Mentor
2021 Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Cindy Roma, Co-CEO and partner of Telelink received the Mentor Award, sponsored by HR Project Partners. Roma, originally from Nova Scotia, moved to Newfoundland and Labrador more than 20 years ago and joined Telelink. With a focus on expanding into innovation and technology markets, Roma says she’s often the only woman in the room.
“I would like to thank NLOWE for this tremendous recognition; I’m deeply honoured. Newfoundland and Labrador has a fantastic community of entrepreneurial women who care about each other. I want us to share and be successful together, so I’m inviting all female entrepreneurs to step forward and become a mentor, and NLOWE’s mentorship program is a terrific place to start.”
#MoveTheDial, a global movement committed to advancing the participation and leadership of women in technology, reports that in the average tech company, women make up only 13 percent of the executive team, and 53 percent of tech companies have no female executives at all. Roma says that’s not good enough.
While women have made significant strides as entrepreneurs over the years, they still lack access to informal information-sharing networks. Without knowledge of or access to these networks, many female entrepreneurs are missing opportunities. Roma firmly believes that mentorship will open these channels.
Roma had two mentors early in her career who taught her the value of lifelong learning and shaped who she is today. She says mentorship provides the tools women need to go
for those top positions. As a mentor, Roma has informed challenged, cheered, and coached. She says she has learned as much as she has shared and has valued the opportunity to understand another person’s perspective.
Roma says her greatest motivation is turning an idea into reality. But she also warns of the risk. The hardest lessons are learned through failures. Turning failure into an opportunity to grow and learn is the advice she gives most often.