoring. We have done an episode on mentoring on the podcast before. And I thought this was a great kind of follow up to that, to just share what you mentioned, right? That different perspective of being on a similar level, um, with
Fibia: someone just to, um, kind of.
Make sure it’s understood, you know, the traditional mentoring, you know, I’m a big proponent of it. I think it’s amazing, right? I’ve always had mentors in life professionally and and in my personal life. Um, and I love to be there and mentor other people. But, um. I also see the benefits of that peer mentoring.
So I think it’s great if you can have both in life, you know, have a mentor, also mentor [00:15:00] other people because, you know, you can’t just receive, you have to be able to give some to others. Um, but then have someone that’s pretty much in the same life stage as you to do life with. And I know I need to say this here, because some people may say, well, I have best friends.
I have a spouse. Peer mentoring is very different. You know, you have your spouse, you know, if you do, and that you share life with, and hopefully it’s your best friend that you can go to. And then you have your best friends that you probably share. All the fun, all the good and everything with. But then when you have someone that’s a peer mentor, the relationship is a little bit different.
Um, because It’s more neutral, right? So sometimes this person that doesn’t really know you, doesn’t know your personal stuff, doesn’t know, um, maybe even some of the struggles on, on the, the professional, and you tend to open up a little more, um, with someone like that, that that’s [00:16:00] neutral and doesn’t know all the ins and outs.
Um, and that’s why I feel like there’s, there’s such a benefit of having this, um, peer mentoring in your life. Thank
Porschia: you so much for making that distinction. Well, one, we have another episode on the podcast called, um, support system one on one. And I talked to our clients about having a career support system, and I make that same distinction that you just did Fibia.
So yes, you will have, may have your spouse or your partner, your family and your friends. But just like you mentioned, I’ve seen it with hundreds and hundreds of clients. A lot of times those are not the best individuals to have in your career support system because they can be biased and they’re usually biased, um, just naturally, right?
They have their own thoughts, perceptions of who and how you are, um, or how you were, you know, 10, 20 years ago. And they’re bringing [00:17:00] that to the conversations that they have with you. That’s in their kind of frame of reference. So having a career support system with individuals who are generally professionals, and like you mentioned, I love the word that you used, Fibia neutral.
I also just say like they’re unbiased, right? They don’t have that agenda for you. Having people in your career support system like that is so important and they do serve a different role than family and friends. So thank you so much for, for making that distinction for people as well. So, um, you alluded to this before, but I want to kind of dig in a little deeper.
So in your opinion, what are some of the benefits of peer mentoring?
Fibia: Honestly, I’ll take this portion to my own experience, right? Um, Because that is where peer mentoring started with us at, at Leona. That’s how we became one of the services that we offer at [00:18:00] Leona community. It started with my own experience of years ago as a woman entrepreneur, I found myself.
Lonely many times and we know that just being an entrepreneur, you know, finding yourself in that space, uh, you can find yourself lonely, but then when you’re a woman on top of it, and then in my case, I’m a woman of faith. And for me, it was very important to have people like me around that. Could share and understand the way I go about doing business.
So I was part of a lot of groups like networking groups and organizations, professional organizations, where I learned a lot of, I just learned a lot when it comes to running a business. Right. But. I didn’t feel like I had that person that I could just call and be like, Hey, this is what I’m struggling with in my business right now.
Are you going through something like that? And sometimes a mentor who [00:19:00] has maybe done, you know, who has probably opened up businesses before and has been in this space and it’s way ahead. Some of them tend to forget, you know, or maybe not forget, but. It’s easier for them to say or give you all the advice of how to do it together.
But sometimes you just need to, to talk to someone that maybe is going through the same challenges as you are at the same time. It’s just a different dynamic. So I, I truly felt like I needed persons like that, uh, in my life and, and I searched it and somehow it, it, You know, through different ways, cause I tried a lot of different things.
Um, I found myself having a couple of those women that became my peer mentors. And it was amazing because I will go through challenges like, Hey, you know, my business is doing great is at this point where it’s about to grow. Which means that I need to hire because I’m getting more clients. How do you go from this to hiring people to [00:20:00] having the responsibilities?
And you know what, you know, it’s, it’s a completely different stories when you have employees. So I would have this person that I would just call and be on the phone with for 30 minutes, an hour. And she will go through the same things like me. You know, she was a woman, business owner, a woman of faith. And I’m like, I’m struggling with this and that, how do you deal with it?
And honestly, I think it saved me and my business during that time because it was a very stressful time for me when it came to just business ownership and having this person to call, or she would call me and we would have standing meetings once a month, but then we would message each other. It was honestly amazing.
