I
can’t believe it’s been a year since I began working on my dream to launch Gotara, a nano-learning mentoring platform that offers 24/7 STEM mentoring and career growth advice to women around the world. Thank you all for your kind wishes, generous advice and interest in helping my team launch the network.
A special thanks to the 650 members from 29 different countries and 60 senior STEM advisors who joined us since we officially launched in February. We’re also proud of the pilot leadership programs we launched with 12 employers from small companies to large tech giants. The goal is to help them grow-and retain—their STEM talent.
The heart of what we do is offer 1:1 nano-learning STEM mentoring sessions between our members and vetted Gotara STEM advisors. It’s a confidential exchange—and it’s also anonymous. Neither the member nor the advisor knows each other’s identities. The members love it because they can be honest & frank without fear anyone will find out what they’ve said. The advisors say they can provide unbiased advice and give back to STEM women without committing to timely 1:1 relationships.
Here’s the #1 thing we learned about nano-mentoring
This is a new STEM mentoring behaviour for folks! In the past, someone could post something anonymously on a public chat group, or go the traditional route with 1:1 coaching if they didn’t want to air their “dirty laundry” and run the risk of being identified. As soon as our members try nano-mentoring, they’re hooked.
One member wrote us to say she thinks of us as her Big Sister in STEM. She said she felt she could share her tricky situation at work as well as ask for advice on negotiating labor tasks with her partner at home.
“There’s no one else in my life who could offer me this kind of advice, and what I loved was that I didn’t feel I was being judged. I could openly share what was on my mind.”
Here’s the #2 key insight into the minds of women in STEM +
When we launched, the #1 question from our members related to strategies for boosting confidence and overcoming imposter syndrome. Today, it’s about getting advice on a change in role, which resonates with research that hints a major job shift will be happening post-pandemic.
Finally, some of you may be wondering why we chose to expand our definition of STEM to include women in finance, economics, and social and marketing sciences. Like the traditional STEM fields, women in these areas continue to struggle to achieve parity and career advancement to senior levels. Our mission is to help all these awesome STEM+ women achieve their career goals by providing trusted advice and strategic tips, on scaling the maternal wall, mapping out their career paths and following key job search strategies.
Besides STEM MENTORING …
Once you become a member you also have priority access to our TARATALK conversations with inspiring STEM women and our career advice REACH Reports. It’s free to join. Start your career adventure with us today and start to #spiralup.
D Sangeeta
Founder and CEO of Gotara
The STEM mentoring platform was launched by D. Sangeeta, who is a woman in STEM with 26+ years of experience. She has a PhD in Materials Sciences and has worked at GE Aviation, Nielsen and Amazon. She launched Gotara because she understands what it’s like to be an immigrant, a woman and a woman of colour and the challenges that come with that in the STEM world. A mentor helped her at a critical time in her career and that’s behind her passion to build a scalable advice platform that democratizes access to career-changing advice.
