I am looking for a mentor for our DD as well. While she has got through some of the worst of the middle school experience it has apparently been at the expense of her drive.
The reasons ought to be obvious - a solid role model who isn't a parent is very beneficial to a kid on the cusp of adolescence.
I am not hung up about it having to be a woman myself, from an intellectual perspective, as we have raised our DD not to feel even the slightest zephyr of constraint due to her sex. I do, however, feel that an intelligent girl's adolescent experience can be tortuous especially in terms of the cattiness and pressure to be a vacuous, pretty airhead.
Somebody not a parent who has successfully forged ahead and an either dodged or anihillated these obstacles during this important phase of development who is also willing and able to share lessons learned would be a very, very dear ally for our DD.