I cannot put it into words how, how life saving that was for me and my business. So from there, we decided when we started Leona that we would love to, um, just kind of create an environment like that, but other women can find each other [00:21:00] and, um, walk through in our case, we do it for six months at a time.
So you have this person that you’re walking with, uh, for six months and. helping each other, whatever, whether that is, uh, in our case, professional, personal, spiritual, but you have this person that you’re walking with. And then our goal is that you’re actually building a deeper relationship from it as well, a deep connection to take it even farther from there.
And the hope is to even become a flourishing relationship, maybe a friendship.
Porschia: The career one on one podcast is brought to you by fly high coaching, where we help our clients soar to their full potential more and more professionals and executives are setting out to achieve their career goals, but without the right support, it can be difficult, if not impossible.[00:22:00]
Fibia: I’m not sure if I, if I really answered your question with this, but yeah, you did,
Porschia: you did. And I think you gave a lot of good benefits in that. So Thank you. Thank you. Let’s say, Phoebe, as someone is listening and they’re like, you know what, I do want to try peer mentoring. We’ve mentioned how, you know, this person should be at a similar level as you in their career or, you know, their business.
But what else should a professional or an executive look for in a peer mentor? I would
Fibia: also say look at similar stages in life, you know, outside of the professional, um, uh, aside, aside from where you are professionally, because that is important. If you are a woman, for example, that just had a baby and you’re [00:23:00] navigating different kinds of challenges there, right?
How do you go back to work? How, and, and I’m not a mom. I just, I’m surrounded by several women who just had babies in the past few years and, um, they’re professional women. So now they’re figuring out how to integrate both the personal with a professional life. So I would say that’s an example, right? Find someone that’s in a similar stage like you, or maybe you have grown kids, they’re teenagers, or maybe they’re off to college, um, find someone that has those similarities because they would understand what you’re talking about.
There’s you cannot, I don’t believe you can separate your professional from personal life, nor do I think that we should. I don’t think it’s healthy. Um, so having people that. even personally would understand what you’re going through when you’re going through the challenges in your professional life.
It’s really, really important. Um, [00:24:00] and I think that’s why in the business world today, we separate those or we try to separate those two so much. And, um, it’s why we find ourselves in this like struggle for balance or, or feeling like we’re not understood because We’re either one way or another, and we’re not built like that, right?
We spend so much at work as we do, um, with our families or our personal life. So that’s, that’s one. Find someone that even, uh, personally, it’s in a very similar stage, um, of life with you. Or maybe has, um, we go even further, you know, in our, in our matching process to kind of try to figure out even personalities.
Because we want to make sure that those women can open up to each other. Um, and become vulnerable to each other. So personalities, it’s, it’s, it’s pretty important there. Um, maybe more of an artistic style versus, um, I don’t know, are you more structured? So we’re looking at all of those. The idea is to be [00:25:00] able to, um, create a connection vulnerability and a safe space.
And usually we do that with people that we feel like are similar to us.
Porschia: So what are some things or activities that you’ve seen work well in a peer mentoring relationship?
Fibia: So we are obviously at the beginning with our peer mentoring at Leona. It’s going to be really interesting to have this discussion once we go through one of the cycles.
But just from my own experience, I think it’s What I’m seeing is that women in our case, but I think people just create really trustworthy relationships. And I think that’s, that’s really important, um, in the professional world today, because I feel like so many times we just. It’s hard to trust when you’re out there that anybody has your back.
And that’s one of the things that we’re going for just really establishing those like trustworthy relationships. So that’s one of the things [00:26:00] that we see women really feel like they can trust this person and open up to this person. And then with that comes through help, um, and just being able to be vulnerable with each other.
So that’s one of the things that we see and, uh, friendships. You know, a couple of the women that I was in this relationship of fear of peer mentoring over the past few years became some of my closest friends today. And to me, that is just absolutely amazing. I, because I’m such a big lover of relationship and friendships and especially in between women that, um, I think, I think that’s really important.
And then you can find someone to do life or even outside of the professional relationship or the professional mentoring that. You’re trying to to achieve because we do know that relationships are so important for health and longevity in life. So my ultimate goal when I think of any kind of mentoring is [00:27:00] how can those relationships or is there a potential for those relationships to become more than just a mentoring relationship?
So,
Porschia: I want to ask about challenges. So what are some of the, you know, biggest mistakes you’ve seen people make
Fibia: with peer mentoring? Oh, I think it’s this idea of this other person can fix my problems or can fix my challenges or has a solution or needs to have a solution to everything that I’m going through.
