“Over the last 10 months I have had the privilege of mentoring Sumaiya Rahim. The journey has been quite exciting with several learning and teaching moments for both of us. There is a famous quote by Plutarch – “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” I believe that the mentoring framework pioneered by WINGS has this at its heart. WINGS has been successful in identifying women in early stages of their career who have the thirst for self-improvement and paired them with mentors like myself who can work with them to kindle their inner fire. I realized that I have had several strong mentors in my life who have enabled me to be who I am. I believe I heard Varsha say once “Mentors are career parents”. Being a mother of two, I instantly knew what that meant – I had to take accountability for Sumaiya’s success. Be truthful and authentic with her, encourage her, be available and open. As we come to the conclusion of this mentorship session, I would like to encourage Sumaiya to consider me her career parent and feel free to reach out to me whenever she needs to talk and celebrate with me when she reaches new career highs!”