Dena Jansen, Founder and CEO of Dena Speaks
Dena is the Founder and CEO of Dena Speaks. She shares her passion for potential through her work as an author, coach, speaker, and producer of Ready or Not annual women's conference and workshops.
Q: Why do you choose to spend your time mentoring others?
A: I have benefited from mentors who have been gracious in sharing their life experience, whether that's at home or work. I'm a speaker and an author and a coach; I focus on personal growth and development. And I found that, for me, real-life experiences are the one thing that help me to learn a lesson or to spark my curiosity about someone else's experience and wonder how it impacts mine. I choose to mentor because I've benefited from it, and I can only hope to do that for the next person to feed into their success.
Q: What do you personally gain from mentoring?
A: I gain time for self-reflection, introspection, and growth. While I'm trying to teach and learn through my mentee's experience, I'm also learning for myself. Along the way, I'm able to cement my own true beliefs and life lessons learned. And I'm given the gift of knowing that I'll see my mentee progress. It's an amazing cycle of sharing and caring for another person, and it feels great! You don't always know at the moment if you've impacted their life, but then when you read the notes later, or they share that they haven't been able to stop thinking about that one thing you said – it gives you goosebumps. It's a gift to know that spending time with that person in mentorship can impact their life for the better. It's a huge win.
Q: To what do you attribute your success?
A: Success is defined in so many ways, but for me, and what I hope for everyone is that at the end of the day, they love themselves, and they love others. And I think that when I look at where I am today and ask myself where do I stand as a human, as a woman, as a mother, as a community member - I feel that I'm successful because I strive to continuously choose love over fear. I work to stay kind, open, and real and make choices to give people the benefit of the doubt, myself included. Live from a place of grace, then you will rise to the top, right? You'll rise to the top of whatever that means for you, and it doesn't have to look the same to everyone. Success is when you genuinely feel like you're living the life that you dream of and creating the legacy you want to leave behind. "Success is when you genuinely feel like you're living the life that you dream of and creating the legacy you want to leave behind." When I made my transition from corporate work to entrepreneurship, it was terrifying, and it took me years to make that decision. But once you know it's the right thing to do for yourself, it hurts your heart more to settle than to go into the unknown and take the leap of faith. So I think for me, choosing love over fear in my professional transition meant that I loved myself enough to take the risk. I loved myself enough to trust myself, to trust my gut, to trust my intuition, to trust all the things that were telling me, you're just not where you need to be. Choosing to trust myself is what got me where I am today.
Q: What does good mentoring look like to you?
A: I would say good mentoring to me always comes down to sticking to my K.O.R. values, K = Kind, O = Open, R = Real. And always grace-based, there's a gracious way to talk to someone and say, "All I've heard from you today is you tearing yourself down. I'm hearing I can't do this, or calling yourself names." And, they might not want to hear that, but when it comes from a kind, open, and real place, it's easier to understand. Mentorship is like a mirror - a good mentor can hold up the mirror for the other person, so they’re able to have that self-reflection. That's all I could hope for - to share as many of my own stories, reflect what I've learned, but then have my mentee step back and look in the mirror at themselves. I literally gave my mentee that exercise - to walk by the mirror - and every time they see themselves, I ask them to say, "I love you. You got this." It allows them to connect with themselves. Good mentoring looks like a really clean, shiny mirror that doesn't become foggy or have scratches, allowing the mentee to see their best self clearly! "Good mentoring looks like a really clean, shiny mirror that doesn't become foggy or have scratches, allowing the mentee to see their best self clearly!"
Q: How has mentoring impacted your own journey?
A: When I was working my way up at a national accounting firm for 11 years, I was mentored by two women, both working moms, who provided real examples of how my career could progress. They were open and honest about the struggles they faced with working and being a mother, and I loved that they were open about the challenges. The professional decisions they were making, as women in a predominantly male environment, also gave me perspective. When I was pregnant, they both helped me think through what I wanted and what worked best for my family and me. They had each taken a different approach (one came back as full-time and the other as part-time). It was helpful to see that there's not only one way to be a working mother. And then they supported me as I went to ask for what I needed. They had my back and inherently believed in me, and that's a huge part of mentorship. When somehow, they trust you before you trust yourself. There's a huge gift in that.
Q: Why do you choose to mentor with Ceresa?
A: I trust my gut, and I trust people that I respect. I absolutely trust the core mission, values, and leaders that are running Ceresa. And I love that Ceresa has created a format and a seamless structure, with great resources. It's teaching and educating me. I'm walking away with benefits while having an impact on someone's life. That's why Ceresa has been a great fit for me. I also admire that Ceresa has been forthcoming about addressing what's going on in the world with COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter – issues that impact us as humans, not just as professionals.
Mentorship: integral to the Ceresa whole-person approach
At Ceresa, mentorship is an integral part of our leadership development process. The mentor-mentee relationship is a key component in providing the structure, and at the same time fluidity, necessary to facilitate pointed leadership and career growth for both the participant and the mentor.