Find the brief to the challenge here: Mentorship Maps by Katie MacGregor
Above I have created my Mentorship Map in Mural. I have also included a brief timeline of my education background for some context.
I found it rather hard to pinpoint my mentor’s identity based on the Wheel of Power/Privilege, as I would be making a lot of assumptions about their identity, which may not be accurate, as I do not know my mentors through these markers of identity. Previously when I was still in school, the obvious power dynamic between teacher and student was at the forefront of our mentorship. However, now that I am no longer their student, I got to know them better through our shared interests and activities that we do together, or through the perspectives that they share through our conversations. Often, when I ask for guidance as they use their own life experiences as starting points, and there I am able to understand where they are coming from.
The mentors that I have chosen were from different periods of my life, most of them I met as a student while studying in Taiwan. Now that I live mostly in Vancouver, I make an effort to visit them whenever I go home. Through these repeating years of maintaining contact, I found that now our relationship has expanded as I have gained more life experience, yet still feel the familiar sense of comfort and support.
One aspect I appreciate most from my relationships with my mentors is their willingness to meet me where I am each year I visit them as a “different version” of myself, and the way that they listen to my experiences while connecting to the older versions of myself that they have witnessed, learning and growing. The importance of building rapport at a more personal capacity, regardless of similarities or differences will impact the perspective, concerns and decision one makes in the mentorship process was revealed to me as I reflect upon this challenge.
This December I will be visiting Taiwan for an extended period of time, and I am looking forward to having tea with Vivien, going on a little urban sketching trip with Miss You, and sharing my last art exhibit with Mrs. Wen!