Page 16 - 2023 Westchester County Economic Development Guide

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WESTCHESTER COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDE
Cultivating and Advancing Talent Her Honor Mentoring Empowering
the Next Generation of Women
Nicole Sheindlin, Founder and CEO, shares how Her Honor Mentoring changes the lives of young women, while helping to build the local talent pipeline.
At Her Honor Mentoring, our mission is to
provide unique learning opportunities and
resources for young women. By connecting
strong, positive, female role models with
young women, we use mentoring as a tool
to bridge education and employment
gaps. We connect the needs of our public
education system with powerful resources in the business community to help build the local talent pipeline.
I developed Her Honor Mentoring along with my stepmom, Judith Sheindlin, better known as television’s Judge Judy. We created it as an innovative and pragmatic way to help boost self-confidence in young women in the workplace and everyday life.
Now in its 16th year, Her Honor Mentoring establishes a way to give back to the local community with both resources and services, thus serving as both a mentoring program, and a philanthropic organization. We started in Westchester, and today we operate across the New York metro area, offering schools the opportunity to be deeply connected to the business community.
We partner with 14 schools across Westchester County, which identify promising young women who are the
first in their family to pursue higher education and those coming from lower income homes. We then connect those students with businesses that mentor students. e philanthropic component offers each of the mentees the
ability to earn a $2,000 grant for her participation. To help support mentors, we offer a “mentor in a box” kit that helps mentors structure quality meetings with their mentees.
Being based in Westchester has been amazing for us. Since the start, we have partnered with the Westchester County Office for Women to find mentors in the County. We have been privileged to have wonderful mentors from the County Office of Economic Development, including Deborah Novick, Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Natasha Caputo, Director of Westchester County Tourism and Film, and of course Marsha Gordon,
President of the Business Council of Westchester. I always thought Marsha would be a great mentor, and she has such a strong connection with her mentee.
e Westchester Community Foundation has given us several grants, and Mastercard and Regeneron have likewise awarded us grants to help us expand in the County.
In the wake of COVID, we transitioned to Her
Honor Mentoring 2.0, a virtual model, where our mentors invest one hour per week connecting with
girls in communities of need. is actually enabled us to expand our reach and connect with women who don’t live in Westchester. It’s been fascinating and wonderful to see how many women are anxious to give back.
We seek to further expand in 2023 and looking ahead this year, I am thrilled to share that 10 former mentees have come back to us to serve has mentors. ey’ll be helping a new generation of girls – and completing the cycle of giving back.
“I give all the thanks to important people who have been an example in my life like my mentor (Marsha Gordon). She has given me amazing direction to facilitate my future successful path.”
—Emily Suriel from Saunders Trade and Technical High School
Center: Her Honoring Mentoring Co-Founders Nicole Sheindlin
& Judy Sheindlin Top: Judy Sheindlin poses with mentees. e program was founded as a way to boost self-confidence in young women in the workplace and everyday life.
© Courtesy of Her Honor Mentoring