Behind the Scenes:
By
Debbie Bolton
VP Volunteers
Mentor Exchange: Ready Set Go!
Mentor Exchange kicked off another year of mentoring at its launch event hosted by board member, Miglena Nikolova, at IBM’s offices on October 2. Mentors and mentees had opportunities to meet and mingle and learn more about the program and its upcoming education sessions that will be provided by Deborah Jann who teaches with our long-term partner, Schulich Executive Education Centre.
Mentor Exchange is always a great program but this year is definitely special:
- More Legend Mentors: We’ve invited an additional number of past Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends (CMHOL) inductees to mentor as a way of celebrating the 20th anniversary of the CMHOL program. It was wonderful to speak with legends such as Alan Middleton, David Kincaid, Jack Bensimon, Janet Kestin, Nancy Marcus, Rem Langan and Sharifa Khan at the event. A big thank you to our legends who attended and who are participating this year.
- New Program Director: We were introduced to the new AMAzing Mentor Exchange Program Director, Nat Korol. Nat has recently taken over running the program from long time lead, Craig Lund. Welcome Nat! You’re off to a great start.
- Craig handing over his “mentorship baby” to Nat: Craig Lund has been involved in Mentor Exchange since the beginning in 2009. He will continue to be VP of the Leadership Excellence programs which now include: Mentor Exchange, Career Accelerator and Executive Coaching. Many thanks to Craig, his team (Jagriti Malhotra, Lindsay Tohana, Maggie Bolt, Nat Korol and Victoria Bomben) and long-term advisors such as David Kincaid and Alan Middleton for developing and nurturing such a great program.
- New Book, Reputation Matters: AMA has worked with author Alan Middleton to launch the third in our “Empowering Leadership Potential” series of books. Alan provides insightful and helpful advice to marketers. Topics have included: Mentorship Matters: Now More Than Ever (2021), Marketing Matters: For Small and Medium Enterprises (2022) and Reputation Matters: Why Branding and PR is Not Enough (2023). All are available through Amazon.
The mentoring year is truly off to a great start. Mentors and mentees have been matched and many of us have already had our first meetings. Mentees and Mentors will receive targeted training sessions on November 7. And mentees are gathering for their own get-together on November 28. It’s going to be another great year!
Photos courtesy of Jagriti Malhotra.
October Rockstars
AMA is very fortunate to work with AMAzing volunteers. This month we’re once again celebrating the contributions of 3 outstanding Rockstars, this time all from my team (the Volunteer Team). I thank you: Duo, Minh and Pooja (and the 2 others behind the scenes, AVP Louise Taylor and Director Shelley Hull) for all you do but also how you help keep the energy of our team so positive.
Duo Ma
Manager Volunteer Onboarding
Since joining AMA this past summer, Duo has embraced her role on the Volunteer team in helping onboard new volunteers to AMA Toronto.
She and her partner Minh ensure that each new volunteer gets an AMA email and added to our lists of volunteers. She also provides help to new and existing volunteers on email related matters. Duo also has volunteered her excellent photography skills to taking photos at several recent AMA events. Thank you for jumping into AMA Toronto with such enthusiasm.
Duo is a Marketing and Trade Show Coordinator for Top Grade Molds. She has her Masters in Marketing from Schulich School of Business.
Minh Truong
Manager Volunteer Onboarding
Minh has been a volunteer since the summer of 2022. She has more recently worked with Duo to help lead the onboarding process during her former director’s paternity leave. Minh helped us navigate the transition when we moved the volunteer email function from our external administration company into an in-house volunteer function in 2022. She efficiently helps assign new emails and trouble shoots any issues that volunteers encounter with their emails. Thank you for being such a dependable part of the new volunteer experience.
Minh has an MBA from Schulich School of Business. She has more than 8 years experience in CPG marketing including working with Nestle in Vietnam.
Pooja Rane
Manager Volunteer Professional Development
Pooja joined the Volunteer team in February 2021 shortly after graduating. She has been a committed supporter of AMA Toronto working entirely remotely through COVID and since she moved to Ottawa in 2022. She has been working most recently as part of the Volunteer Engagement team on special projects. The Volunteer team are looking forward to meeting her in-person for the first time in October when she comes to Toronto for work-related reasons. Thank you Pooja for all your good ideas and efficient project management skills.
Pooja has her MBA from Brock University. She is Marketing Manager Multicultural at Bell Canada.
For more information :
Please check our website for ongoing information on our programs and events, And don’t forget to watch for our posts on social and check your email in-box. There’s always something happening at AMA Toronto.
For more information on Volunteering :
If you’re interested in learning more about our talented volunteer community and opportunities, please contact me at [email protected]
