Response: Mentoring and Encouraging Professional Development for Latinas and other Women of Color

The purpose of this message is to encourage women to share their career experiences. I want to encourage all women of color to find appropriate mentors and take advantage of opportunities for professional development whenever opportunities arise. I have learned through my own research about the value of mentoring and that Hispanics have made efforts to address the need for mentoring by developing intergenerational and ethnic specific programs (Castillo-Montoya & Torres-Guzmán, 2012; Villaseñor, Reyes, & Muñoz, 2013). One example of this kind of ethnicspecific program is mujerista mentoring, which focuses on the significance of cultural capital and does not require that the mentee be assimilated into the dominant culture. Instead, the mentee may embrace and use her diversity to thrive (Mkandawire-Valhmu, Kako, & Stevens, 2010; Villaseñor, Reyes, & Muñoz, 2013). All ethnic groups have valuable attributes to share with others in their organizations, including possessing the cultural competence needed to relate to the inherent diversity in ethnic subcultures. In this response, I addresses both the specifics of issues addressed in Yvania Garcia-Pusateri’s chapter and the broader issue of mentoring and professional development for women in academia.