Interview with Jackie Hyland

La doña Jackie

I met Jackie the first week I arrived to Panama.  After hearing about all the amazing projects she's involved in, I expected to meet a woman who was at least in her late 20s.  I ended up meeting a woman who is my age, and who has already accomplished more in her life than most could ever dream of.  She's started her own NGO, traveled throughout Latin America, and is a respected female leader in her field at the ripe old age of 24. 


Below is a brief questionnaire I asked Jackie to fill out.  Much like Jackie, her answers are thoughtful, insightful, and radiate courage and hope.  I expect big things to come from Jackie in the future. 


I took the liberty of bold-ing some parts I thought were particularly interesting.  Enjoy! 

1.     Name: Jackie Hyland 

2.     Job title:  Education and Training Lead - Project Manager of La Red de Mentoras with Global Brigades.

3.     Please describe your professional experience from the last 5 years:

Over the last 5 years my professional experience has been diverse. In the latter years of college, I was a writer for my university campus newspaper, wrote for local magazines, and then was the Editor of the student magazine focusing on immigration issues.

After college, I worked at Elsevier Publishing as en editor for online international health materials. During that time, I also worked part-time teaching English to Mexican students who came to Texas for an intense conversational and cultural immersion course. In January of 2010, I was given the opportunity to begin working with Global Brigades Panama as part of the travel team and in September began working as the alliance and business project coordinator. January 2011 I became the Education and Training Lead as well as manager of the Red de Mentoras project and will be completing two years in Panama this December!

4.     What is La Red de Mentoras? What services does it provide its participants?

La Red de Mentoras is based on the international mentoring program “Pathways to Prosperity”. The focus of the program is to connect businesswomen executives with micro-enterprise owning women in rural communities in Panama. Our mission is to create a network of businesswomen throughout Panama through these mentoring programs that open economic opportunity and contributes to the economic development of Panama.

The program began in February of this year (2011) and will end in November. The Mentees and Mentors meet 5 times in the City of Panama throughout the 9-month program for business training, leadership, and personal development workshops. They also receive one-on-one Mentor development, which is the required communication of once a week (more if possible) between Mentor and Mentee. The mentees not only receive capacity building, but a woman Mentor who supports them in all facets of their ventures.

For this year we have a group of 20, 10 of which are Mentors and 10 Mentees who represent 6 provinces of Panama and 2 Indigenous reservations. The Mentees for this year’s program are women from rural communities who lack resources to make their business grow. They work in sales, tourism, eco-tourism, artisan crafts, beauty salons, and more. The Mentors are successful professionals with backgrounds in leadership in various kinds businesses.

5.     Why did you decide to create La red de Mentoras?

La Red de Mentoras was born from various ideas and people. One morning I had coffee with the Economic Officer of the U.S. Embassy in Panama to discuss how the Global Brigades business projects could possibly be sponsored and expanded through the Embassy. In the next weeks, we began discussing instead about the idea of a women’s mentoring program. Based on the U.S. program, Pathways to Prosperity, and my passions for women and entrepreneurship, I wrote up the specifics of the program proposal: what it would look like, where the money would go, how we would develop and follow-up, and then in November of 2010 we received our first check to begin marketing and finding our Mentors and Mentees. It was a very, very exciting moment.

6.     How did you get involved with Voces Vitales Panamá?

I got involved with Voces Vitales through the local chapter here Panama. La Red de Mentoras had already started in late February when in March the Executive Director and President of Voces Vitales Panama courteously invited me to lunch a few times to talk about the program, share advice and contacts, as well as to establish a base alliance to continue working together for the future. Since then, I have met some of the wonderful Voices Vital staff from Washington D.C. and we have continuously collaborated as two distinct but similar projects improving economic opportunity for women and promoting women in business.

7.     What does ‘women’s leadership' mean to you?  Why is it important to empower Panamanian women?

Women’s leadership to me means guts. It means perseverance, heart, and strength shown over and over to overcome large personal, political, or economic barriers to achieve one’s goals and/or dreams. It means inspiring others to make a positive change and taking risks. I believe women’s empowerment anywhere in the world is important, but particularly in Panama. It’s a country that is economically growing so quickly that women could easily be leading a large majority of the country’s political and economic dealings, but without capacity building and empowerment they could just as easily get left behind.

8.     Why is mentoring so important for developing women’s leadership? 

When I think about mentorship and it’s role in my life, I know that I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without strong and passionate women role models in my life -- someone who not only guides you professionally, but can be a personal support. In a mentoring relationship, there is a built-in positive environment with someone who genuinely desires to help you reach your goals and dreams. Through that support system, women who often do not have goals, self-esteem and/or leadership qualities begin to gain more confidence in themselves through a mentoring relationship. It is the simple act of one person believing in and taking the time to invest in another person that empowers and changes lives every day.

9.     What advice would you give to young women to advance their professional careers?

Don’t be afraid to fail. I think a lot of young ambitious women are used to succeeding at most things they do because they are smart and talented and the fear of actually failing seems paralyzing. If there is something you are passionate about, go for it, and don’t think you have to wait to be 40 or 50 to climb the corporate ladder to do what you would like to do. Connect with people in that field, connect with everyone, and ask them their advice. And if it doesn’t work out, and you fail, you will have learned a thousand times more than someone who played it safe.