Mentoring Women in the Frederick Community

By Marie Haughey, Staff Writer; photos by Richard Frederickson, Staff Photographer
Joy Beveridge

In addition to working as a clinical project manager III, Joy Beveridge also mentors women through Woman to Woman Mentoring, Inc.

Joy Beveridge, clinical project manager III, is all about building relationships.

Her work as a clinical project manager requires her to manage teams such as the Coordinating Center for Clinical Trials, Center for Global Health, Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative, and Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis.

Equally important are the relationships Beveridge builds through her work with Woman to Woman Mentoring, Inc. (W2WM), a 501(C)3 non-profit organization that seeks to cultivate mentoring relationships that provide women with guidance, support, and connections.

Beveridge is currently mentoring a “very accomplished young woman who continues to seek guidance on how to maintain a life balance, given her very busy and hectic personal, work, and community service activities.”

Beveridge started volunteering with W2WM after she completed the Leadership Frederick County (LFC) Program in May 2016. Fellow LFC graduate and W2WM Executive Director Tonya Hatosy-Stier had approached Beveridge about serving as a mentor for the program’s September–June session.

W2WM offers two sessions of its 10-month program each year, September–June and June–October. For each session, a mentor is paired with a mentee between 18 and 35 years old.

Mentor and mentee then “begin building a relationship that usually extends far beyond the period of the program.” The organization’s goals are to cultivate new relationships, grow new skills, and mentor any young woman who wants a mentor in her life. Sessions are especially geared towards helping women in transition.

“To be a successful mentor,” Beveridge says, “we listen, guide, and educate. We must be accessible and supportive.”

The pair will work together one-on-one for about two to four hours a month, while also taking part in W2WM’s monthly life skill workshops with other mentors and mentees. They’ll also work together in the W2WM Pop-Up Shop.

One of the things Beveridge enjoys most about the program is the monthly group workshop, where all mentors and mentees are able to learn from one another while offering support and guidance. She explains, “We get the benefit of everyone’s past experiences and contributions.”

And the mentees aren’t the only ones who benefit from the program.

As a clinical project manager III at NCI at Frederick, Beveridge herself has a lot to balance.   Beveridge assists the Clinical Monitoring Research Program director in overseeing the operations of the Finance, Program Management, and Project Management offices.

She also serves as the technical project manager for the portfolio of consulting agreements that support the Center for Global Health as well as for two research projects that support the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

Beveridge says that, “offering mentorship to my mentee allows me to reflect on my past experiences and to learn from her, too!”