Arlene Odagiri and Lina Le on the Importance of Mentorship

NAF understands the power of mentorship – of connecting young students to leaders in their chosen field and giving them an idea of what is possible. For Arlene Odagiri, the Professional Development Director at ES&A, Inc, a law corporation, and Lina Le, NAF alumna and current Human Resources Manager at Y. Hata & Co, Limited, a NAF conference presentation turned into a life-long mentoring relationship.

Arlene has a longstanding passion for connecting with high schools to support student career development. When a colleague of hers, Jean Miyahira, told her she had to go check out a NAF academy, she was impressed and thought, “Wow, I wish I had this during my high school.” Arlene was committed to teaching academy students about the reality of the hospitality industry, even if it meant teaching a class at 7:20AM before school started. “I loved teaching Academy of Hospitality 101 and I did it all semester. These students came early to school, sat there, listened to me – it was an awesome experience. I kept in touch with many of them, and some went on to pursue careers in the hospitality industry.” Arlene continued to stay involved and eventually met Lina Le.

Lina attended President William McKinley High School in Honolulu, Hawaii and joined the Academy of Finance during her sophomore year of high school. “Every other year,” Lina remembered, “the academies in the area hosted a conference so students could hear real business professionals share their experience. Arlene was one of the speakers!”

Lina attended Arlene’s afternoon breakout session on interview dos and don’ts. Inspired, she wrote Arlene a thank you note and was surprised when she received a handwritten note back! “To me, for someone of that level to write back to a student when she was probably way too busy – that made a huge difference. She sort of inspired me to go into HR,” Lina said.

Five years later, after earning her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Lina was finally able to attend the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Hawaii conference and was eager to reconnect with Arlene. Lina approached Arlene at the Board of Directors table, and told her that she was pursuing her Master’s in Human Resources Management and that she inspired her.

Since then, they have stayed in touch, and Arlene has become Lina’s mentor and biggest supporter. Arlene founded the SHRM Hawaii Young Professionals Committee, and Lina is now a committee member. They throw events like round-table discussions, panels, and workshops focusing on preparing professionals who are new to human resources for a long and successful career.

“I have found that mentorship is very helpful,” Arlene said, “I did not have an HR education. I went from nursing to education and found my way somehow into human resources. Along the way, it was meeting people that I felt could help me in my career – that’s really what helped me to survive and keep in touch and even grow. Without them, I don’t think I would have succeeded in obtaining the position of director of human resources.”

For Lina, mentorship is “having someone to help me move along. I wouldn’t be moving this fast or successfully without my mentors and I’m very lucky to have them. Often you are on a path where you don’t quite know where the end path will be. I think a mentor shows you a path – where you want to go and what you can give to a company to have them want to keep you. I can’t say enough about having a mentor to help you grow.”

Mentorship and career training can be particularly useful for students in low-opportunity high schools. “I think in underprivileged schools, career skills are a big help. Their parents are often not working professionals and to have someone tell you that you can change that trajectory and do something different, that you have those options – it’s a whole different world,” said Lina. “My parents are small business owners and work 18 hours a day. They still do. But for me, that’s not my path. I was able to change that for myself, to a path that could give me health care and a future. When you enable students to see different career paths for themselves, you change their future and you change society.”

All across the country, NAF mentors like Arlene are inspiring NAF students like Lina to see a different path for themselves. If you are a mentor to a NAF academy student, we would love to hear from you – email us at communications@naf.org.

To read more from Lina about her NAF experience, click here.