In this week's Level Up episode Ashlee speaks with CoraLynn Trewet who has the honor of being the first recipient of the Thomas R. Temple Mentorship Award from the Iowa Pharmacist Association. A testament to the transformative power of mentorship, CoraLynn’s journey is one of reciprocation, authenticity, and the profound impact of being truly seen. Join us as we traverse her inspiring journey and unlock insights into the essence of a meaningful mentorship.
CoraLynn emphasizes the importance of openness to receiving mentorship and the ripple effect of paying it forward. We also shed light on the undeniably joyous pride that blooms from a mentee's success, and the invaluable role of having varied mentors at different junctures of our careers. This episode promises a refreshing view on mentorship, highlighting the significance of forging connections with individuals who ignite our inspiration.
Later in the episode, CoraLynn shares her wisdom on the art of building authentic relationships. We dive into the subtleties of trust, authenticity, and vulnerability, and their pivotal role in fostering meaningful relationships. CoraLynn also gives valuable tips on being an exceptional mentor, from being an attentive listener to inspiring others to find answers within themselves. We wrap up with a discussion on the importance of making others feel seen and cherished, a sentiment that beautifully encapsulates CoraLynn's own mentorship journey.
Join us for this enriching conversation on the transformative power of meaningful mentorship.
In this week's Level Up episode Ashlee speaks with CoraLynn Trewet who has the honor of being the first recipient of the Thomas R. Temple Mentorship Award from the Iowa Pharmacist Association. A testament to the transformative power of mentorship, CoraLynn’s journey is one of reciprocation, authenticity, and the profound impact of being truly seen. Join us as we traverse her inspiring journey and unlock insights into the essence of a meaningful mentorship.
CoraLynn emphasizes the importance of openness to receiving mentorship and the ripple effect of paying it forward. We also shed light on the undeniably joyous pride that blooms from a mentee's success, and the invaluable role of having varied mentors at different junctures of our careers. This episode promises a refreshing view on mentorship, highlighting the significance of forging connections with individuals who ignite our inspiration.
Later in the episode, CoraLynn shares her wisdom on the art of building authentic relationships. We dive into the subtleties of trust, authenticity, and vulnerability, and their pivotal role in fostering meaningful relationships. CoraLynn also gives valuable tips on being an exceptional mentor, from being an attentive listener to inspiring others to find answers within themselves. We wrap up with a discussion on the importance of making others feel seen and cherished, a sentiment that beautifully encapsulates CoraLynn's own mentorship journey.
Join us for this enriching conversation on the transformative power of meaningful mentorship.
Coralyn, welcome. To Level Up, Super excited to have you. I know that you have been long-time friends with Jen and just really integrated into the CE Impact Circle and I'm happy to get the just a small moment of your crazy busy schedule to spend time with me. And thanks for being here.
Speaker 2:
Thanks for having me. This is really fun for me as well, so thanks.
Speaker 1:
Why don't you share a little bit about your background and tell us about what you do in pharmacy right now?
Speaker 2:
Sure, well, I am a Iowa girl. I live in Iowa, I was born and raised here, I went to pharmacy school at Drake, then a two-year residency at KU and then came back to work at the University of Iowa. So I was in clinical practice for 10 years and then I pivoted to industry where I've spent 10 years as a medical science liaison, now working for Horizon in the nephrology and refractory gout space, so kind of a really different therapeutic area, a little bit more of a rare disease focus now, and throughout all that time I've really been engaged with different associations and different groups of people, just because I have kind of had a kind of non-traditional pharmacy journey. I always say I'm a pretend pharmacist because even when I was in clinical practice I was embedded in a family practice clinic and so I've never really been a dispensing pharmacist.
Speaker 2:
That's why I say I'm a pretend pharmacist. And now I can say I'm not a doctor anymore, because I don't Remember when you used to be a real doctor in the clinic. And I tell them, remind them that I'm still a doctor but I just do it really differently, so kind of a non-traditional path, for sure.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I love that, and what we're talking about today is kind of an off, a kind of a pivot from your pivot. And so I think that Coralyn was the first, or is the first, recipient from the Iowa Pharmacist Association to receive the Thomas R Temple Mentorship Award, and when we were brainstorming on different topics to talk about on this podcast with, that goes alongside our by design pharmacist, by design concept, and we thought that you would be a perfect fit to talk about mentorship and the benefits of mentorships. What is a mentor? All of the All, that encompasses the definition of a mentor, and since you've been such a great friend to see impact and you won this prestigious award which, by the way, congratulations, huge distinction and huge honor, I think you're a great fit for our audience to talk about mentorship and what it means to you.
