Our ‘Mentor of the Month’ Award shows our appreciation at LOOK for all of the hard work that each mentor does as volunteers for our charity.
We’re delighted to announce our April Mentor of the Month is Maria!
As one of the first mentors to be trained in Sussex, we are so impressed and grateful for the enthusiasm, dedication and support Maria has brought to our mentor team in the short time she’s been involved so far.
We want to take this opportunity to celebrate the excellent impact Maria is having with her mentee and in the wider community.
A message from Sydney, LOOK’s Mentor Project Officer.
“Maria has been a fabulous example of what our mentoring project is all about.
Maria has responded to every question her mentee has asked her professionally, kindly and promptly, and she is an amazing self-advocate and a fantastic role-model.
Maria finds the time to work at her day job in retail as well as striving toward her goal of working in the disability inclusion field.
Her employers are encouraging her to get involved with disability inclusion and advocacy including presenting to higher management on the subject. I know Maria is hoping to do more work in the disability and inclusion field and I think she is perfect for this.
Her own successes and future aspirations offer amazing encouragement and hope to her mentee.
Thank you and well done Maria!”
A word from Maria’s mentee, Katie.
“Maria, has been very helpful because she has helped me to believe in myself a bit more. She helped me through a difficult situation and then helped me to build my confidence back up.
I have loved getting to know Maria, she is an awesome mentor. Maria has helped me to grow in confidence and to talk about my visual impairment to people.
I think Maria is very well deserving of this award and I’m so pleased for her. Well done Maria”
Meet Maria
Registered blind at 14 years old, Maria felt she would have benefited from having a mentor that understood what she was going through, which is why she joined the LOOK mentoring scheme, to give something back.
Top Tips
Maria’s top tip for other mentors is “Be honest in your communication, I don’t have the answer to every question from my mentee but I can go away and research it and educated myself as well as helping my mentee.”