And that’s not the case, right? Nobody will ever have a solution for, for the challenges that are. That you’re going through. It doesn’t matter if it’s a peer mentor or if it’s a mentor who’s years ahead of you or even a therapist. Right? So it’s having the right expectations when you get into a peer mentoring relationship.
And that’s something that we’re very careful to do when we match women here at Leona is. You’re not [00:28:00] once this person is not going to fix your professional problems, challenges, issues, or personal ones, nor are you there to fix the other person. Right? So the idea is to be there for each other to be able to talk through challenges.
Um, and hopefully, You know, this person can offer a point of view that maybe it’s different than yours that maybe you haven’t thought about or you can offer, um, your peer mentor a different, um, just different point of view that comes from your own experiences in life. So that’s. That’s the idea of it, and I think this is one of the biggest challenge, you know, that people go in, into any mentoring relationship, honestly, with the belief that they can be fixed or fix other people, um, and, and that’s just not the case.
Yeah. I love how you
Porschia: pointed that out. Just in general, but also not, you know, having that goal of fixing your peer [00:29:00] mentor. And I think Vivian, you can tell me, you know, based on your experience from what you’ve seen in your community, but I would think that sometimes that could be challenging. For those of us who are consultants or coaches or advisors in some way, because a lot of times I think, and I’ll, I’ll speak for myself.
My mind goes into like problem solving, fix it mode, you know, just naturally. And so, you know, just stepping back and being aware of the type of relationship that you’re in. And this person isn’t a client or, you know, someone else in that professional space, but, uh, what are your thoughts
Fibia: there? I like that.
You say that this person is not a client. So I think that’s important to, um, to, to start with that, but then I will go back and say, this is why it’s important to, to start with this neutral relationship because, um, you know, you’re not, um. Okay. I think it’s [00:30:00] easier when it’s neutral and you don’t know the other person to just Kind of take a step back and not trying to fix them or not trying to get into the, um, consulting mode.
You know, if that’s what it is. And, and I am like that too, right, excuse me. I see, I see solutions right away and I want to, I want to fix it. I do that for myself and I want to do that for other people. So I completely understand that. What I found interesting Portia is that, um, when I am with my family or best friends or close friends.
I tend to get into that mode, the fix it mode, right? Because I care for these people. I love them. If I see the solution, you know, for the problem, I want to help them. I want to fix it. I kind of want to force the solution on them. And I know that’s, that’s not good, but, but let’s be honest, you know, I am like that.
Uh, but what I find that in, in my mentoring relationships, and I have been a mentor for about 12 years at this [00:31:00] point in, um, when I find myself with a new person in a mentoring relationship, I completely take a step back and listen, get into the listening mode. It’s, it’s interesting, even for me. to observe that about myself because I am very different with a person that’s completely new and neutral to me and I know that I am in this mentoring relationship with than when I’m with my family or my best friends.
So I don’t feel the need of, of kind of forcing my solution on them, but I step back and I listen, and I listen because honestly, a good mentor, that’s what it is. You have to listen and listen and listen and observe. Um, so I would say that I, Usually doesn’t happen as much when you are in a relationship with someone that you don’t know.
You don’t have prejudices. Hopefully you don’t. You don’t have biases. It’s just this new [00:32:00] person. You, I think it’s easier. To step back and not offer solutions as quickly, at least, and you’re just gonna, if you are one of those personalities, like you and I, I think it’s good to just kind of check yourself, you know, and, and remind yourself that you are here to listen, not to, not to fix this person.
Porschia: I completely agree with everything that you said, and also if the person is neutral, or in my case, if I just meet someone, yeah, I’m definitely less inclined to kind of go into fix it mode as if it were like a family member, right, or something like that, so yeah. Well, Phoebe, tell us more about Leona Community.
Fibia: Leona community. Um, yeah, Leona is truly an organization that was born, as I mentioned earlier, from my own desire for my own people. That’s really what it is. Um, also, I have this [00:33:00] huge passion to see women just thrive, right? Um, I am a true believer that we were women. Each design very uniquely with, with our special gifts and talents.
And, um, and I love seeing women kind of being able to, to live like that, to figure out, you know, this is my talent. Um, I want to live this good life. So I’m all about helping women figuring out, you know, that. Or giving them the courage to, to just kind of follow their dreams or live the life that they can live.
So that’s what Leona Community does. It’s a community for women, women leaders of faith. We started with this because we want to help women feel just supported and encouraged and motivated to go and, and, and live this good life, but feel like. They’re not by themselves in this journey, because so many times we feel alone.
