mentorship program faqs
what’s the schedule for the MENTORSHIP program?
July-August : Accepting Applications
We are excited to have you involved! Use the our application form to apply! You will be notified the week of August 14 if we’ve established a successful match.
Early September: Kickoff Event
This is when you will learn more about how you might structure your 12 weeks together and get to meet fellow mentors and mentees.
Mid November: Closing Event
This is when we will celebrate our community achievements, establish methods for staying connected moving forward, and hear from applicants about how their process went.
WHAT’S MY COMMITMENT?
The mentorship program is held over the course of 10 weeks. We ask that all participants commit to being fully engaged in the mentoring relationship for the duration of the program, including attending the Kickoff and Closing events.
Each mentoring relationship is unique: you set your individual goals with your partner, drawing on the experience of the mentor and the aspirations and interests of the mentee.
Generally, our mentoring partners try to meet in person/virtually at least once a week, and keep in regular contact by email. After an initial in-person meeting, Skype, FaceTime and Google Hangouts can be a great way to continue the conversation.
WID-SF provides ongoing support to you during the program and hosts two mentorship-only events – a Kickoff event and a Wrap Up event – where you can meet up with your mentorship partner and other mentors and mentees in the program. We also invite you to attend other WID-SF events, workshops, and happy hours during the program.
WHO SHOULD APPLY?
We’re open to all femme-identifying and non-binary designers.
Mentors: Active professionals – employed or retired – predominantly working in the field of industrial design, with 5+ years of relevant experience. However, we welcome those with other design-related backgrounds as well, like graphic design, visual arts, user interface or user experience, design strategy, design operations and design management.
Mentees: Designers at any stage of their career, students in their last year of an undergraduate program or any year of graduate school.
To apply, mentors and mentees must fill out an application and choose their interests within the program. Applications will be used to find the best matches. Matching will depend on the number of participants and their interests. Once you have been matched, you will be notified and meet your mentoring partner in person at our kickoff event in October.
what happens if i don’t get matched?
Not everyone will be immediately matched with a mentor or mentee. We want to ensure quality over quantity, and sometimes there aren’t enough great mentors/mentees to match with! But, not to worry – we’ll let you know if a match comes along for the next mentorship session, and check in with you at that point if you’re still interested in participating. In the meantime, we encourage you to attend upcoming WID-SF events to connect with our broader design community.