The Career Mentor Podcast with Fexingo: Finding Mentors, Sponsors, and Career Advisors

Starting a second career later in life brings unique mentorship challenges: you have more experience than most junior professionals but less domain knowledge than established ones. In this episode of The Career Mentor Podcast with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore specific strategies for second-career professionals. They discuss how to reframe your existing skills, find mentors at the right level, a...

This episode tackles the unique challenge of finding a mentor when you're already a senior leader—vice president, director, or C-suite. Lucas and Luna explore why mentorship gets harder as you climb, and they focus on one concrete strategy: the 'peer mentor swap.' They break down how a VP of marketing at a mid-size tech company traded monthly strategy sessions with a peer from a different industry...

Episode 80 of The Career Mentor Podcast tackles a counterintuitive problem: what to do when you're already performing at a high level but still feel stuck. Lucas and Luna explore why top performers often struggle to find mentors who can genuinely help them level up, using the real-world example of a senior engineer at Stripe who hit a wall despite stellar reviews. They discuss the difference betwe...

Episode 79 of The Career Mentor Podcast tackles a specific and often overlooked challenge: finding a mentor when you are a mid-career professional with 10-20 years of experience. Lucas and Luna explore why traditional mentorship advice falls short for this group, using the case of a 45-year-old marketing director who successfully pivoted to a new industry with the help of a peer mentor. They discu...

In this episode of The Career Mentor Podcast, Lucas and Luna tackle the fear of rejection that often prevents professionals from reaching out to potential mentors. Using a specific study from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, they explore why we overestimate how awkward it will be to ask for help, and share a practical three-step approach called 'the micro-ask' to build mentoring r...

This episode tackles the specific challenge of finding a mentor as a first-time founder, drawing on the real-world example of Brian Chesky, who leaned on Warren Buffett and other seasoned entrepreneurs when scaling Airbnb from a startup to a public company. Lucas and Luna break down why traditional mentoring frameworks fail founders—they need sponsors, not just advice-givers—and walk through a pra...

Episode 76 of The Career Mentor Podcast tackles a specific, high-stakes scenario: career changers over 40. Lucas and Luna unpack the unique challenges—age bias, salary compression, competing life commitments—and share actionable strategies like the 'two-step ladder' approach, tapping alumni networks for mid-career switchers, and reframing experience as a mentor magnet. They dissect a real case of...

In this episode of The Career Mentor Podcast, Lucas and Luna tackle a scenario many professionals face but rarely talk about: what to do when you've survived a layoff, a restructuring, or a major shakeup — and now you're plateaued in a role that feels like a dead end. Using the story of a mid-level marketing manager at a Fortune 500 firm who kept her job during a 2025 RIF but lost her growth traje...

In this episode of The Career Mentor Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how to seek mentorship when imposter syndrome makes you feel like a fraud. They discuss a 10-minute rule for cold outreach, the value of admitting uncertainty, and a concrete case from a software engineer who landed a VP-level mentor by asking a specific technical question. Listeners learn practical strategies for overcoming the...

In this episode of The Career Mentor Podcast, Lucas and Luna tackle the unique challenges of finding a mentor when you are switching careers. They discuss why traditional networking advice often falls short for career switchers and introduce a specific strategy: the 'informational interview with a twist.' Lucas shares a real-world example of an accountant who successfully pivoted to product manage...

Lucas and Luna tackle a specific career challenge that many listeners have written in about: finding a mentor when you're introverted. They discuss why traditional networking advice often backfires for introverts and offer concrete alternatives like the 'one meaningful question' technique, the value of asynchronous outreach, and the surprising power of small-group settings. Lucas shares research f...

In this episode of The Career Mentor Podcast, Lucas and Luna tackle a common but under-discussed challenge: finding a mentor when your main career path doesn't quite fit—because you're balancing a side hustle. Using the example of a marketing manager named Priya who runs a small Etsy business, we explore how to identify mentors who understand the dual pressures of a day job and a passion project....

