• Today, listen to Guest Mentor Lisa Fain. Lisa became CEO of the Center for Mentoring Excellence in 2018. Dr. Lois Zachary, the founder, is her mother. Find out how her work in diversity, equity, and inclusion makes our world a better place.

• If you haven’t, SUBSCRIBE to get our weekly episodes and free stuff. Or, DONATE to this podcast. Resilient relationships flourish with meaningful conversations! We would like to bring you more of them. 

• Order two books for yourself or gift them to colleagues: Bridging Differences for Better Mentoring and Creating a Mentoring Culture 

• National Mentoring Day, October 27^th. Connect with your most influential mentors and let them know how they made an impact in your life. Join Lisa and Dr. Zachary to understand how you can bridge differences through better mentoring.

• International Mentoring Day, October 29^th. Check out two websites:
  • Mentors International, and
  • International Society of Mentoring for resources. 

• THIS WEEK ONLY, get a free strategic mentoring session with me. Click HERE! 

Lisa Fain’s Entrepreneurial Upbringing

When Dr. Lois Zachary founded Leadership Development Services, LLC and its Center for Mentoring Excellence, her daughter, Lisa Fain, was in high school. Women entrepreneurship was on the rise, “according to the 1988 State of Small Business Report, the number of sole proprietorships owned by women increased 62 percent between 1980 and 1986.  Now, “women entrepreneurs make up 47% of the new entrepreneurs in the United States. 

Lisa says that growing up in a 1980s entrepreneurial home gave her a sense of purpose, place, and accountability. It reinforced an understanding that Lisa could contribute to the world, shape her work, and be independent. This independent thinking started in her formative years when Lisa and her brother were encouraged to make plans and prepare their own meals.

As Dr. Zachary built her educational consultancy and Ed expanded his legal firm in Syracuse, New York, they still managed to be present and engaged parents. Role modeling the benefits of doing fulfilling work fueled Lisa’s entrepreneurial spirit that sprouted in her 30s and 40s. You will hear how she took her diverse interests of political science, sociology, and economics with a social justice bend into acquiring an interdisciplinary degree from Northwestern University in Chicago. Two important courses taught by a cherished mentor helped Lisa understand ways to repair the world. Eventually, she became a lawyer, mediator, coach, and CEO at the Center for Mentoring Excellence.

Other Conversation Highlights

• Although not a fair way to measure oneself, comparing Lisa’s start to someone else’s finish turned out to be a benefit in determining Lisa’s major.
• Raising Talia and Emily with David in their entrepreneurial home.
• Lisa’s lifework of inclusion, diversity, and equity. Creating a mentoring culture for retention and attraction.
• Insights into Millennials and Gen Z’s and their need to accelerate the pace of inclusivity and purposeful workplaces can be achieved through better mentoring.
• Alternatives to the Peanut Butter approach.

Our conversation sparked my curiosity about diversity, equity, and inclusion for women entrepreneurs. We’re making progress as a society. Check out these statistics from an article published on February 2, 2021, by Jenifer Kuadli : 

• 47% of women started a business in 2020, compared to 44% of men.
• Women own 36% of small businesses worldwide and own 12.3 million U.S. businesses.
• Women launch more than 1,200 new U.S. businesses every day and generate around $1.9T in revenue.
• Hispanic women-owned businesses grew by 172% over the last 10 years.
• Women of color were responsible for 89% of newly created businesses in 2019.

Enjoy today’s conversation with Lisa Fain. Raise the roof on mentoring this week! DOWNLOAD

Please do the Conscious Attentive Leadership Mentoring (C.A.L.M.) Activities, below.