For one Raise Digital Mentor, finding the time to give back used to feel impossible. Then mentoring went online. Now, four mentees later, she has seen just how much difference one consistent hour a week can make.
Meet Danielle, a Salesforce employee who had wanted to become a Raise Mentor for years.
There was just one problem: work involved a lot of travel.
“I signed up a few years ago and then ended up having to back out because I was travelling a lot for work. I couldn’t guarantee I’d be able to turn up to the same place every week, but I really wanted to be a mentor.”
When the opportunity to mentor online became available, everything changed.
“I jumped in because it didn’t matter where I was. As long as I was there at the time and I turned up, it was okay.”
Today, that flexibility remains one of the things she values most about Raise Digital. Some weeks she mentors from the office. Other weeks, she joins from home.
Wherever she is, she can still show up.
“It’s one hour. And because I’m not travelling there and back, it’s so easy.”
For busy professionals considering mentoring, finding the time can feel like the biggest hurdle.
But removing the commute makes a significant difference.
Even when family or work commitments arise, she has found the one-hour weekly commitment manageable.
For her, Raise Digital offers something particularly valuable: the ability to make a meaningful contribution without having to fit another commute or destination into an already busy week.
And while the time commitment might be small, she has discovered that its impact can be anything but.
You don't always know the difference you're making
Mentoring doesn't necessarily come with instant signs of success.
Some sessions are full of conversation. Others are quiet. Sometimes a mentor can finish a call wondering whether they made any difference at all.
That was certainly her experience.
With her very first mentee, she wasn't sure whether she was having an impact—until the young person wrote her a beautiful letter at the end of their time together.
For mentors, the role isn't to have all the answers or to be a counsellor. Raise provides training, processes and support for situations where a young person needs additional help.
The mentor's role is simpler, but incredibly important: to consistently show up, listen and create space for a young person to be heard.
Trust the process
That experience reinforced one of the biggest lessons she has learned over several years of mentoring: don't judge the value of mentoring by a single session.
“It’s a long game.”
There have been sessions after which she's wondered what impact she made. There have been conversations that stayed with her for an entire week. And there have been moments where the connection only became clear much later.
Her advice to someone mentoring for the first time?
Trust the process.
“You just don’t know the impact you’re making.”
One mentee, for example, was extremely shy and passionate about car, something his mentor knew almost nothing about.
Instead of trying to steer the conversation somewhere more familiar, she met him where he was.
He shared his screen and showed her pictures of his favourite cars. She asked questions. When she discovered he also loved reading, she read one of the books he was reading so they could talk about it together.
It wasn't about becoming an expert in cars.
It was about becoming interested in what mattered to him.
Meet your mentee where they are
Every young person is different, and that has taught her to be flexible.
Some weeks might involve sitting with silence. Other weeks, the conversation flows effortlessly.
“You’ve got to be really flexible and adaptable, and willing to meet the mentee where they are.”
That can be particularly important online, where some of the physical cues available in a face-to-face conversation aren't there.
Her approach is simple: pay attention, match their energy and allow the young person to help guide the conversation.
You don't need to arrive with all the answers.
You need to arrive willing to listen.
“There is so much support around you.”
For people worried they don't have mentoring experience, her message is equally reassuring.
Raise provides mentors with thorough training and ongoing support. She has experienced that support firsthand, including when navigating difficult disclosures from young people.
“I feel really supported. There’s such a strong support network, both as a mentor and for the mentee. And the training is really thorough.”
That support has helped her understand something important: being a good mentor doesn't mean getting everything right by yourself.
It means being present, following the training and knowing when to reach out for support.
Mentoring can help the mentor, too
The benefits haven't only flowed in one direction.
Through mentoring, she has developed skills she can take into other parts of her life—including parenting.
She recently recommended Raise Digital to a colleague who wondered whether, with children of his own, he had enough capacity to mentor.
Her response surprised him.
Mentoring, she explained, can give parents additional tools for listening to young people, spotting things they may otherwise miss and approaching conversations that can feel difficult.
“I feel like every parent should do this.”
And for workplaces, there's an opportunity to make mentoring easier still.
She first heard about Raise through her employer, and says that endorsement was instrumental in getting her to sign up.
Knowing her workplace supported mentoring gave her “permission” to make that hour part of her week—and hearing colleagues talk about their own mentoring experiences showed her that it was possible to balance the commitment with a full-time job.
Low time commitment. Meaningful impact.
Asked whether she would recommend Raise Digital to her colleagues, the answer is immediate.
“Absolutely.”
“It’s a really impactful programme and a really easy way to give back.”
For anyone wondering whether they have enough experience, enough time, or whether one hour could really make a difference, her advice is even simpler:
“Just do it.”
Because you may not see the impact in every conversation.
You may not know exactly what a young person takes away from the hour you spend together.
But sometimes, simply knowing that one trusted adult will show up, listen and be there again next week can mean more than you realise.
One hour. Once a week. Online.
Become a Raise Digital Mentor and make your hour matter.
