Mentoring women was a big part of the conversation when the Business Record talked with Judy Downs, the executive director of Emerge Iowa, for a Closer Look article. Downs said she strives to serve as a role model or supporter for women in her work and personal life. So we asked her who had been some of her role models along the way. “I have been blessed with many strong women as mentors and role models,” she said. Among them: Leisha Barcus, whom she worked with at the Science Center of Iowa and who is now director of the Comfort Women’s Center at Mercy. She “taught me to advocate for myself and to hold high standards for myself and others,” Downs said. Emilee Richardson, director of communications and public relations at the Science Center, has been a peer-mentor. The last one on her list was a reminder that we are able to influence anyone at any age. “Lastly,” Downs said, “my mother, Virginia Crane, senior research manager at DuPont, has been the most influential mentor in my life. She taught me and my two sisters to never question our equality in a male-dominated workforce and to unapologetically take great pride in your work and your family simultaneously.”