Mentorship That Moves You Forward: Monterey Bay Economic Partnership CEO Tahra Goraya Highlighted at Mentoring Monday

MBEP President & CEO will be one of 50 regional leaders invited to share secrets of success during the 12th annual event

MARINA, CA, UNITED STATES, January 17, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Monterey Bay Economic Partnership³ (MBEP) President & CEO Tahra Goraya will be among 50 influential women leaders highlighted at the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s upcoming Mentoring Monday¹.

Now in its 12th year, the in-person event will feature the region's top businesswomen and leaders sharing their secrets to success. The regional event, which takes place from 8:30-11:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 24 at Villa Ragusa, 35 S. Second St., Campbell, is part of an uplifting movement that will unite thousands of women in more than 40 cities for Mentoring Monday 2025.

While women continue to make progress in leadership roles, gaps in pay and career development persist:
• Women make up 42 percent of the global workforce, but only 31.7% of senior leadership², despite the fact that diversity in leadership teams improves innovation, decision-making, and financial performance.
•The impact and presence of mentoring can significantly improve performance at enterprise organizations run by female CEOs.
•Global gender parity could take 131 years to achieve because of various political, socio-economic, and cultural issues, according to the World Economic Forum.

“Mentorship is a powerful force to foster economic mobility. I was fortunate to benefit from mentorship that enabled my success,” said Monterey Bay Economic Partnership President & CEO Tahra Goraya. “By creating environments for women to build connections, encourage and support one another, and advance professional development, we can enable women to reach their full potential as leaders.”

President and CEO of the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership since January 2022, Goraya is an experienced leader who has worked on diverse issue areas across multiple sectors including nonprofit management, business, and government. She is adept at leveraging strategic relationships, building cross-cultural and cross-sector coalitions, crafting public policy, and organizing multi-faith and grassroots communities. She is a recipient of the Barbara Jordan Award for Women’s Leadership from the Harvard Kennedy School Woman and Public Policy Program, Nonprofit Executive Director of the Year by the California State Senate and Assembly, and the co-founder of Monterey Bay Muslim Neighbors. In 2024, Goraya was appointed by Speaker Robert Rivas as Commissioner for the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs (CAPIAA). Learn more about Goraya here.

Ms. Goraya joins an elite group of women of influence in the Mentoring Monday event: Founders of companies dedicated to women’s healthcare needs and advancement of women in science and health industries, leaders of firms that can transform once-vacant warehouses into research and development labs or tackle large housing projects in urban areas; and heads of organizations that help us rethink the way people and goods move through autonomous vehicle technology. They include women helping change public policy, transform learning experiences for young people, and reinvent the worlds of manufacturing, technology, and leadership itself. They are inventors, urban planners, founders, patent-holders, authors, and thought-leaders, each passionate about uplifting other women.

Joining Ms. Goraya will be Santa Cruz County Bank President & CEO Member Krista Snelling, who currently serves on the Board of the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, as the Board Chair of the California Bankers Association, and the Executive Advisory Council of the University of the Pacific Eberhardt School of Business, where she is a frequent guest lecturer. She has twice been named in American Banker Magazine's Most Powerful Women in Banking Watch List, recognized by the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Power 100 List and as a Woman of Influence, and was awarded the Nancy Hotchkiss Woman of Impact Award by Commercial Real Estate Women, recognizing her impact on the commercial real estate industry.

About Mentoring Monday: Kickoff speakers include Interviewology CEO Anna Papalia, a career influencer with over 1.9 million followers across social media platforms and the author of “Interviewology, the New Science of Interviewing,” and San Jose State University President, Dr. Cynthia Teniente-Matson.

Mentoring Monday will feature coaching sessions, networking, speed-mentoring sessions, complimentary headshots, and a supportive atmosphere to build meaningful connections and receive valuable feedback. New to this year’s event will be a Women's Village, featuring a diverse array of inspiring female business owners and entrepreneurs showcasing their talents and services.

To become a part of this uplifting community of women empowering other women, get tickets and learn more here: https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/event/171723/2025/mentoring-monday

About Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP): Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP) is a regional member-supported nonprofit organization consisting of public, private, and civic entities located throughout the counties of Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz. Founded in 2015, our mission is to improve the economic health and quality of life in the region.

Marie Vasari Hislop
Monterey Bay Economic Partnership
+1 831-224-2132
media@mbep.biz
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
X
LinkedIn
Instagram
YouTube

¹ https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/event/171723/2025/mentoring-monday
² https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-gender-gap-report-2024/digest/
³ http://www.mbep.biz