{"id":28277,"date":"2017-05-31T11:21:05","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T15:21:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=28277"},"modified":"2017-06-26T07:45:26","modified_gmt":"2017-06-26T11:45:26","slug":"college-of-business-mentoring-program-grows-in-numbers-and-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2017\/05\/college-of-business-mentoring-program-grows-in-numbers-and-influence\/","title":{"rendered":"College of Business mentoring program grows in numbers and influence."},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_28282\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28282\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28282\" src=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Barbara-Pestana-VP-of-sales-at-Loreal.jpg\" alt=\"Barbara Pestana\" width=\"1000\" height=\"580\" srcset=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Barbara-Pestana-VP-of-sales-at-Loreal.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Barbara-Pestana-VP-of-sales-at-Loreal-300x174.jpg 300w, https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Barbara-Pestana-VP-of-sales-at-Loreal-230x133.jpg 230w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-28282\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barbara Pestana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Like other new graduates, Vanessa Ortiz (BA \u201917) is reminiscing about her years at Florida International University (FIU). But for Ortiz, a marketing major who wants a career in the beauty industry, one of the most worthwhile FIU experiences happened outside the classroom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout a doubt, the mentoring opportunity I had through the College of Business was an incredible experience, the chance of a lifetime,\u201d Ortiz said. \u201cI am profoundly grateful to my mentor, Barbara Pestana, and everything she has done for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pestana (BBA \u201902) is vice president of sales at Dermablend Professional (a L\u2019Oreal brand) and has been a mentor for FIU students for three years.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>FIU is not getting the recognition it deserves outside of South Florida. When an alum works to help prepare a student for success, that effort has an effect on everyone associated with FIU.<\/p>\n<footer>Barbara Pestana, mentor of Vanessa Ortiz.<\/footer>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Both Ortiz and Pestana were speakers at an end-of-year reception for mentors and mentees held April 13, 2017 at the Rusty Pelican in Miami. Sixty-five people attended the event, an evening of mingling, socializing and networking.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_28281\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28281\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28281\" src=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Vanessa-Ortiz-and-Barbara-Pestana.jpg\" alt=\"Vanessa Ortiz and Barbara Pestana\" width=\"1000\" height=\"667\" srcset=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Vanessa-Ortiz-and-Barbara-Pestana.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Vanessa-Ortiz-and-Barbara-Pestana-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Vanessa-Ortiz-and-Barbara-Pestana-230x153.jpg 230w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-28281\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vanessa Ortiz and Barbara Pestana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ortiz told the attendees how thrilled she was to be paired with Pestana, whom she met with on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, it was a perfect match,\u201d she said. \u201cBarbara is amazing, with so much insight, and not only taught me about her company and the industry but also helped me with my career. She gave me tips on my resume, helped build my interviewing skills and was so willing to give me advice and direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pestana said her mentee was enthusiastic about the opportunity and made getting together a priority.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVanessa is a delightful person, very talented and quite resolute about doing what it takes to succeed,\u201d Pestana said. \u201cMentoring her has been a fulfilling experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-28283\" src=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Mentoring-program-at-FIU-grows-in-numbers.jpg\" alt=\"Mentoring program at FIU grows in numbers\" width=\"1000\" height=\"635\" srcset=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Mentoring-program-at-FIU-grows-in-numbers.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Mentoring-program-at-FIU-grows-in-numbers-300x191.jpg 300w, https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Mentoring-program-at-FIU-grows-in-numbers-230x146.jpg 230w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Yanyn San Luis (BA\u2019 10, MBA \u201916), interim director of alumni relations for FIU Business and the mentoring program manager, who also spoke at the event said that matching mentors and mentees based on interests \u2013 a new feature of the program this year &#8212; proved to be worthwhile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had so many compliments about the matching process,\u201d she said. \u201cThe matches were spot-on, and almost all of our mentor-mentee matches followed through with a successful engagement. That\u2019s very gratifying for us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>San Luis said 201 mentors and 201 mentees participated in the 2016-17 program, nearly a 73 percent increase over last year. She said the goal for next year is to provide 500 mentors for 500 students in the College of Business.<\/p>\n<p><em>Giving back results in \u2026 more giving back.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Pestana is a mentor for two reasons, she said, starting with wanting to give back to FIU.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMuch of the success and opportunities I have had in my career are due in part to FIU,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to give back to the university which did so much for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pestana also says that she feels the mentoring program extends the reach of FIU, which benefits all students and alumni.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFIU is not getting the recognition it deserves outside of South Florida,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen an alum works to help prepare a student for success, that effort has an effect on everyone associated with FIU.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz is sure she will be a mentor to FIU students.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbsolutely,\u201d she says. \u201cTo be able to help another student they way Barbara has helped me is the least I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe mentoring program is growing as word spreads about how valuable it is in lifting our students up,\u201d said San Luis, who points out that the program has even included mentors from outside Florida. \u201cWe need more alumni to step forward for this important effort.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/slideShow\/index.gne?group_id=&amp;user_id=23794481@N04&amp;set_id=72157679373969703\/show\" width=\"100%\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" align=\"middle\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like other new graduates, Vanessa Ortiz (BA \u201917) is reminiscing about her years at Florida International University (FIU). But for Ortiz, a marketing major who wants a career in the beauty industry, one of the most worthwhile FIU experiences happened outside the classroom. \u201cWithout a doubt, the mentoring opportunity I had through the College of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":28279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4523,1857,4196],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28277"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28277"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28292,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28277\/revisions\/28292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}