The inaugural Metro-Wide Mentoring for Women will be held April 12 throughout the Greater Des Moines area. The chambers will host events at locations in Des Moines, West Des Moines, Urbandale, Altoona, Ankeny, Waukee and Indianola. 

Carole Chambers, president of the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce and a leading driver behind Metro-Wide Mentoring for Women’s organization, said the event has the potential to have an impact on as many as 1,000 women across Greater Des Moines. 

“This could be their first experience with a mentor, and seeing what the process looks like. It could help them become more confident and comfortable and spawn a new interest in mentoring,” she said. “I hope we see a new dawn of women supporting and encouraging each other and seeking advice from one another on a regular basis.”

Chambers was inspired to bring an event like this to Central Iowa by Bizwomen’s Mentoring Monday, an event that takes place in more than 40 Business Journal markets on the same day. Planning for it began last spring, and while she knew it would be a challenge to get each Greater Des Moines area chamber of commerce on board, many were on board.

“I wanted the chambers to see we could work together on something like this,” Chambers said. “We can be a huge force to drive whatever it is we want to drive, and eliminating the gap for women should be one of those things — leadership, pay, promoting, and mentoring for women.”

Each event on April 12 will begin at 7 a.m. with registration. A continental breakfast will be available. The mentoring events kick off at 8 a.m. Several mentors will be present at each event, and seated at tables with several available chairs. Participants will have the opportunity to select which table and which mentor they engage with first, and will likely converse with three additional mentors before the event concludes.

The mentors at each event vary, from elected officials to leaders of women’s organizations to business owners. Chambers said there is “no shortage of highly qualified mentors” at each event. Mentors lined up for each event are women and men, she said, adding that it’s important that men have an opportunity to “show the bright side of the relationship they can have with women in the workplace.”

The cost to participate in Metro-Wide Mentoring for Women is $25 for members of participating chambers, or $30 for nonmembers. The goal is to use proceeds from the event to launch or expand women’s leadership programming at each participating chamber. 

The hope is for women to form organic connections with mentors — and with each other as well — and for follow-up to occur on their own after the event.

Ankeny
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Waukee
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West Des Moines (West Des Moines, Adel, Clive chambers)
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Urbandale (Urbandale, Johnston, Grimes chambers)
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Indianola (Indianola, Norwalk, Carlisle chambers)
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