Chuck Stephens (Global Head of Gender, Diversity & Inclusion, Barclays Plc): [about our Make Your Own Luck! conference]
I very much enjoyed the content and style of the event. You all did a brilliant job. There are a lot of people doing work in this area, but few are frankly that good.
Emma Badman (UK Regional Head of Compliance at ING Bank – Managing Director):
A respected mentor to many within the organisation, Rina has been committed to supporting women in the corporate environment. She has been actively involved in engaging senior management in a dialogue to promote diversity, shaping the direction of the company in developing its D&I vision and strategy, and has established a number of initiatives that provide a forum for discussion of D&I and employee engagement and motivation topics. Rina is an able, engaging and passionate presenter and a talented role model to other career-minded women.
Jayne Constantinis (Presentation/communication skills trainer; presenter, facilitator, conference speaker, voice over):
I worked with Rina on her first Voice at the Table conference and found her to be meticulous, professional, clever and insightful. She is a skillful manager of people and an enthusiastic hunter/gatherer of ideas. All in all, a joy to collaborate with. As a result, she created an event and is running an organisation which takes an innovative and yet down to earth approach to unleashing women’s potential. Her vision is to take women on a journey; to give them practical support and to work with them at an individual level. She will, no doubt, succeed in this.
Eilidh Milnes (International Motivational Speaker, Confidence Coach Author. Creating a happier more productive & resilient workforce):
What I loved about Rina’s MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK! conference was the professionalism, planning and preparation matched to a spirit of camaraderie, warmth and openness; all qualities owned by Rina. Her company “Voice at the Table” (VATT) has the aspiration to empower more women to enter the promotion pipeline and step-up their careers.
So when Rina asked me to speak at her event I was eager to keynote, as her philosophy very much matches my own. The VATT delegates were treated to expert speakers and panelists and armed with tips, strategies and takeways to help them move forward. I can thoroughly endorse VATT and Rina Goldenberg-Lynch as an event organiser and look forward to working with her again in the future.
Hui Min Langridge (Senior Financial Technology Lawyer):
I would recommend Rina as a mentor and coach-she has walked alongside me in helping me navigate the goals that I set out for myself and helped me handle tricky work situations through her insightful approach. I have much to learn from her and continue to value her input.
Joanna Gaudoin (Image expert):
Rina is truly inspiring to work with, her constant energy and enthusiasm for the work she does. She is truly an ideas person and quickly shapes thinking and projects.She is passionate about creating diverse organisations.
Mid-career associate at an International Financial Institution:
My mentoring experience has benefited me in many different ways:
- Specific advice to deal with issues that have arisen in my daily role. This led to positive results and me feeling more confident to tackle issues in the future.
- A huge confidence boost and making me feel positive about my abilities, my career and my worth to the bank.
- Helped with guiding my career and making me look to the future and plan steps to achieve my goals. This included me going for and obtaining a new role in the bank which I would not have had the confidence to go for before.
On a personal note, I was not expecting such support from my mentor or to build up such a strong bond of trust. I was expecting a bit of constructive criticism and maybe a few suggested targets to focus on. However that was not the case at all. I have been shown how to think about problems differently and feel more positive and confident about myself and my career. It really helped me develop as a person as well as deal with work situations in a more positive way and I really cannot thank my mentor enough for all the benefits I have gained from the experience.
Fundraising Manager at Children’s Charity:
As someone who had never had any mentoring I was a little nervous about what it would involve, and had more than few questions buzzing round my head before I had my very first meeting! Rina very quickly settled my nerves with her warmth and experience and put me right at ease from the word go, guiding me to consider the areas the I wanted to take forward and putting me at the centre of making my own choices and setting the direction of the process. I walked away from our first meeting feeling excited about the future and full of ideas for ways I could use the sessions to help me grow!
It’s been several months since that first meeting and I can honestly say I have got a lot more than I ever expected from the process. My confidence is one specific area we have paid particular attention to, addressing where a lack of it holds me back and thinking through very practical ways I can challenge some of my negative assumptions that are unfounded! As a result, I have found myself stepping up to challenges I never would have before such as speaking up at senior meetings on issues I feel strongly about and putting myself forward for opportunities to further my career; such as leading a new initiative I feel passionate involving encouraging others to learn and develop; something I have found incredibly rewarding. It has felt really great to have such positive feedback at work from my manager and colleagues as a result of my confidence growing and having a trusted mentor in Rina has played a huge role in enabling these changes to emerge. As well as confidence building we have also looked at how I can ‘map’ my longer term career, and Rina has helped me get a much clearer sense of how I can get there, offering me tools and guidance to enable my own direction to emerge.
If I could say what I value most about Rina, it is her combination of practicality, vision and sense of clarity – qualities which make me feel more able to achieve what I want ; I feel really lucky to have met her.
Senior HR consultant, International Consultancy:
Rina has been a confidant and friend of mine for about 13 years. As she’s always pragmatic and sensible, I’ve gone to her with a variety of issues, both professional and personal. One particular instance stands out in my mind, and it occurred during a period of my life when there were many changes. I’d returned to work following maternity leave and was already feeling vulnerable as a part time employee and having been absent. When a senior supervisor at work aggressively challenged my decision to work at all since she considered my prospects for advancement unlikely, I was stunned. This conversation completely knocked my confidence, and I was frightened about being managed out of the organisation since this person was quite influential.
Dejected, I went to Rina who immediately pointed out discussion points for my side of the story. Interestingly, Rina did not pretend that I was doing better in my career than I actually was at the time. She simply and rationally helped me to see the facts for what they were. For instance, she asked if others for whom I was working had given indications that I was doing fine and delivering to their expectations. Upon Rina’s questioning, I reflected and came to realise that I had indeed been on a positive trajectory and improving.
Guidance from Rina gave me the confidence to write an email, laying out these points, to my supervisor. She helped me to see that if I stayed silent, this senior person would be convinced that I should make plans to leave the organisation. However, if I stood up to her in a rational way, she would see that I would not simply leave without trying to progress my career. After receiving the email, my supervisor immediately recognised the line that she had crossed, and while she truly believed she was advising in my best interest, she also re-drew the border of our working relationship and has since treated me with much more respect. The benefits of writing to my supervisor had proven worthwhile and exceeded my expectations. It bolstered my confidence and demonstrated to this senior person that I have a voice and believe in myself and my life choices.
A number of years have passed since that experience, and Rina has continued to guide me with other situations for which I’ve been extremely grateful.
