“A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.

” —
Oprah Winfrey

This is because they focus on multiple longer term goals are arguably the
most important people in your life’s journey.

Toastmaster of the evening, fellow toastmasters, guests – a warm good

afternoon to all.

Finding a mentor is one thing but finding a great mentor can be life
changing. I have generalized them into 3 - Mentors by default (our
parents), Mentor by force (our teachers) & Mentors by Choice (friends,
colleagues, boss, toastmasters, etc.). We all have been lucky to have
these three different mentors respectively in our lives too and I am sure you
all would agree too. Whilst we have very little choice on the first two types
– default & force, it is

Now apart from usual project presentation discussions, my close

association with my mentor started during Area 6 annual speech contest
during March 2019, where I volunteered my assistance during a crisis time
and a month later, I was nominated to the Division B Annual conference as
Logistic Chair (still not sure whether he pushed me in).

Later during July 2019, I was offered major role in Division B team as Event
manager. Great mentors don’t just tell you things. They push you to grow
and challenge you to be as great as you can be. The same started
happening to me too.

Under my mentor’s able guidance and leadership, I was Registration Chair

for of PATHWIZ – a quiz program on Pathways followed by Judges, Chief
Judges & Event Chair training program as Event Chair. These were really
a learning experience to be a better leader managing and collaborating a
big team.

Then came the biggest event - Division B Annual Conference where again
my mentor entrusted the toughest role of being the Event Chair. This time
the team and the challenges were even bigger and daunting. He was
instrumental in evaluating every minute details of the arrangements and
was overviewing the progress and making sure we don’t fail anywhere.
That was the leadership quality I learnt during this journey where he never
interfered and just guided us along.
Preparation for the event were 90% over with sponsors, event venue,
magazine contents and all other related requirements ready and then the
this unfortunate Pandemic stuck.

Surprisingly for me, after presenting my 1 st project (ice breaker) I came to

know about mentoring and my personal mentor. I quickly approached
VPED requesting for a change, complaining my mentor very busy person in
his professional / Toastmasters life and not sure how he would assist.
However, my VPED clarified that as protégé I would need to reap benefits
and no mentor would toil.