And [00:34:00] it’s, it’s, it’s so crazy. I use my own story here because, you know, nobody would have ever thought of me that I feel lonely at times, because I’m this very social person, you know, you always see me with friends. You always see me with people. I’m always the one bringing people together. And I find myself lonely many times when it comes to, you know, the business world or certain aspects.
Um, and also I, I wanted to create a space where women can feel completely safe and free and authentic. Uh, you know, I got, honestly, I got tired of those networking events where people go in and women go in and they start looking at each other and judging each other. And I wanted a space where Women can come in and it doesn’t matter how you look, it doesn’t matter what brands you’re wearing, it doesn’t matter, you know, are you single?
Are you married? Do you have children? What color are you? I, I just want to be able to, [00:35:00] I want to be able to bring these women together in a space where they feel, and when I say space, I don’t necessarily mean a physical space, although that’s part of it. But a space where they can feel that they can be free, free, it’s a big word for me, free and authentic, so they can communicate with other women, they can support other women being supported, empowered and encouraged by other women without the, the worry that someone is looking at me, someone is judging me.
So, and, and that’s what we’re striving for really creating that space and, and I think we’re doing pretty good at it so far. Women seem to really love it. And, and on top of it, I wanted it to be a fun space. I’m all about fun and colors and joy. So, um, and we like that as women. We like that. We like beautiful things.
We like joy. Um, we psychologically were, were made. So we, we, we kind of yeah. like to get together to even solve problems [00:36:00] in life. It just works well for us women. So that’s all I want to ask. Yeah, I can, I can talk about it for forever, uh, a portion of what it is, but, you know, in simple words is a community for women leaders, truly, and it’s a global community.
We have, um, digital, a lot of digital services, you know, one of them being the one on one peer mentoring. We have leader development groups, but we also have in person events where we just try to get together and have a good time and just curate, um, this. Good relationships between women. We have yoga retreats.
So that’s, that’s kind of part of, of what we do right now. And of course the podcast, which is, uh, truly sharing women’s stories. I’m a true believer of giving the women, giving women a microphone, you know, let them share their stories. We all have a story and I believe in us being able to, I think we all like to share our stories, but I believe in us.
Sharing our stories in our own words, not through the [00:37:00] lenses of other people, social media or, or any other way, but let the woman tell her story. And with that, you just never know who else you’re going to impact or help. And if it’s just one other person that we’re helping, that’s great for me.
Porschia: I love it.
I love all of that. Sounds amazing. We’ll be providing a link to your website and other social channels in our show notes so that people can find Leona online. But what is the best way for someone to get in touch with you, Fibia?
Fibia: With me? Um, well, you can find me on social media. I am there. Instagram, so my name, Fibia G.
It’s really easy to find me. There are not many with this name out there. Um, and then Leona community, um, at this point, um, I’m the one that’s, um, that’s still curating the content for Leona community. So it’s easy to find me on, um, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn. [00:38:00]
Porschia: Great. Great. So this is our last question that we ask all of our guests.
How do you think executives or professionals can get a positive edge in their career?
Fibia: Portia, you know, I’m a, I’m a true believer in being yourself. I think out there in, in this business world, there’s so much of, you should be this way. You should do this way. You should have this routine. You should wake up at that time.
We should leave it, you know, I don’t like the shoots. So, um, I, I say figure out who you are as an individual, what works for you, just you, and then lean into that. Um, that’s gonna give you an edge that’s going to make you an amazing leader out there. If you figure out if you know who you are and have routines and lifestyles that [00:39:00] are supporting your own health, physical, mental health, you will be amazing as an executive out there.
You cannot be great when you try to be someone else, or if you don’t take care of yourself. I definitely
Porschia: agree. Well, Phoebe, you have shared a lot of great insights with us today, and I’m sure that our listeners can use it to be more confident in their careers and get some peer networking or mentoring, I should say.
But I think there’s networking, a lot of that going on in the community as well, but really that peer mentoring together. So we appreciate
Fibia: you being with us. Thank you so much for having me, Portia. I had fun.
This
Porschia: episode was brought to you by the Brave Bird Career Alliance, the go to membership designed for [00:40:00] seasoned executives and ambitious professionals with everything you need for career planning, strategy, training, and support. Thank you again for listening to the Career 101 podcast. I hope you have at least one key takeaway that you can use in your own life.
Career. If you enjoyed hanging out with us, please rate, subscribe, and share this podcast. Until next time, here’s to your success.