Speaker 2:
Fantastic. Yeah, let's do it, let's talk about it, let's start off?
Speaker 1:
Okay, so just real quick, what do you, in your opinion, in your experience, what do you think? How did you get this award? First of all, this is amazing. Yeah, that's a good question. I guess that's a good way to say it.
Speaker 2:
I was really honored to former students of mine nominating me for this award or at least two that I know of and I. They were students from more than 10 years ago when I was a faculty member at the University of Iowa. So students I've continued to invest in and mentor. I always told my students once my student, always my student, you can always reach out. So that was really special.
Speaker 2:
Tom was a personal and treasured mentor of mine and so it was really really special to be the first recipient of it because he was, you know, has been, my lifelong mentor, very close friend. He just recently passed away and I'll be able to speak at his celebration of life service because, you know, we had just a really. You know he taught me really what being a mentor looks like and through how he treated me as his mentee and I invested back in that it was a very reciprocal. You know it was a very, it was a relationship and I think that's one of the things actually that people sometimes get mixed up in is that you know, sometimes you really can truly get just as much out of helping others as they get from you helping them and in a mentor relationship it really should be bi-directional and it should be something that both parties are really invested in.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I agree with you. Speaking of Tom, tell us a little bit about your. You know your relationship with Tom and I know that this is a period of grief and a period of his passing. But if you don't mind sharing just a few moments of what really stood out to you about that relationship and you know how you think that that impacted you and also your mentees too, yeah, tom taught me a lot of things.
Speaker 2:
He was an amazing connector, and so I think one of the things that I really benefited from is he was. You know, he connected people. He was a great expert networker and that was really helpful, and I think that's one of the things a mentor does they connect you with people. I cannot fix everything or do everything or be everything for anyone, but I'm probably going to know someone who is.
Speaker 1:
Or I'm going to know.
Speaker 2:
You know that network and really sharing that network with people, and sometimes the mentoring you know that Tom did wasn't even what he if he was just like hey, you really should meet Chris, like I'm going to introduce you to Chris and then you know that was it. That was the extent of that. You know portion of that. So he was a connector.
Speaker 2:
The best thing about Tom because I can you know, they're kind of my own things too the best thing about Tom was that he made you feel important. He made you feel like you mattered and he really you know if I could convince someone that they matter and that they're important and that they can contribute to this world. However, I'm mentoring them. If I'm mentoring them as a pharmacist, if I'm mentoring them as a mom, if I'm mentoring them as a wife, if I'm mentoring them as a friend, you know how to be a good friend, as I mentor my children, even as their mom, and so you know, making someone feel important, making someone feel like they matter, making them really believe in themselves that they can have a dream and they can go chase the dream, Like that, that's all something that they can have.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and mostly he just showed up, and that's the other thing I really feel like mentors do well is just show up, be there, answer. Be there to answer a text, be there, answer a phone call, be there when people have life moments. One of my favorite pictures of all time of Tom and I it's actually just of Tom, but I was getting an award at the University of Iowa and there's this picture of him while I'm giving my speech and it's like you can just. It just beans pride.
Speaker 2:
And I don't think people really, you know, like that's such the gift of being the mentor.
Speaker 2:
It's all the pride you get to have and your mentees and I, you know, as I've mentored people through the years, I am just really truly so proud of them and there's, you know, like I always say, I like I'm the proud mom, I mean, there's not any better feeling than the pride that you get to have to see other people succeed, and I think that's almost better than my own successes in life. And it's also like you're sad for them when they have challenges. You know, like so kind of doing that journey with someone, like that true, true pride he really had that.
Speaker 1:
You felt that so yeah, those are powerful, powerful examples. I mean I'm I hope that his family can hear this, because that is truly a legacy that he's left behind, and I'm so impressed the way that you explained your relationship and how Tom was to you. It seems anything but transactional. I think that's where we In my experience, where I've been helping people, understand the difference between being a mentor, a mentee or family member versus a friend or a coach or whatever that looks like. A lot of times, people get a misunderstanding of I do this and then you do that. It's like a very transactional relationship or one way of. What can I gain from this? Especially early in careers when you don't feel like you have a lot to give, I think a lot of people get stuck in that. Have you ever felt that way, or what are your thoughts about how to make it more organic?
