Paying it forward is really what we do when we mentor other people, specifically the younger generation. You can’t possibly make all the mistakes yourself to learn from, so you can (and should!) learn from others as well. Therefore, sharing your expertise and experiences as a mentor are an important contribution to your mentees development specifically and therefore by extension also to the greater lighting industry and the build environment in general. Lead by example they say.

While you may never know exactly what or which part of those experiences helped or impacted the path that your mentee choses in life, the pure act of sharing and the knowledge that you contributed is gratifying. Rather than keeping it to yourself, paying it forward by sharing as a mentor should be a no-brainer. It has always been for me.   

I have mentored many people over my career, mostly people around me, my team, to which I give and have given leadership, but also others that I have trained or those that I have come across in the industry or those who have sought me out to give them guidance. 

When asked to participate in the Silhouette Awards, an industry mentorship program created by my dear friend Katia Kolovea (Archifos) and Eve Gaut (Parrot Marketing), I did not have to think for a second. Of course I was going to do it. My mentee this year was Cristina Martinez, a talented young woman keen to make a difference in this world with her work in lighting but wanting some guidance and reflectance of the best direction to achieve that. The beautiful “side effect” of successful mentorships like this is that it creates a deep friendship and bonding.  

Today I still keep mentoring people, that insatiable drive in me to pay it forward remains and my blogs, vlogs and books are an important and immediate expression of that desire to share my knowledge, vision and experience.