Looking to receive or share professional guidance, life advice, and a relationship to champion your journey?
Join the Lifted Womxn’s Collective to be a part of a supportive community!
The Lifted Womxn’s Collective is a new project started by us to inspire more connections and networking opportunities on campus.
Sponsor Members
Are you looking for a low commitment way to give back to the women student community at UC Irvine? Are you passionate about seeing womxn students grow into their power? Our Sponsor opportunity is for you! Open to all staff and faculty at UC Irvine, Sponsors will be paired with a current student based on similar interest categories.
Sponsors should expect to:
- Practice active listening skills during conversations
- Be willing to learn and discover a student’s goals and aspirations
- Share opportunities that make sense for a student’s UC Irvine and post UC Irvine journey
- Commit to about an average of one hour per month to connect with your student
- Participate as a Sponsor until your student match graduates.
- Attend Womxn’s Lifted Collective events when aligned with experience and availability
- Utilize training skills related to coaching to guide students through decision making process
Application accepted on a rolling basis.
Winter Quarter Review Date: February 12th
Student Members
Have you found it hard to find a mentor or professional to assist in your career and passion journey? Is networking intimidating or awkward for you? Do you need some guidance or a thought partner when weighing decisions for your future? Our student membership for the Lifted Womxn’s Collective is for you! Open to all current UC Irvine students, a student member will be paired with a staff or faculty Sponsor based on similar interest categories.
Student Members should expect to:
- Share future goals, passions, and career interests
- Receive support and challenge through decision making
- Have a thought partner and sounding board to discuss career choices and decisions
- Commit to connecting with your Sponsor an average of one hour per month
- Attend Womxn’s Lifted Collective events when aligned with interests and availability
- Participate until your graduation date
Applications accepted on a rolling basis
Winter Quarter Review Date: February 24th
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did we create the Lifted Womxn’s Collective?
from staff and faculty on campus for years. Based on the Share Your Experience Focus Groups conducted by the Womxn’s Center for Success in 2022, students in our community wanted opportunities to discuss experiences and barriers they face while at UC Irvine and when planning for the future. Once we defined the problems presented we developed the following commitments to address these problems:
- We need to provide a structured avenue of resources for students facing difficulties with professors and/or classes.
- We need to provide unique targeted community support for womxn in STEM majors.
- We need to provide opportunities to discover self and develop futuristic goals.
The most noteworthy prototype program to address these has been our ConnectUS Program run in conjunction with our annual EmpowerUS Summit. Although this program had high interest, it often was difficult to match student majors with participating staff and faculty. After several years working through the difficulties with the program, we chose to retire the program and create something new. That was where the Lifted Womxn’s Collective was born! Developed in 2024 – 2025, this program provides more flexibility for both staff and students and connect matches based on interests vs. major/specific career titles.
What is a sponsor?
We chose the title of sponsor intentionally. Inspired by the Harvard Business Review article “A Lack of Sponsorship is Keeping Women from Advancing into Leadership” , a sponsor “is not an either/or role – either committing fully or not at all. It’s a spectrum of different kinds and degrees of support.”
- Mentor – Provide advice, support, and/or coaching
- Strategizer – Share “insider” information about advancing; strategize about getting ahead
- Connector – Make introductions to influential people; talk her up with your peers
- Opportunity Giver – Provide high visibility oppportunity
- Advocate – Publicly advocate a promotion; fight for her in settings where she can’t fight for herself
A sponsor can be all of these or one of these. Sponsorship is flexible and individualized and can change over time!
Is this another mentorship program?
No. This is not a mentorship program it is so much more with extra intention and strategy sprinkled through.
Participants will have a match, which is a similar part of the collective to traditional mentoriship programs. But what happens after the match, is where the magic is and what sets up apart.
Our matches are based on common interests and experiences that transcend career fields. We believer it is beneficial for students to have someone in their corner that they can relate to, but can share a different perspective than what they are exposed to in their academic work.
In addition, the collective is a space where new relationships can blossom outside of the matches. Opportunities will be available to connect with other sponsors and students.
Last, the timing of our program makes us different. We expect matches to connect when it makes the most sense for the student’s journey, not on a specified timeline. We encourage connection when decisions are being contemplated or new opportunities are being pursued. Matches are for the duration of a student’s UC Irvine experience and, although not a requirement, the hope is that the sponsor relationship is so successful it continues to benefit the student on their post-UC Irvine journey as well.
Do I have to be a womxn in order to be a sponsor?
Absolutely not! In fact we encourage that all gender apply to be a sponsor. Student participants can benefit from have a sponsor or any gender that is willing to be in their corner on their journey to success. We look for sponsors with a variety of experiences, passions, pursuits, and connections. We matched based on interest, not demographic information.