Speaker 2:
Organic is a great word to speak of this. I think you have to allow yourself to be okay with not as a mentee, with being on the receiving end, and that Tom always just asked for me to pay it forward. I really do think that I, especially in Tom's cancer journey, was able to give back to him. But a lot of times how you're going to receive that is not going to necessarily be back to the person or back to the mentor. It's going to be to the people that you mentor and in the future, I think just having that whole vibe to it helps you think a little bit more of. I don't necessarily have to give Ashley something because she's my mentor. I'm going to do something for the next person down the road. That's how I've approached it. I was saying about pride. I mean, there's nothing better than, as the mentor, seeing your mentee succeed. There's so much great pride in that. That's what you get back.
Speaker 2:
I think that sometimes people do try too hard and it's hard because you say there just have to be some structure to it, otherwise it doesn't happen. But it needs to kind of to your point of like I love your term organic. It needs to be organic and let it kind of grow in the way that it's supposed to be, and some things will grow really big and other things will just kind of grow small and stay small or maybe spread out a little bit, and so how how that grows might be different for different people and different times, you know too. But but you know you want to have that kind of that check in, though I think the the structured part of it that's probably as important is to have kind of an awareness of, like, what are you doing now? How are you? How are you doing? Like, tell me how things are going, and so that you can celebrate the wins and the losses, but you have to really know what the game is.
Speaker 1:
So yeah, and I think my understanding. I'm gonna say this, but it doesn't mean it like growing up or going through my career. You get a mentor when you're a student or an assigned mentor. When I was a resident, I got an assigned mentor, so it was like here's this person meet with them. Pressurized sister I don't know if that's a word right.
Speaker 2:
Like it's just kind of this automatic here.
Speaker 1:
You're assigned to this person and that's a great way to start if you're starting from fresh, or ground zero, I suppose. But I think the culture of having a mentor when you're a student I would like to see it, and I think it has shift into each stage of your career and we talked about this a little bit before we started recording of having different mentors for different seasons in your life, because sometimes you might need a different area of expertise or a different person or a completely different brand For example, a mentor at church or a mentor in your as if you're an early parent or a mentor as a neighbor, whatever capacity that mentorship looks like. I think shifting the narrative from only needing mentorship from when you're early practitioner or early mom or whatever that looks like, I feel like did you experience that navigating through your career too?
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So now I kind of now it's chipped a little bit to be in the mentee, yeah, and I kind of still go back to the. It's the feeling how you make someone feel and how others make you feel. And so for me now, 20 years into my career, 20 years from graduation as a pharmacist, I have to very, very intentionally think about that. Right, I think it's easy to you know they're not hand-given to me anymore. Right, I don't have them in store.
Speaker 1:
I mean sometimes with a new job you do like.
Speaker 2:
Here's going to be like a little mentor that's going to help you walk through this, but that's more of an onboarding thing, and so this year I have a word of the year every year. This year it's reach, and my goal for this year was every month to meet with someone who inspired me. So I met them through something or. And then I also had a goal to reach back to somebody in my life that I hadn't spoken to for at least a year. So friends, professionally or personally, that you know, the person was like, hey, you know we should do coffee sometime, or we should when you like their posts or whatever, or when you see them at the grocery store.
Speaker 2:
And so I really sought out women and men actually that inspired me and asked them if they would go for a walk or have coffee, or I mean, I called it like coffee and cocktails with coral and just kind of inspire, you know. And that's really what I looked for as people who inspired me and what I could learn from them. So I think mentoring and networking can be such buzzwords, but that's really what it is at this point in my career of like, who inspires me, what can I learn from them, how can I network with them and meet other people Like I. Kind of how we started that Tom was such a connector.
Speaker 1:
And that was one of the ways.
Speaker 2:
he was such a good mentor to me and so many others. He connected people. So I'm being intentional about that and asking my mentees, you know, or mentors now, these people that I'm meeting with, and I don't say, hey, you want to be my mentor.
Speaker 1:
Like hey, do you?
Speaker 2:
want to go get, have, go to happy hour and then learning from them, learning from their careers and their trajectory and like their personal and professional lives. Not a single one of the people in this little journey for me has actually been a pharmacist, so it's been people that I'm like, that are, but it's all been career driven for me. So, like you know, inspiring people in leadership or inspiring people and nonprofits in this town or you know, all of that that I could really just really learn from. So I think I've kind of shifted a little bit from like the mentoring to who can I learn, who inspires me, how can I learn from them and how can I like have a relationship in that way, and so it's a little bit more of a kind of a blend with mentoring and networking, I think at this point Right.
Speaker 1:
And it's a season of life, too, when you're capable of of mentoring or being a mentee. I think it shifts depending upon what your goals are and what your priorities are and what capacity you have to. For example, like I'm in the season of my life right now where I have a one year old, I have a six year old. We just built a new house, moved into a new house, my husband's really working in the grind. Like I'm just not in a season of going out to coffee and happy hours on the regular.
