Ramona: I thought becoming a mentor would be a great opportunity to give something back from all the experiences that I had as a girl at University and when I found my first job. I learnt that there are always new things to learn and I was very grateful to all the people who helped me in finding out what I wanted to do. I think I take a lot of things for granted, so I wanted to learn more about myself too.

Henrike: There are so many different opportunities offered to us at school but I was reading about The Girls’ Network in an article and I thought it would be such a nice thing to have a mentor and to get to know more about life and have a person who can support me and show me more things.

Ramona: I think for our particular relationship it was great to have a shared German background. It’s hard moving away from home and it’s nice to think about your roots. I learnt a lot about the school system here which I didn’t know.

Henrike: It connects us even more and we have similar experiences. We didn’t grow up here and I think that gives us more things to talk about and more shared experiences. It’s really good to have time to think about myself. You always think about yourself of course but to spend time thinking about your skills, strengths, what I want to develop, this is the kind of thinking you don’t do in everyday life. You get to know yourself better. I know how to improve now and Ramona knows how to help me and give me advice.

Ramona: I use a lot of examples from my own life: I know that curiosity leads to skills, which leads to strengths and areas you’d like to improve. I don’t like to call them weaknesses, they’re just areas you’d like to improve. In our session next Monday we’ll be covering personal statements. It’s interesting to see how I can support you to talk about your interests and what you’re curious about. I have to admit you’re a tough mentee because you’re very smart and very bright, so I really need to prepare for the sessions. You have a lot of skills and interests already. It’s challenging, but it’s a cool experience and I really enjoy meeting with you!

Henrike: Thank you. I feel the same and I think you’re the best mentor for me. Picking Universities and writing personal statements are not familiar things to me. Also when we looked at different jobs it’s been great: even when I already have some useful thoughts on what I want to do, you can push and develop those thoughts.

Meg: I decided to get involved in The Girls’ Network after a friend told me Charly and Becca’s story. It was perfect for me because I want everything I do professionally and personally to be helping others. I really wanted to use my skills to engage with younger people and help them develop their confidence and be empowered. I hope it’s going well so far!

Naimah: When I first heard of it, I thought it was really cool that the mentors represented a range of different careers women can work in. These are women who at my age maybe didn’t have the confidence to get to where they are now, but then they did achieve all these great things. I see now that I can be one of those people. At this moment in time I’m not confident and I don’t know what I want to do. This time next year I hope I’ll know more.

Meg: I want to help you with that! I just think girls should do what they put their minds to. What have Naimah and I been covering so far? Well we both like to plan ahead so we’ve kept a structure and followed The Girls’ Network’s curriculum. We talked a lot about your confidence, what your strengths are. I noticed you have a lot of insight into why you may be good at certain things or not so good at them. You’re very self-aware… which you might not be aware of!

Naimah: I feel I never realise what it might be that’s stopping me. If I don’t achieve what I want right now it’s going to be because I’m not confident enough. But why am I not?

Meg: So that’s what we’re working on now. On what’s stopping you and what’s creating that self doubt… and what mechanisms we can put in place to create that confidence.