Mindful Mentoring w/Tom Martin

Send us Fan Mail The Lagrant Foundation has made a profound difference in the lives of hundreds of young people over the last twenty-seven years, thanks to the vision of its founder Kim Hunter. Kim cites two Lagrant Foundation scholarship recipients as examples of the program's impact: Juwan Thompson, Assistant Vice President of Communications at Proctor & Gamble, and Jessica Shih, Direct...

Send us Fan Mail "When is the right time to contact my mentor? I don't want to bother them, and I know they're busy." "How do I know what questions to ask, or when to seek help?" "How do I get the most out of this relationship?" We hear these questions all the time, and in this episode we give you some useful answers through two people who practice what they...

Send us Fan Mail Conversations with an employer about compensation can be the most uncomfortable ones you have. It’s not easy to ask for a pay raise at any stage of your career. But it can be especially intimidating in the early years. When is the right time to start the conversation? How do you determine what is fair? What are the risks of bringing up the topic, or of just avoiding it altogether?...

Send us Fan Mail Many describe it as the toughest year of their careers and lives. The first year after graduation can be exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. Listen to how four Martin Scholars have handled their transition. One is traveling and working in different parts of the world, another is trying his hand at sports broadcasting, while the other two have begun communication jobs. He...

Send us Fan Mail In the Season Two opener, Mindful Mentoring producer Jim Hickey turns the tables and interviews the podcast's host, Tom Martin. Jim asks Tom about his recent experience receiving an honorary doctorate (along with his wife, Wanda), and delivering the commencement address at the College of Charleston Winter Commencement ceremony. In his speech, Martin challenged the graduates t...

Send us Fan Mail Tiffin Jernstedt is a major figure in the world of fashion and retail communications. She's currently the chief communications officer for the iconic Neiman Marcus Group. Tiffin has worked closely with some of the most famous figures in the fashion industry, including Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein. She has also been an influential mentor throughout her impress...

Send us Fan Mail From his freshman year to senior year in high school, Bradley Akubuiro lost thirteen friends to homicide. Despite a challenging upbringing, he has gone on to work with powerful figures, including Reverend Jesse Jackson and the President of Liberia. He has also worked at the highest echelons of the corporate world, with executive roles at Boeing, United Technologies and Booz Allen...

Send us Fan Mail What is the difference between a mentor and a sponsor, and why are both important? What can we learn from Frederick Douglass the African-American orator who has been gone for over one hundred years? How do Latinos overcome unfair cultural stereotypes? Our guest today has the answers. She is Marta Ronquillo Newhart, a board member of Lincoln Tech, a senior advisor for APCO Worldwid...

Send us Fan Mail His journey began in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in east Africa. Lancie Affonso had never heard of the College of Charleston, but a single letter written by an honors student at the college drew him to become a first-generation student in 1992. More than three decades later, he has earned not only his bachelor's degree, but multiple master's degrees and a reputation as one...

Send us Fan Mail Why do some mentoring relationships succeed, and others fail? What are the keys to a great mentoring experience? Thanks to groundbreaking research from the Martin Center for Mentorship, we are beginning to find the answers. In this episode, Dr. Beth Goodier, the director of the Martin Center, shares some of the findings of this new research. How do you set expectations with your m...

Send us Fan Mail Can LinkedIn help you find your dream job? "Absolutely yes," says Nicole Moreo, and she should know. Moreo is the head of Customer Insights for North America at LinkedIn. In this episode she shares some tips for how to make your LinkedIn profile stand out from the crowd. She talks about the importance of using tools like the "Open to work" photo frame to boost...

Send us Fan Mail Can a college student create an effective mentoring program? Emphatically, yes! Just ask MJ Biener, a senior in the business school at the College of Charleston. He knew he had benefitted from the mentorship of other students, and he wanted to give back. Last year he created Palmetto Mentors, a peer mentorship program that matches incoming freshmen and transfer students at the Col...

