Mentor Magic: Meet Mentee-Mentor Pair, Darielle Wilson, Senior at NCAT and Jeaneen Kappell, Securities Exchange Commission
Dari and Jeaneen, what are your personal/professional stories?
Dari: I am a Senior Accounting student with a Minor in Finance from St. Louis, Missouri. I graduated high school in 2019 and through a program with my school district called the A+ Program, I was able to complete two years of community college for free then I transferred to North Carolina A&T in the Fall of 2021. Accounting has always been the career path I wanted to do since I was thirteen years old, and I was even a part of the first-ever cohort of a business program during my senior year of high school called the Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS) that was an early development program. Through CAPS I was able to professionally develop early on by many professionals around me and even landed my first-ever internship as an accounting intern at Embassy Suites by Hilton Hotel.
Jeaneen: A native Texan, I got my undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt (in philosophy, political science, and Spanish), and went to American University for a dual degree graduate program (JD/MA in International Affairs). I am a Texas-licensed attorney and have been practicing for about 15 years. I’m currently Senior Counsel in the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, and a member of the SEC’s Complex Financial Instruments Unit. In my role, I investigate potential violations of federal securities laws to determine whether to recommend the Commission bring enforcement actions. I joined the SEC in May 2020 after 10 years in private practice at two international law firms, where I represented companies and individuals in government investigations. I’m based out of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional office, but split my time between Dallas, TX and Breckenridge, CO.
Dari, how did you find GlobalMindED and why were you seeking a mentor?
So GlobalMindED found me before I even arrived at NCAT. I received an email around late June to early July asking if I was interested. To be honest, my mother had to convince me to apply because at first, I was not seeking a mentor just because I never had one before, I would always just do and figure out things on my own. After I applied for the GlobalMindED mentorship, I received a personal/school mentor named Camille who was a Senior Accounting student at NCAT already. She was such a great person to have when I got there because I was able to learn more and explore the school through her. I also received a different professional mentor (whose name I forgot) before I was matched with Mrs. Jeaneen. There were some small issues with my previous professional mentor, he never made the time to meet with me. I was always the one trying to do the engagement plus his personality was just very dry like he didn't want to be a part of this. That was the energy I was picking up and I did not like the overall experience with him. So after that experience, I emailed Mrs. Carol and asked if there was a possibility that I could be assigned a different mentor preferably a female this time. I wanted to give this one last chance before doing things on my own again because I always liked the idea of having a mentor, and I was tired of doing everything myself, so that is how I later met Mrs. Jeaneen and we clicked instantly!
Jeaneen, why did you want to work with GlobalMindED as a mentor?
Some of you may have heard this story, but I met Carol while hiking in the summer of 2021. Within a half mile, I was amazed by Carol’s energy and enthusiasm for the mission of GlobalMindED. I’ve loved mentoring with other organizations in the past, but I was instantly drawn to GlobalMindED’s hardworking staff, the fantastic network of dedicated professionals from across the country, their ability to make mentor-mentee connections that last, and useful resources to help mentors have meaningful conversations with their mentees. Dari and I were matched in January 2022, and I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to watch the evolution of her scholastic and professional pursuits over the past two and a half years – Dari is graduating in May and preparing for the transition to grad school!
Dari, what have you found to be useful in your mentoring relationship?
The thing that I have found very useful in my relationship with Mrs. Jeaneen is guidance. Mrs. Jeaneen has helped me in many different ways during my time at NCAT. She has helped me with time management, managing classes in general, recommendations of different study locations, and we would even do mock interviews in preparation for upcoming interviews that I would have with companies. I was finally receiving what I had seen others have for so long, and that was a real mentorship.
Jeaneen, do you have tips for mentors on having productive conversations with mentees?
1) Balance talking and listening. As a litigator, I know I like to talk. I will often share stories and experiences with Dari that are (hopefully) relevant as she navigates her coursework, internships, and transition to graduate school. But the fun part for me is asking Dari questions and following her progression through the activities, projects, courses, and internships that we discuss.
2) A little planning goes a long way. I take notes to help me actively listen during our calls, and I review notes from our previous calls to plan for our upcoming sessions. You can also flip the script – I’ve asked Dari to prepare topics for our calls so that we are covering things that will be useful to her.
3) Offer your network to your mentee. One easy way to do this is to have your mentee review your list of connections on LinkedIn to see if there are particular people to whom your mentee would like an introduction. Beyond this, look out for ways to facilitate network-building during your routine conversations. Last summer Dari interned with a Big Four accounting firm where my husband had worked, so I connected her with some of his old coworkers.
4) Be there for your mentee. If you need to cancel or reschedule a call with your mentee, don’t leave them hanging! Stuff happens, and sometimes schedules change. But make sure your mentee knows if you need to move a planned meeting. And when you are talking to your mentee, be present and engaged in the conversation. Creating an effective mentor-mentee relationship starts with building trust!
Dari, what’s next for you and how can GlobalMindED help you reach your goals?
So I am in the process of preparing for graduation this upcoming May, which I am very excited about! Then I will be returning to NCAT for graduate school as part of their Master of Accountancy Program, while also pursuing my CPA license. My overall goal is to pass the CPA exam, so with GlobalMindED, a great help would be networking with other CPAs just so that I can get more different points of view on how they studied for the exam and what skills/agendas they used to help keep them disciplined within that whole year.
