On January 23rd, over 70 women attended the 2nd Annual WISE Houston Speed Mentoring Roundtable event at Rice University. This number was doubled from last year’s inaugural event!
The Speed Mentoring Roundtable event is held every January in celebration of National Mentoring Month and is a WISE Within national signature event. During this signature event, attendees had the opportunity to have invaluable professional development discussions with nine top executives (featured mentors) from the Houston sports industry. Those featured mentors were:
· Janis Burke: CEO, Harris County – Houston Sports Authority
· Leilani Costa: Events and Promotions Manager, Houston Rockets
· Lisa Gagnon: Executive Director of Marketing, PR, and Presentations, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
· Valerie Holland: Senior Manager of Community Relations and Corporate Communications: Houston Dynamo
· Nina Jackson: Regional Director of Marketing and Public Relations, SMG-NRG Park
· Kate Klein: Director of Business Development and Marketing, Houston Marathon Committee Inc.
· Chanda Lawdermilk: Senior Manager of Human Resources, Houston Astros
· Patti Smith: Public Relations Director, Harris County – Houston Sports Authority
· Suzie Thomas: Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer, Houston Texans
Attendees were divided into smaller groups based on years of industry experience. Each group had a featured mentor, and discussions were facilitated by a WISE Within committee member. The groups discussed a specific topic for about 20 minutes, before the mentor rotated to a new table. Discussion topics included: being a mentor/mentee, being a woman in the sport industry, salary/promotion negotiations, and work/life balance. The event was emceed by Carrie Potter, WISE Houston President.
What a great opportunity for our featured mentors to pay it forward to the next generation of Women In Sports and Events!
-Written By: Kerri Barber