Send us Fan Mail How do you change communities for the better? How do you restore hope and belief to a community that had long felt forgotten? How do you empower the citizens of that community and their children to take charge in creating a new future? That's what Metanoia is doing in North Charleston, South Carolina, and College of Charleston graduate Jamilla Harper is a key change agent for...

Send us Fan Mail Graduate School, Is It Right for You? This is a question we hear all the time from current students about to graduate, as well as from those who have been in the workforce a few years but who are looking for a change. Will a graduate degree help? What if I want to change fields? What are some of the pitfalls? This episode features three Martin Scholars graduates who chose to pursu...

Send us Fan Mail How do you know when a job is right for you, and when it isn't? How do you get experience when all the job postings require that you already have experience? What are some ways to keep yourself "job ready" when you're between positions? How do you maintain a positive attitude, even when your position is eliminated? To help us answer these questions, this episod...

Send us Fan Mail “Think of your career as a lattice rather than a ladder. You progress through an interwoven network of mentors—both formal and informal. Be open to gaining new experiences that prepare you for the next challenge, and committing the time to get better at your craft.”  That’s the advice from Andy Hilton, a proven leader in communications and our guest on the latest episode. He’s wor...

Send us Fan Mail Be curious, never underestimate the importance of relationships, take care of your network, and admit your vulnerability. These are just a few of the life lessons Linda Rutherford shares on the latest episode. She is one of the senior leaders at Southwest Airlines, and one of the most highly respected voices in the communications profession. She also is the most recent recipient o...

Send us Fan Mail Should you fake it till you make it? Definitely not, according to Jack Bartlett on this episode. Jack, a Martin Scholar and Honors College student, graduated in 2023 from the College of Charleston. He is now an associate with Totem, a relationship-based consulting firm in Washington, DC. In this episode Jack shares what he's learned in moving to Washington and securing his fi...

Send us Fan Mail Do you need an elevator speech when you're about to meet a roomful of new people? (Hint: maybe not). Why does networking matter and how can you get better at it? What is a "co-pilot" and how can they help you network? Our guest today, Bill Imada, has the answers. Bill is the founder of the National Millennial and Gen Z Community, or NMGZ for short. NMGZ is made up o...

Send us Fan Mail How do you establish trust with a mentor? How do you know when the chemistry is right? What steps can you take to benefit the most from your mentor? In this episode we hear answers to these questions and others from the inaugural recipient of the Martin Center's Emerging Mentor award, Chris Piedmont. Chris and his Martin Scholars protege, Ellie Dukes, share the secrets of goo...

Send us Fan Mail You've found your dream job. But only one obstacle remains...the dreaded interview. How do you nail it? What are the traps to avoid? How do you prepare? This episode focuses on Interviewing , a subject that should be of great interest to anyone about to graduate from college, as well as anyone considering a job change. To help us explore this critically important topic, we sp...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is unlike all the previous ones. Instead of focusing on just one mentor, or one mentee, we focus on one day, Wednesday, March 27. On that day, the Martin Center for Mentorship hosted a mentor-protege luncheon where members of our National Advisory Council got to meet their prospective proteges. You will get to eavesdrop on their conversations and hear how these matche...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to be a successful mentor? What advice does an award-winning mentor have for students and recent graduates looking to benefit from a successful mentoring relationship? For answers, we turn to Bill Heyman, the founder of Heyman Associates, the leading executive search firm focused solely on the communications profession. Bill has also served for many years on the...

Send us Fan Mail At the Martin Center, we’re studying the keys to successful mentorships. What we’re finding is that both the mentor and the mentee enter a mentoring relationship with certain expectations about what they hope to get out of the experience. Some mentees are primarily looking for hard skills that will help them advance. Others are looking for more of the intangibles that are keys to...

Send us Fan Mail In the last episode, you met Taylor Shawver, a highly successful leader who was one of the first Martin Scholars. This episode you meet one of her mentors, Hayes Roth.  Among other accomplishments, the firm he founded ten years ago, HA Roth Consulting, has developed brand strategy for major medical centers, corporations and associations. He worked for 20 years at Landor Associates...