Latest / The Diversity Career Podcast with Fexingo: Inclusion, Equity, and Underrepresented Professionals / How One Company Made Mentorship Work for Women of Color
Transcript
- Lucas: We talk a lot on this show about mentorship programs — and often they sound good on paper but don't actually move the needle for the people who need them most. Luna: Especially for women of color. I've heard so many stories of being paired with a senior leader who just doesn't get their experience, or the mentorship turns into a once a quarter coffee chat that goes nowhere. Lucas: Exactly. And there's data to back that up. A 2023 study from the Center for Talent Innovation found that Black women are 40 percent less likely than white men to have a mentor who actively advocates for them. So it's not just a soft problem — it's a career mobility problem. Luna: So what does a program that actually works look like? I know you've been looking at a specific firm that redesigned their whole approach. Lucas: Yeah, I spent some time talking to Maria Santos, the head of diversity at a mid-sized professional services firm — about three thousand employees, based in the Midwest. They realized their existing mentorship program was essentially a lottery. You'd fill out a form, get matched with a senior person, and hope for the best. Luna: And the results showed it wasn't working for women of color specifically. Lucas: Right. They looked at three years of data. Women of color in the program were promoted at roughly the same rate as those not in the program — about 12 percent per year. So the program was adding zero value for that group. For white men in the program, the promotion rate was 22 percent. Luna: That's a huge gap. So what did they change? Lucas: They scrapped the one-on-one model entirely and moved to a cohort-based structure. Each cohort had eight to ten women of color — Black, Latina, Asian American — and they met as a group twice a month with two senior leaders who rotated every six months. Luna: So it's not just one mentor per person — it's a group dynamic with multiple senior voices. Lucas: Exactly. Maria told me the key insight was that women of color often felt isolated in their individual mentorship because their mentor couldn't relate to the specific microaggressions or bias they faced. In a cohort, they could share strategies and realize it wasn't just them. Luna: That makes sense. There's also safety in numbers — it's harder for a mentor to dismiss an experience when five other people in the room nod along. Lucas: Right. And they added another layer — reverse mentoring. Every senior leader who participated in the program was also paired with a junior woman of color from a different cohort. The junior person would mentor the senior on inclusive leadership, bias, and their own experiences. Luna: That's interesting. It forces senior leaders to listen and learn, not just dispense advice. Lucas: Exactly. Maria said some of the senior partners initially resisted — they felt like it was a burden on their time. But after six months, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. One partner told her he'd never realized how often he interrupted women in meetings until his reverse mentor pointed it out. Luna: That's a real behavior change. So what were the measurable outcomes? Lucas: Over three years, the promotion rate for women of color in the program jumped from 12 percent to 40 percent. That's more than triple. And retention among Black women in the cohort hit 94 percent, compared to 71 percent company-wide for Black women not in the program. Luna: Those numbers are striking. Was there any pushback from other employee groups who felt left out? Lucas: A little. Some white women asked why there wasn't a similar program for them. Maria's response was data-driven: they showed that white women already had a promotion rate of 24 percent in the old program, and their retention was at 88 percent. The gap was biggest for women of color, so that's where they focused resources. Luna: It's a targeted intervention, not a universal one. And it seems like the data justified it. Lucas: Yeah. And they didn't stop there. They also tied senior leader compensation to outcomes from the program. Partners' bonuses now include a metric based on the advancement of underrepresented talent in their practice areas. If a partner's cohort members aren't being promoted, it affects their pay. Luna: That's the kind of accountability that moves the needle. It's not just a nice to have program — it's built into how leaders are evaluated. Lucas: Exactly. And it's not a massive budget item either. The total cost was about fifty thousand dollars a year — mostly for facilitation training and data tracking. Maria said the biggest investment was time: getting senior leaders to commit to two hours every other week. Luna: So what's the one thing another organization could take from this if they wanted to start something similar? Lucas: She said start with the data. Don't assume your current program works — break down the outcomes by race and gender. If you see a gap, that's your case for change. Then pilot a cohort with just one group — don't try to overhaul everything at once. Luna: Small bet, measure, then scale. I like that. Lucas: Yeah. And speaking of small bets — if this episode helped you think differently about mentorship or gave you a concrete idea to bring to your own workplace, that's exactly the kind of thing that keeps us going. If it was worth a coffee to you, you can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just a way to keep the show ad-free. Luna: Honestly, we hear from listeners that these episodes have changed how they advocate for themselves and their teams. So if that resonates, consider it. Lucas: Alright — back to the firm. Maria told me one of the most unexpected outcomes was that the reverse mentors started getting promoted faster too. They gained visibility with senior leaders who now saw them as strategic partners, not just junior staff. Luna: So it's a two-way street. The senior leaders learn, and the junior people get sponsorship. Lucas: Exactly. Sponsorship is the word. Mentorship opens doors, but sponsorship is someone actively pulling you through. And that's what the cohort model with rotating senior leaders created — multiple sponsors over time. Luna: I wonder if this model could work for other underrepresented groups — first-gen professionals, people with disabilities, neurodivergent employees. Lucas: Maria thinks so. She said the principles are transferable: cohort support, reverse mentoring, and accountability. The specifics of who's in the cohort and what challenges they face will differ, but the structure holds. Luna: That's encouraging. It means you don't have to reinvent the wheel for every group. Lucas: Right. And that's the takeaway: it's not about having the fanciest program. It's about having one that's actually designed for the people it's supposed to serve, with the data to prove it's working. Luna: Well said. And maybe a cohort model is something more companies should try. Lucas: If they do, they might see the kind of numbers this firm saw. And that's a win for everyone.