Speaker 1:
I work full time. I have you know, it's just there's a lot going on there. But I do think that through building a personal brand and having an established like my own thing that I can focus on, I'm able to hit the masses, like creating content, instead of that one to one. And so I encourage a lot of my friends who are in this season, like join LinkedIn, be on LinkedIn, be visible, yeah, yeah, but you're not having to meet with people necessarily just on a one to one capacity, but every time I post something, I get people reaching out to me on my in my inbox and saying like hey, this really inspired me to go take action, to do something Right. So I think you bring up a good point with the definition of mentorship. I mean, circling back to Tom, I would have never meant, I would have never no-transcript thought that being a connector was kind of being part as a mentor. That's such a fascinating umbrella term that the word mentor can really mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think, thinking about that connector, you have to connect people well, you have to know the person. Why he was so good at that was because he knew me. He knew my skillset, he knew my strengths, he knew my passions, he knew all those things. That's the mentor part of that.
Speaker 1:
Okay.
Speaker 2:
I'm going to be able to connect people well if I know them, not just like oh, you have an interest in oncology and Joe, I know Joe is an oncology pharmacist. That's the basics, yeah. Really knowing, oh, and you have the same passion for because both of your parents' moms passed away from cancer Finding the, getting to know people.
Speaker 2:
I think, that's the mentor part of that connecting. I'm not a touchy-feely person, I'm like a Myers-Briggs, I'm not a feeler. I'm kind of talking a lot about this because I feel like that's something that's important within the mentoring is really getting a feeling and really understanding someone, and that you have to become a feeler a little bit to do that well.
Speaker 1:
Or building a genuine buzz-termite, authentic relationship and rapport with the other person, understanding what their desires are, and then coming in as the mentor and saying, okay, here's what I have for you. It might be totally, maybe, what you're looking for or maybe not, but I can't give you in all capacities. But in this little bucket that you're asking for, I think this will help you.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I just was looking through my note when I was prepping for this little, but I was looking through my notes and I found notes from a session that I attended about trust.
Speaker 2:
So you bring up something of how trust is really a skill. It's like if something gained, it's a and so yeah, definitely how you can build that and create that, and how authenticity is something that's like my core. It's so important to me being real and I think that's something that is really what you want to do with the people that you're mentoring, what you want to do with the mentee, or I mean as other people like the authentic. It doesn't really do you any good to like for us to have this relationship if I can't be myself around you right.
Speaker 2:
And so understanding people and building that trust, then it's a safe space.
Speaker 2:
Then I can come to you and there's like a vulnerability that comes along with that. Then I can come to you when, like, things are bad and I'm hurting and I don't know what to do, and I just had something really bad, unfortunate, happen to me, right. Or when there's successes too, like it's the person you want to call when you lose your job and it's the person you want to call when you get promoted, right, totally. And so, and you know the right things to say I remember I ran for IPA president and I remember telling Tom and he had like the perfect thing that he said to me and I hadn't even cried yet and then he said like the perfect thing to me and I totally cried because you know, it's like it's how he responded. You feel, see, that moment, yeah, and I think that's how that authenticity is just really, really fantastic.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I think some people listening right now might love. They love what you're gonna say, they love what you're saying, they love the conversation but they might be thinking in the back of their heads like this sounds great. And this is Coralyn, so lucky to have a mentor like Tom. And I'm lucky too. I mean I have been blessed with outstanding mentors, whether they were in pharmacy school or in my careers or completely different capacity.
Speaker 1:
But I think what I'm hearing and what actually Jen says a lot is being a go-giver oh yeah, I love that Giving before you ask, so I can try to understand people who are right here listening with us saying this sounds great, but I really don't have a mentor and asking for some tools and looking for some tools on how to go get one. And what I'm hearing is and just from working with Jen and the team is just give. First, find a place to give that you care about, that you're passionate about, that you want to spend time in, and then from there, identifying those people who you believe that you can start really helping or benefit like they can benefit from your even. You think you have nothing to give but starting somewhere and then seeing where those relationships evolve into.
Speaker 2:
Yes, definitely yeah. I mean we do often say that and Jen and I have a saying of, and I have a board in my office that says make your own luck.
Speaker 2:
And I was with a mentor at an APHA meeting one year and I was trying to navigate what I was a decision, and I said, you know, it was Harold Godwin, really like amazing lifelong mentor of mine. And I said, harold, I just feel like I'm just lucky, I just all these things have just really happened to me because I've just, you know, I've just gotten really lucky. And he said, coralyn, you make your own luck. You know, you didn't just get lucky, you made your luck.
