Empowering Growth Through Mentorship: A Journey with Leticia Velez of Waterton

In the landscape of professional growth, mentorship stands as a beacon guiding individuals toward clarity and success and nowhere is that more evident in The Goldie Initiative. The Initiative works to support all women in commercial real estate across all sub-industries. Because of the support of Goldie Gala sponsors, The Goldie Initiative can provide their employees access to hybrid mentoring opportunities.

For Waterton, their sponsorship of the 2022 and 2023 Goldie Galas brought not just a commitment to supporting The Goldie Initiative and women in CRE, but an invaluable opportunity for Leticia Velez. Leticia Velez currently holds the role of Senior Corporate Accountant at Waterton, now with the organization for more than one and a half years. Leticia Velez has seven years of professional accounting experience and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Northeastern Illinois University.

Velez was initially recommended by Susan Schuetz, Senior Vice President of Corporate Accounting and Treasury at Waterton to participate in the program. The program entailed high-quality, individual, hybrid mentoring by connecting a wide variety of extraordinary leaders in the CRE industry with early to mid-career women at sponsor companies utilizing a virtual matching portal. Through the portal, female employees can book one-on-one hybrid mentoring sessions with seasoned executives who offer guidance for professional growth.

Velez engaged in eight mentoring sessions, a blend of both virtual and in-person meetings. Some of her mentors included Carolina Avila, Kelly Booker, Vera Halicki, Laura Schueren, Amy Hall, and Suzanne Knoll. As she reflected on her experience, Velez shared her excitement about meeting women in real estate and discovering not just mentors but a vibrant community.

Through her connections, Velez took away these key lessons from her mentors:

Leadership and Effective Community

“Presenting in meetings is important. It shows leadership and effective communication. This advice has helped me speak up and take initiative in meetings.”

Empathy

“Being empathic to others. I was not expecting to learn this and realized how important it is to understand and listen to others at work.”

Value of Networking

“To grow your community. I am grateful for each mentor, they connected me to someone else, whether it was a person that provided me with additional information or other real estate groups. This may sound silly but the mentors I met actually connected me to coworkers at Waterton. I am also grateful for them to trust me and connect me with others.”

Advocating for Yourself

“Ask for what you want.” While simple enough, advocating for yourself can be the biggest challenge of navigating your professional career.

For Velez, mentorship stands as a channel for knowledge and experience exchange. It allowed her “the opportunity to learn from others. Learning about their careers and experiences”. Mentorship not only broadens a professional’s understanding of their industry, but cultivate an ecosystem where individuals feel empowered, connected, and equipped to contribute meaningfully to their professional landscapes, allowing professionals to thrive amidst diverse challenges and opportunities.

The Goldie Initiative’s hybrid mentorship program goes live on January 1st and is available to all sponsors of the 2023 Goldie Gala at silver, gold, platinum, and diamond levels. We’re so grateful for Waterton’s support and attendance at this year’s Goldie Gala at Wintrust’s Grand Banking Hall.