The International Fresh Produce Association initiated its women's mentoring program on April 17 at the Women's Fresh Perspectives Conference in Orlando, Fla. IFPA says the purpose of this program is to create mentorship relationships among women in the fresh produce and floral industry.
The program kicked off with a general session at the conference hosted by Christy Pettit, CEO of Pollinate Networks Inc., titled “Mentoring: What's it All About? Giving Back and Sharing Wisdom.” Pettit spoke about how to source a mentor, maximizing the mentor-mentee relationship and the benefits of mentorship, including increased job satisfaction, productivity, diversity and retention rates in the workplace.
The Women's Fresh Perspectives Conference was a sold-out, two-day event that brought in 216 women across the produce and floral industry, according to a news release. Attendees had the opportunity to sign up for the new mentorship program, which now has 82 pairs and counting.
Of the women participating, 39 opted to be both a mentor and a mentee, recognizing the knowledge they can share with younger leaders while also wanting to continue their learning from more senior leaders, according to the release.
Some facts about the mentorship program enrollees:
- Age range of 25 to 61.
- One to 31 years of individual work experience.
- Span more than 50 locations around the world.
- 1,999 combined years of work experience.
- Topic interests of management styles, business acumen, marketing, finance and professional development.
“Mentorship was a theme that echoed across all of our sessions,” IFPA Director of Education and Talent Megan Nash said in the release. “Mentoring is such an important part of personal and professional development. While attendees have always left our conference with new connections and relationships, we were excited to create those connections in a more formal way by offering our mentoring program with Pollinate Networks Inc. We hope this will allow the women to continue their connections long after the conference, providing an accountability partner to reinforce the concepts they learned and practiced together this week.”
Following the conference, these mentorship pairs will continue to work together for a year and will have access to an online mentoring library for resources that benefit both the mentor and mentee throughout their journey, but it is hoped that the connection and relationship continue beyond the end of the program.
The next opportunity to participate in a Women's Fresh Perspectives event will be at the upcoming Foodservice Conference in Monterey, Calif. The Women's Fresh Perspectives reception can be added to any registration for the conference.
A Women's Fresh Perspectives Breakfast is also planned for the Global Produce and Floral Show, Oct. 19-21 in Anaheim, Calif. Attendees of the Southern Africa Conference, Aug. 2-3 in Cape Town, South Africa, also can participate in a Women's Fresh Perspectives Breakfast.
Next year's Women's Fresh Perspectives Conference is planned for April 7-9.