Speaker 2:
And I think I really started thinking about that and a little bit more intentionally about what and that was you know something to, and the journey of just being very intentional about what you do and that's the thing is, it does take a little bit of work if you are really busy. So coffee for you is not something that you feel, or happy hours not something that you feel like you want to.
Speaker 2:
I mean I want to, I have the desire, coralyn, I mean, if you have an, intentionality around it, like it's like it's a goal for me and it's not like because I want to go have a glass of wine because I had a bad day, it's because I want to. I want to build relationships with connect right and and connect.
Speaker 2:
and so I think people oftentimes like we, like from a practical standpoint, right, are like I don't want to ask you know, like I don't want to ask this person if they'll meet meet me for lunch, or you know and so I have this group that's in Des Moines. It's actually called intentional connections, and I learned about it LinkedIn. A friend of mine and I, like, went to the one of the people who was running it and I was like I want in this group.
Speaker 1:
I love it. And I mean that's you creating your own luck. Now you have to create your own luck right.
Speaker 2:
Push to be in this group and I don't. I don't think I fit, like if there were criteria, I don't think I fit the criteria.
Speaker 1:
Kind of invited myself you know, I think you're really underselling yourself.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, right, and I, well, I think I think they're really truly were like specific criteria to it and and I did, I just, you know, and then I'm, you know, I, the groups called intentional connections and then you like, the goal is always to like, do something with somebody that you meet there afterwards, right, and inspire each other and build each other up and network and, you know, connect people and you know, with your next job or your next whatever, and it's scary to you know, I mentioned that I, you know I had lunch with the president of Grandview University. I was like she has she's very busy.
Speaker 1:
She does not have time for a little me. She's not going to give.
Speaker 2:
I'm not going to get give her anything and she's a president of university and so but I did. I asked her to meet with me. It took a couple months and then I was really intentional about the conversation I wanted to have and I made sure that I had a goal and that she could you know, that she could get something out of it too.
Speaker 1:
Right.
Speaker 2:
And I think that people always enjoy talking about themselves.
Speaker 1:
So I just had a lot of questions for her.
Speaker 2:
Like you're inspiring to me, like, tell me about your journey, tell me about the mistakes you made, tell me about the wins you've had, and I think that that is one thing that it's hard to give. That ask of like, hey, coralyn, you want to go to eatery and do happy hour? And I will probably say yes, and because I have that pay that, go give her pay it forward mentality. But then I would encourage people when you do that, have that goal of like what do you want to get out of it? You know, what do you want to learn from this person? And they, they, you know people do genuinely like, don't you enjoy sharing your story?
Speaker 1:
Like actually what's your story? Oh gosh, how much time do you have?
Speaker 2:
But you know, I think everyone enjoys talking about their story when it's when you learn it's been inspiring to someone. And so, even though she didn't, I don't think I gave her a single thing she said anyway and so for shell. I'm going to probably you know we post this. I'll probably reach out to Michelle and tell her that's on there. I hope that she you know I was able to give her something as well, just, if nothing else, a nice lunch.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, but I bought for her and I say and I bought you buy them into her lunch?
Speaker 2:
No, in this season now as a student, I mean, I never pay back all the people that have you know, jen and Tom and all sorts of people who have bought me way too many cups of coffee, lunches and glasses of wine.
Speaker 1:
I love that. That is amazing. I think it's just a reflection of who you are, coralyn, so that's why we're having you on the show and that's why you won this award, because it's just, it's who you are and it's your core value. So I love it. All right, best to end the show. Best. Three tips on how to be a great mentor.
Speaker 2:
So show up, listen, help others find the answers that they didn't even know maybe there was the question and help them to listen to their heart. But follow their gut. And I just would say, like the other one, I'd say show up. I'd say help people feel important, make someone matter, make someone feel like they matter. I love that and pay it forward. You know, I think that is really just the just have that, that pride when you're so proud of them, and just that's the only ask. Just make people really be inspired to pay, pay it forward to others.
Speaker 1:
And to feel seen. Yeah, I love that. Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2:
This was amazing, you inspired. Me.
Speaker 1:
What a great way to go into the weekend, because this is Friday. We're recording here.
Speaker 2:
I mean it's going to be posted, but and also you posted next Wednesday. Yeah, well, feel free to reach out to myself, and you know I'm happy to have these conversations with other people as well.
Speaker 1:
Appreciate you so much and congratulations on your award, clearly well deserved Thanks.
