Ariel and June: A Match Made in Cyber Heaven

The Goldman Sachs employee clicked on her inbox and saw a new message from the fifteen-year-old girl she was mentoring:

Since I really liked math, I thought that accounting would be something I could see myself doing … I would like to get a summer job or internship, so I can get a feel of the job, so I can figure out if I could do investment banking in the future … The most important thing I’m learning is that sometimes you have to take risks and it doesn’t hurt to try different areas that you like … I’m kind of nervous that I wouldn’t like being an investment banker. I haven’t even thought of a backup career. How do I choose from all of the careers? Wow! This is making me think a lot!

Born in West Indies, Grenada, Ariel aspired to a career in investment banking and life as a world traveler. But Ariel, a sophomore at a boarding school in Brooklyn, didn’t know where to start. 

The New York City program  iMentor paired Ariel with June, who grew up in Seoul, Korea, and had lived throughout Asia, including Bangkok, Manila, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Since she was employed in the controller’s department of Goldman Sachs, she was a perfect match for Ariel, who needed someone to explain the world of finance and banking. iMentor became the bridge to help June guide Ariel towards her future.

I spoke with Kimberly Ednie, director of programming for iMentor, from her office in lower Manhattan. I wanted to know what made iMentor a good fit for professionals who want to share their knowledge, but aren’t sure how.

“In 1999, iMentor was started by a hedge fund manager who thought, ‘If we could have it through e-mail, then they could meet less,’” Ednie says.

But iMentor founders wanted to make a difference beyond just e-mail correspondence.

“So many people want to volunteer, but don’t have time for the traditional [mentor] model of several times a month,” Ednie says. “And we wanted to expose students from underserved areas to make connections with successful adults in the city who could expose them to cultural resources, find a common connection and help them access certain skills and opportunities.”

Currently, iMentor has seven hundred high school students paired with mentors.

Volunteers fill out an extensive application and attend a two-hour training session. The screening process includes fingerprinting and interviews. Then, mentors are matched.

“The matching process is based on the online dating paradigm,” Ednie says. “Then we can find things that will match their shared interests. The mentees are setting the tone in what they want in a mentor. The computer runs an algorithm to find the best match and then the program coordinator takes what the computer ran and finds the matches.”

The program operates differently from many mentor models in the way it incorporates technology and works with the schools its participants attend. iMentor seeks out successful New Yorkers and connects them with kids from the city’s most isolated and underserved communities. The mentors then use weekly e-mail correspondence and regular one-on-one meetings to development a relationship.

“Having technology and e-mail exposes kids to things they wouldn’t be able to get at schools,” Ednie says.

iMentor starts by finding schools with teachers willing to help develop the program.

“Having it as a part of the classroom, there is an internal tracking system because all of the e-mails are traceable and screenable,” Ednie says.

Teachers can see how many students have sent e-mails to their mentors. The program coordinator can nudge mentors who neglect to correspond. Early on, iMentor leaders found that mentors sometimes needed help getting a conversation going. The organization created templates with prompts connected to the curriculum.

Students improve their writing skills, a secondary benefit to the program. Some students are self-conscious, but by the end of the year, their e-mails get longer and more structured.

“We tell mentors, ‘Don’t expect your students to write perfectly, that’s not your goal, but if you model good writing, from there, students will take what is most important to them,’” Ednie says.

After reading Ariel’s inspired e-mail, June composed this response:

You should not worry too much!