I joined Hispanotech in 2019 (the same year I came to Canada). In 2022, by then with more relevant professional experience in Canada and having accomplished some important milestones, I wanted to explore opportunities for growth and collaboration; and decided to volunteer as mentor in the 2022 mentorship program.

It represented a turning point and since then it has been a remarkable experience as volunteer. It is still fresh in my mind the first in-person activity of that year’s mentorship program. That day I witnessed how this organization is cemented on a network of brilliant people with a bright future; some of them already shining and others with all the potential to shine.

After a wonderful experience as mentor and knowing the potential of our community, especially amazed by those new to Canada, I decided to commit more time to Hispanotech and collaborate further. Having had experience in management, leading programs and projects, combined with my experience as teacher/trainer/mentor along with my technological background, somehow opened the door to lead the 2023 mentorship program.

I took the challenge as a director of the program in 2023, and embarked on this new endeavour, convinced that it would be an opportunity to help others in a different level. “12 weeks to transform someone’s life” through the mentorship program, was our motivation and inspiration, something that we took seriously at all levels in the organization.

Being a newcomer is a unique opportunity to reinvent or become a better version of ourselves. It represents a new chapter in the book of our lives where we continue writing or rewriting our story every day. The story can either follow the same plot or can turn into a different one, but the way we tell and write our story is up to us.

In that sense, the 2023 mentorship program was intended and designed as an inside out process and a transformational journey where we offered the tools and guidance to help our mentees define, design and set their goals for a successful life in Canada – the beginning of a new wonderful chapter; a journey that goes from the philosophical and strategic, to the tactical and pragmatic.

It’s difficult to summarize the effort involved to deliver a mentorship program of this magnitude, but what is more remarkable is the passion, dedication and vocation of so many people; some of them working numerous or countless hours. From the mentors, the amazing mentorship team, the different committees and work groups; the synergy, enthusiasm and team effort that I could experience was exceptional, especial, and was key for the success of the program.

Finally, but not the least, the most rewarding and fulfilling part of the program is to see and read the testimony of the mentees. The bonds created, the achievements (small or big), the growth, the learnings, the experience, the transformation itself, sometimes tangible, sometimes intangible; it all gives you the sentiment and confidence that rather sooner than later, they will be doing great things and will make our community bigger, better and prouder.

-- By Nestor Castro