Allergan, a global leader in pharmaceuticals and aesthetics, partnered with Girls Inc., a non-profit organization delivering life-changing programs to help girls navigate social, economic and gender barriers as they look to higher education and career paths, to launch a national mentorship initiative in 2019 that empowers future female leaders in STEM. To provide high school aged girls at Girls Inc. with the resources they need as they explore opportunities in STEM, Allergan enlisted female physician partners specializing in dermatology and plastic surgery to serve as mentors and encourage personal and professional development.
In 2020, Allergan donated $300,000 to Girls Inc. and established a virtual mentorship event series, with its physician partners serving as mentors for Girls Inc. high school aged girls that were specifically interested in careers in STEM. EvolveMKD, of which Allergan is a client, helped lead this initiative that was activated in three key markets across the country, including New York City, Orange County and Houston/Tarrant County. The virtual mentorship initiative successfully engaged over 50 girls interested in healthcare, science and medical fields.
The initiative was originally centered around in-person interactions, with the 2020 plans including mentees visiting local physician practices to shadow them and their staff for valuable hands-on experience. Due to the Coronavirus-19 pandemic, EvolveMKD led the charge of recommending and executing a pivoted approach and created a virtual mentoring series, where consistent groups of mentors and mentees met on Zoom over the course of three months to engage in impactful dialogues and build meaningful relationships. EvolveMKD collaborated with Allergan to identify key markets where the company has a diverse representation of female physician partners, including a variety of specialities, ethnicities and backgrounds, that would add value to the program. Mentors were selected in New York City, Orange County, and Houston/Tarrant County to participate in the virtual event series. The markets also represented where Girls Inc. has local affiliates with members that have a strong interest in STEM.
To facilitate each local market virtual event series, EvolveMKD identified one moderator in each of the three markets that represents female leadership and diversity. The role of the moderators was to facilitate discussion questions and keep the mentees engaged, while also offering additional perspective that resonated with the mentees. EvolveMKD developed topic themes for each virtual event discussion that were grounded in offering advice as it applies to pursuing a future in STEM, while also speaking to current events, to provide the mentees with tangible advice that they could apply as they are nativating new ways of learning, engaging and developing skills. The discussion topics and questions were created with the intention to encourage a two-way dialogue between the mentors and mentees, with the goal of developing impactful and long-lasting relationships as the girls continue to work towards their future goals and aspirations.
The virtual mentorship series kicked off in Q4 of 2020 (October through December), with three 1-hour long sessions in each of the three markets. The groups of mentors and mentees remained consistent over each session, geared at keeping the conversation going among the participants in between event sessions and building relationships among the physicians and girls. The mentors represented careers in dermatology and plastic surgery, and provided advice and personal commentary that the girls could apply and relate to during this time in their lives, such as: goal setting, staying motivated, adapting to virtual engagement, and more. The event series included a total of 12 female physician mentors and 52 Girls Inc. mentees.
Additionally, EvolveMKD created and executed a marketing plan to promote the partnership news and elements on social media and in media communications. Social media content was developed for each event to spotlight intel and advice shared with the mentees, and was posted on Allergan, Girls Inc., moderators’ and mentors’ social media channels to raise awareness about the partnership efforts. To further boost industry awareness and promote the overall goal and mission of this initiative, EvolveMKD also pitched the partnership news and components to trade media.
The mentorship series was evaluated primarily on participation and engagement, with other metrics compiled due to our social media content and media pitching efforts.
The social media content developed by EvolveMKD and shared across social channels reached over 755K followers, effectively promoting the partnership and sharing news of Allergan and Girls Inc.’s dedication to encouraging female leaders in STEM careers. Pitching news of the partnership resulted in trade placements totaling more than 5M impressions to spread industry awareness.
For the event sessions, we tracked mentee participation and engagement through monitoring the questions asked and questions answered. An outstanding 81% of mentees participated in the discussions across all sessions, either by asking questions or sharing their responses to questions asked by the moderators. We also conducted a survey with Girls Inc. program facilitators after the series wrapped to gather feedback and 100% of the facilitators ranked this mentorship event activation as “helpful” or “very helpful” to the mentee participants.
