Turning Tides: The Evolution of a Mentor and Mentee

Working with young people always brings me back to when I was younger and the choices I made. Who I was, and how competitive I used to be when I was 24. It reminded me of how I met my mentor at 24 too. I didn’t know at the time that she would be in my life for the next 16 years. Jazzy would later become my mentor, greatest friend, and professional confidante, but it never started off that way.

I was 24 when I started my first real design job at a television company. It was the early 2000’s in Toronto. I was newly promoted to a designer and working my way toward becoming a senior designer. I knew we were hiring for a senior position, but looking around, I knew that I wouldn’t be qualified as a senior designer for that company. People had 6, 8 and 10 years of experience. Nevertheless, I tried anyway and failed.

A few weeks later, we interviewed a woman named Jazzy for the position. Looking at her work in the interview, I felt in awe. I couldn’t believe this person was able to be so complete and concise. I was so envious yet amazed. We hired her almost immediately. Upon getting hired, Jazzy began taking on the difficult projects: redesigning YTV and WNetwork. I watched as she produced in fascinating speeds these amazing design artifacts - “how does she do it?” I kept thinking to myself. Somehow, through being with Jazzy, I remember not taking the time to get to know her. My friend and I would often talk behind her back, feeling upset about how she got to work on such great projects while we were stuck with promo ads and much simpler projects.

Out of jealousy, there were times when I purposefully pretended to be nice to her and laughed at her. When I was 24, I felt like I was in competition with everyone else. I needed and wanted to be the best designer. I hated that all the new attention went to her. But, somehow, little by little, Jazzy and I got closer. We talked more, and I got to know her. We became acquaintances but never too close. She taught me how to handle large system redesigns, how to audit sites and products, perform user testing, create design systems, and implement them with developers. I learned so much from Jazzy. She was and is my greatest teacher.

A few months later, I got a job offer to move out west to be the senior designer that I wanted. Little did I know that all of the work that Jazzy did set me up for success in my new role. Jazzy told me before I left, “Wynne, don’t expect the place that you’re going to will be as organized as Corus. Keep your head up.” I took that to heart. Working at Disney, it was not as organized as Corus because they needed to have processes implemented for a large redesign. Because of Jazzy, I was able to implement the process that she taught me and align interdisciplinary teams towards a common design system. In addition thanks to an amazing outstanding designer that partnered with me - Nicki - and the web team of smart, intelligent, and funny developers, we were able to crank out a fully functional redesign in 8 months.

Three years later, I moved to Seattle to work for Amazon. On my second day there, I knew nobody so I went to the local bar. Across the bar, I saw a person who looked like Jazzy. IT WAS Jazzy. I said, “JAZZY!”, and she said “Wynne!”. We both couldn’t believe how we ended up working at Amazon this many years later, sitting at a bar in Seattle, Washington.

For the next two years, Jazzy was my best friend and mentor. We lived two floors from each other on West Lake Union. Because work was often extremely stressful, Jazzy would make us all Chinese soups filled with the most nutritious foods. We would go on holidays together to Las Vegas to see Cirque Du Soleil. To San Francisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge. Most of all, Jazzy was my mentor at work. She understood all the challenges that we went through, and we encouraged each other to keep going. Her design work always made me want to keep being a better designer.

I left Seattle and moved to San Francisco. She came to visit me at times, and we kept in touch. During the pandemic, I got an interview at Facebook and headed back to Seattle. We reunited again like no days had gone by. Since then, Jazzy’s been my mentor and one of very few people I know who have dedicated decades to the craft of design.

Looking back, I would have never thought that the person I thought was in competition with me would become my most cherished mentor and friend.

Do you have a mentor in your life? How did your mentor find you?

Love and Grace,

Wynne