What Would We Do Without Her? Mentoring and Building Success.

This week is National Business Women’s Week, and as a woman-founded, owned, and guided business, we want to take a moment and reflect on the value mentoring has on building business success. With four decades of corporate and institutional communications and brand development, the team at Bosha understands the value of collaboration and nurturing talent—it is written in our values and woven into every aspect of our business. We understand that mentoring is a two-way street; when you take the time to teach, you get the opportunity to learn.

Barb remembers the day Sallie Garfield walked into her office, asking just for the chance to watch the Bosha team in action. “We happened to have an empty desk,” says Barb. “So, I said ‘sure.’”

Sallie, a recent graduate of Bucknell University, who had completed some course work at Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, was considering a career in graphic design but, true to her nature, wanted to learn more. “I had sent Barb some samples of my work, and she said, ‘Why don’t you come in?” At first, they were just trying to find somethings for me to do.”

Barb laughs. “We quickly went from Sallie asking ‘What can I do?” to the rest of us saying ‘What would we do without her?”

Over time, Sallie morphed from mentee to intern to team member; finding her stride and developing her talents. “I just kept coming back! They took a chance on me, finding things for me to do. No one expected me to know everything. I had the opportunity to try things and figure out my strengths. Twenty years later. I am still here.”

Now a senior digital strategist and anchor of the Bosha team, Sallie did not just learn marketable skills from her mentor, she learned how to be flexible and fearless about the projects that came through the door. “I really developed a can-do attitude. Barb is always learning something new, always saying yes to new challenges. I love that we evolve together.”

Taking a chance on Sallie turned out to be a great strategic move in the long-term for Bosha, but Barb is quick to point out, that as a mentor sharing hard-earned skills and experiences, she gained clarity of purpose. “When you explain what you do and why you do it, it reinforces best practices, making you better at what you do. As that relationship developed, I have also had the opportunity to learn and benefit from Sallie’s perspective,” says Barb, “Mentoring is a very valuable tool in creating excellence.”