Debbi Jarvis of Pepco Holdings, Inc. mentoring a group of young communications professionals at Minute Mentoring with WWPR & Edelman/GWEN

I love planning events and have had the chance to organize many over the years, but one of the most rewarding programs I’ve ever helped coordinate was Minute Mentoring with Washington Women in Public Relations (WWPR) and Edelman/GWEN held Thursday, April 25 at Edelman’s Washington, DC office.

Much of the credit for the hugely successful event goes to the amazing group of mentors who volunteered their evening to meet with small groups of young communications professionals coming up through the ranks. Sixty mentees participated in the event and received tips on leadership and management, career path and work-life balance from communications pros at the top of their field. Mentors included:

• Alicia Aebersold, Associate Director, Aligning Forces for Quality
• Carrie Fox, President, C. Fox Communications
• Nancy Gravatt, Senior Vice President, National Mining Association
• Amy Malerba Hemingway, Senior Vice President, Edelman
• Debbi Jarvis, Vice President Corporate Citizenship & Social Responsibility, Pepco Holdings, Inc.
• Cary Lawrence, Vice President Business Development, SocialCode
• Kate Mikesell, Director Corporate Communications, Hilton Worldwide
• Barbara Semedo, Strategic Communications Advisor
• Bridget Serchak, Chief, Public Affairs, Inspector General, Department of Defense
• Debra Silimeo, Executive Vice President, Hager Sharp
• Vicki Tarallo, Independent Consultant, Korn/Ferry International

A huge thanks to the mentors and to Edelman for partnering with Washington Women in PR to make this event possible. The feedback from the mentees was extremely positive and the WWPR news feed was overwhelmed during the event with participants tweeting about how much they were enjoying the program.