Episode 70 of The Career Mentor Podcast tackles a delicate problem: you have more experience than the people around you, but you still need guidance. Lucas and Luna discuss the trap of being the smartest person in the room, why CEOs often hire external coaches despite decades of experience, and how to reframe a mentor as a thinking partner rather than a teacher. They explore a real example from Ma...

In Episode 69 of The Career Mentor Podcast, Lucas and Luna tackle a question that trips up many ambitious professionals: How do you find a mentor when you're just starting to invest in the stock market or your first rental property? They walk through a real-world case of a 28-year-old marketing manager named Priya who wanted to learn real estate investing but felt her finance colleagues wouldn't t...

Episode 68 of The Career Mentor Podcast tackles the delicate art of finding a mentor who will push back, not just cheerlead. Lucas and Luna explore why comfortable mentors can stall your growth and share a practical framework for identifying a 'disconfirmer' — someone who tests your assumptions. They unpack the story of a product manager who intentionally sought out a mentor from a completely diff...

Episode 67 of The Career Mentor Podcast tackles a common problem: what to do when your employer doesn't offer a formal mentorship program. Lucas and Luna discuss a concrete strategy used by an engineer at a midsize logistics firm who built her own mentoring network from scratch. They walk through the three-step process she used to identify potential mentors, start conversations without awkwardness...

Lucas and Luna explore the distinct challenge of finding a mentor when you're pivoting to a new industry. They discuss why your existing network often doesn't translate, how to identify potential mentors who've made a similar jump, and the specific questions you should ask to build credibility. Lucas shares a concrete example from a former marketing executive who moved into clean energy tech, and...

In this episode of The Career Mentor Podcast with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna tackle a common but overlooked challenge: finding a mentor when you work at a small company, where the hierarchy is flat, senior people are stretched thin, and there are few obvious mentor candidates. They use the case of a fictional marketing coordinator at a 30-person startup to walk through concrete strategies — like the...

Episode 64 of The Career Mentor Podcast tackles a specific challenge that affects millions of professionals: finding mentorship when English is your second language. Lucas and Luna break down why language confidence is often a hidden barrier in networking and mentoring relationships, drawing on input from ESL career coaches and research on workplace communication. Lucas shares three concrete strat...

In this episode of The Career Mentor Podcast, Lucas and Luna dive into a challenge that’s become central to modern careers: how to build meaningful mentoring relationships when you never see colleagues in person. They break down why traditional advice about 'grabbing coffee' or 'bumping into someone in the hallway' fails for remote workers, and offer three concrete strategies that actually work in...

Lucas opens with a striking stat: 70% of first-generation college students graduate without a professional mentor, compared to 40% of their peers. He and Luna unpack why networking feels like a foreign language when your family can't offer introductions or insider advice. They walk through specific plays: how to use LinkedIn's alumni tool to find fellow first-gens at target companies, the power of...

Returning from parental leave is one of the most disruptive career transitions, yet virtually no mentoring programs address it. Lucas and Luna break down the specific barriers new parents face—from schedule compression to identity shift—and offer a concrete playbook for seeking mentorship that respects your new constraints. They discuss the 'sponsor gap' that parents often experience and how to re...

Lucas and Luna tackle a tough career scenario: what happens when your mentor pushes you toward decisions that clash with your personal ethics or values? Using the example of a marketing manager at Meta who felt pressured to prioritize growth over user privacy, they explore frameworks for navigating value conflicts in mentoring relationships. Lucas shares a three-step approach — clarify your own no...

Ep 59 of The Career Mentor Podcast. Lucas and Luna tackle the awkward but essential skill of ending a mentoring relationship gracefully. Using the story of a marketing manager named Priya who stayed with a mentor for two years past the relationship's shelf life, they break down the three signs it's time to move on: when you stop preparing for meetings, when the advice feels recycled, and when you...

Managing people for the first time is one of the biggest career transitions, yet most new managers receive little training. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore why the first 90 days as a manager are the perfect time to seek a mentor—and how to find one who won't just tell you what to do, but will help you think like a leader. They discuss the surprising statistic that 60% of new managers fail...