Mentorship is often described as encouragement, guidance, or professional support. Yet in many workforce conversations, it is treated as optional or informal rather than as essential to how people access, navigate, and succeed within institutions, organizations, or teams.

In this opening episode, Melvin Smith, founder of Linked Innovations and host of Lift Every Voice, introduces the season's central argument: mentorship is not a soft add-on to workforce systems; it is part of the infrastructure that determines who progresses and who does not.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What this season will explore across individuals, organizations, and systems
• Why in workforce conversations, mentorship is often overlooked as a necessary organizational infrastructure 
• How mentorship influences access, confidence, and persistence
•  The difference between opportunity and the ability to navigate opportunity