Invisible Mentor: Pamela Porodo, President
Company Name: Work for Widows
Website: http://workforwidows.com
This is another interview that I conducted over a year ago, and once again the ideas are timeless. Before you start reading her interview, I have a few tips to share on turning ideas into action:
- Receive the ideas: Listen to what Pamela Porodo is saying in the interview, then write down five of her ideas that resonate with you.
- Expand the ideas: What’s one of the five ideas that you want to build on?
- Apply the ideas: What projects are you working on that you can apply the one idea?
Part One: Introduction
Avil Beckford: In a couple of sentences, tell me a little bit about yourself.
Pamela Porodo: I’m an adopted woman who was blessed to be from the country I’m from, which is Canada, and to be chosen by the family I was chosen to be with. I have a loving husband who I’ve been with for thirty years, two wonderful daughters and a perfect grandson.
Avil Beckford: What’s a typical day like for you?
Pamela Porodo: Beads! Beads, beads and more beads [laughter] – that’s a typical day. Whatever I’m sorting, it’s either sorting the products that are made of beads by the women that I help or looking at bead designs so that I can help them make something different or telling the story of the women who feed their children from creating with these beads. I guess beads are my typical day.
Avil Beckford: How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?
Pamela Porodo: I guess I look at the faces of the women and children that are in our program, and I know what life would be like for them if we weren’t there. It keeps you very motivated.
Avil Beckford: If you had to start over from scratch, knowing some of the things that you know now, what would you do differently?
Pamela Porodo: Nothing. Every bump in the road, whether it’s been a big or a small bump, has led me to where I am, and it’s where I belong. It’s helping them help themselves.
Avil Beckford: Tell me about your big break and who gave it to you.
Pamela Porodo: I’ve thought about that a lot, and I know it probably sounds funny but my big break was more a big wave. We were living in Sri Lanka when the Tsunami hit, and it woke me up. It took the blinders off and it showed me the way I was supposed to live my life.
Part Two: Career
Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?
Pamela Porodo: I guess my mentors taught me to always give of ourselves. My mother still, to this day, at age 81 knits toques and scarves and mitts for the homeless. My aunt Helen who was very active in her church met a man who was a street person, he was suffering from alcoholism, and she took him in, and she helped him, and he is now a minister.
Avil Beckford: So, looking back at your Aunt and your mom who were your mentors, what’s one core message you learnt from them?
Pamela Porodo: I think it’s to never really give up on those people that you’ve committed yourself to because now they know you as their hope.
Avil Beckford: The definition for an invisible mentor is a unique leader you can learn things from by observing them from a distance. In that capacity, what is one piece of advice that you would give to my readers?
Pamela Porodo: Never to put blinders on and think that the world is alright without your help. Always notice that person in need and take that extra moment to help them.
Avil Beckford: Looking back at your life and all the influences, how did you learn to be a leader?
Pamela Porodo: I was led by strong women. It’s something that I say all the time about the women in my programme; I was raised by empowered women – they were career women and so I learned to be a leader, I learned to be empowered, and it’s what we try and do with the women in our programme. We teach them to be empowered so their children learn that behaviour.
Avil Beckford: What would you say is your leadership philosophy?
Pamela Porodo: A gentle hand and a strong back and a big heart.
Avil Beckford: What big steps did you take to succeed in your field and looking at your success so far, what is one consistent action you have taken that has led to the most to your success?
Pamela Porodo: The biggest thing was to understand what the people needed from me – not what I could give them. I sat and learned that they needed certain things and certain aspects and that’s what we created, so we could give them what they needed. We looked beyond what was the niche of the week, or what was running as the positive thing to do, and we spent the time and realized what they needed, not what others needed to hear us doing.
Avil Beckford: Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success? And this is not isolated to what you’re doing now, it could be any kind of business venture or whatever, so just think of that in that broader perspective.
Pamela Porodo: One of my biggest failures, if I look back over the years, I finished my one degree and I was going to specialize in University and I decided that I could get that job and get out there and not that I may have ever used that degree, but it was something that was a goal I had set for myself and I didn’t complete it. How it contributed to a greater success? Probably because I may have driven myself just that little bit harder because I didn’t complete it, so I made sure that other things in my life were more successful.
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Author Bio: Avil Beckford, an expert interviewer, entrepreneur and published author is passionate about books and professional development, and that's why she founded The Invisible Mentor and the Virtual Literary World Tour to give you your ideal mentors virtually in the palm of your hands by offering book reviews and book summaries, biographies of wise people and interviews of successful people.
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