Cindy Goodman-Sak, an assistant teaching professor and director of Business Executive Education for the Ed G. Smith College of Business, leads a side session during “Mentoring Monday,” an annual event organized by the St. Louis Business Journal that was held at the Millenium Student Center on Feb. 23. (Photos by Derik Holtmann)

In spite of the early hour and the cold weather, there was a palpable vibe on the top floor of the Millennium Student Center on the morning of Feb. 23.

The building at the heart of the University of Missouri–St. Louis campus was the site of “Mentoring Monday,” an annual event held on the same day in 43 cities across the United States. A project of American City Business Journals, the parent company of the St. Louis Business Journal, “Mentoring Monday” was established to foster an atmosphere of guidance and support among women in business, and those in attendance at MSC said the buzz in the air was invigorating.

“I was shocked at the amount of energy in the room,” said Cindy Goodman-Sak, , an assistant teaching professor and director of Business Executive Education for the Ed G. Smith College of Business who worked with the Business Journal to coordinate the event.

“I’m just fueled leaving this place,” said Monique Bynum, Senior Community Investor and Education Relations professional at The Boeing Company, who served as one of the mentors for the event. “It is so empowering.”

This year’s occasion was the 13th involving the St. Louis Business Journal, and Publisher Robert Bobroff said the MSC checked all of the boxes as a suitable host site.

“It’s a very unique venue that UMSL has provided, with plenty of rooms for us to utilize for breakout sessions,” Bobroff said. “So yeah, this is kind of the perfect fit.”

Ekin Pellegrini (right), the associate dean for Graduate Business Programs and founding director of the Doctor of Business Administration program in the College of Business, led a small-group discussion during “Mentoring Monday” on Feb. 23 in the Century Rooms.

“The Century Rooms are the perfect size for the group we had and the layout that we needed to do,” added Dana Dhom, the events director for the St. Louis Business Journal. “And then just having the open space out here for some of our tables and our sponsors and our vendors, it works really well.”

While UMSL served as a first-time host, Ekin Pellegrini was not acting as a first-time mentor. In fact, Pellegrini – the associate dean for Graduate Business Programs and founding director of the Doctor of Business Administration program in the College of Business – was a mentor at the first of these annual events. This time, Pellegrini led a small-group discussion titled, “Having It All: Strategies for Building a Career & Life You Love.”

“I’m so happy that we have this event in St Louis, and obviously, it’s a national event, but seeing it grow in St. Louis, and for me, now I see people serving as mentors whom I served as a mentor 13 years ago,” Pellegrini said. “They were my mentees, and now they’re coming back to serve as mentors. It’s just so beautiful to see that when you invest in a person, you know they’re going to go on to invest in other people.”

Around 220 people attended “Mentoring Monday,” including 51 mentors. The 90-minute conference gave students and middle-to-lower-level professionals a chance to speak one-on-one with leaders from a wide range of industries in a “speed-mentoring” format, with a running clock sounding off every seven minutes to encourage a continual changing of seats.

“It was well structured, and I was impressed with how prepared the mentees were,” Bynum said. “They had questions, they had examples, and they were not afraid to lean in.”

Across the hall from the Century Rooms, Goodman-Sak led a side session titled “Career Chess – Think Two Moves Ahead,” while Brinkmann Constructors, a national general contractor headquartered in St. Louis, offered resume reviewing services.

“Anytime we can get out in the St Louis community and meet people, connect with people, it’s beneficial for us,” said Stephanie Eichmeyer, the director of marketing and communications at Brinkmann Constructors. “But we also want to elevate and support women in our community, and so this is a good way to do that.”

Anisha Inaganti (right), who recently earned a master’s degree in finance and marketing from UMSL, gets advice from Ajla Zigic, Vice President and Business Development Officer for Bank of Washington, who served as one of 51 mentors during “Mentoring Monday,” held Feb. 23 at the Millennium Student Center.

Additionally, a group of local small businesses set up booths in the third-floor rotunda to interact with the event attendees and market their wares.

“I love being a part of events that allow me to connect with members of the community and then support women and business and to be around other women leaders,” said Ashley Morgan, founder and owner of Whip It Goods, a plant-based skincare products company. “It’s very empowering, and as a small business owner, it’s motivating, and I’m grateful to be a part of it.”

For Anisha Inaganti, who recently earned a master’s degree in finance and marketing from UMSL, along with a graduate certification in financial technology, “Mentoring Monday” provided a unique opportunity to hear directly from people who have been successful in her chosen field.

“I came here to make some new connections and to learn from women leaders, and I heard about the challenges they faced when they started their careers,” Inaganti said. “So they told me how to navigate some of those challenges because I’m just stepping into workforce, and they were really great resources.”

Career advice was just one of many topics of conversation that took place.

“For me personally, I think that was the beautiful thing about today, because if you lined up all the people that I talked to, not one of them had the exact same reason for being here,” Bynum said. “Some were here just for networking, some were here because, ‘I’m just new to my career, I got this big job, so what’s next?’ Some were looking for their next opportunity, and then you had students looking for internship opportunities. Every story, every reason was completely different.”