TIME with Marion Barbier - Mentorship That Actually Changes You

Mentoring sounds simple until you try to do it well. We sit down with Marion Barbier, direct marketing lead at Ponant, to unpack what actually makes a six-month mentoring program work and why the timing of it matters as much as the content. Marion shares how she first discovered the TIME program while working in cruising, why she waited until she had enough space in her role to fully commit, and what changed once she stopped trying to chase every goal at once.<br><br>We get into the heart of the mentor mentee relationship with her mentor, Vera Pajovic, and why personal connection, trust, and real vulnerability create faster professional growth. Marion explains how progress can be gradual rather than dramatic: session by session, you make clearer decisions, sharpen priorities, and build confidence that lasts. If you’re navigating career development in the Australian travel industry, marketing, communications, or leadership, the takeaways are practical and immediately usable.<br><br>Then we talk public speaking, because Marion didn’t just “get better” at presentations, she designed a creative storytelling graduation talk built around a cruise voyage, complete with a boarding pass, a destination, and a captain who helps steer through rough seas. We also dig into networking that feels human, not forced, plus small wellbeing habits under $100 that support calmer sleep and lower anxiety. If you want smarter career clarity, better communication, and a stronger industry network, you’ll get a lot from this conversation.<br><br>Subscribe for more real mentoring stories, share this with someone who’s considering a mentorship program, and leave us a review with the one goal you’re focusing on right now.

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Marion

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Hello and welcome back to the newest episode of the Time Podcast. Today we have once again a special edition because for the first time in our life, the poor German Australian guy is surrounded by the French Armada, which is an auxiliary Spanish. And yeah, we have we have a plethora of French people on the podcast today. And let me re-introduce the one that everyone obviously knows already from his various appearances on reality TV. Welcome back to the audio show, Arno Michelin.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Thank you, Timo. I mean, I really did like your smooth radio host kind of voice when you did the intro. That was really good. Um, it's good to be back. Good to see you.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

That is fantastic. Now, who is our guest today?

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Well, we have like the pleasure. I think this is the first time we've had another French person on the podcast, apart from me. So it's very special to me. Um, we have a young lady, her name is Marion Barbier. I'll pronounce it in French so that people will understand a little bit better. Um, she's the direct marketing lead at Pornant. Welcome to the podcast, uh Marion.

SPEAKER_05 1:13

Thank you so much for inviting me. I'm very excited to be part of it.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

So, Mario, you actually said this is your very first podcast. So you must be intimidated by Arnaud already, and I have to apologize for that. But you know, it's it's like it's like dogs. He barks a lot, but he doesn't bite. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:32

No, I'm I'm actually okay, I'm not too intimidated since I've seen I've looked at his t-shirt, no.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Uh so wow, she's been briefed by Timo to obviously critique my fat my fashion uh style today. So yeah, great. We're off to a good start.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Well then Mario, love that. First question passed. Now, talk a little bit about your time journey because that's what we're obviously here for. Um, can you maybe start with explaining to us and the billions of listeners? Billions. Um dead and alive. Um everyone's listening. Everyone's listening. Now, um, can you maybe explain to us why

Why The TIME Program Felt Right

SPEAKER_02 2:15

you were actually interested to apply for the time program initially?

SPEAKER_05 2:20

Yeah, of course. Uh I first heard about the time program uh when I was working for Norwegian Cruise Line, uh, because um some of my colleagues uh were part of this program. Uh so I was pretty curious about it. Um Angela Middleton um kindly invited me to uh be part of this event so that I can sense check what the time program is all about. Um and obviously, like um who says no to free cheese and drinks? So I was definitely keen. And um, yeah, when there I was and I didn't disappoint. I it was nice to meet the mentees, mentor, hear about their stories. And um at that time I uh didn't think it was the right moment for me to join the program, but I thought, oh, that that's something I could do in the future. And uh a few years later, um I joined Pona, and uh my uh director told me we had some budget, training budget. So I said that I was uh interested in uh being part of the mentorship program, and uh Pona uh sponsored the event and offered me a scholarship, so I was very uh grateful and pleased to be part of this uh adventure.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

That's amazing. And what made the time right for time for you? I find it quite interesting that a few years earlier you probably thought, or you did to say, or not the right time. But what has changed? Why why now?

SPEAKER_05 3:53

Um I feel like uh in the past I was just too busy getting on board like um a new role, you know. So I felt like I just needed to um have a bit more time for myself to be able to focus on a new project. And um at Ponant I was already a year in, so I was uh more comfortable in my role, so I felt like I had more I had spare time to uh achieve some of some of my goals.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Good answer. I thought you were gonna say that the cheese was better the following year, and that's why you thought this is the right time to join.

SPEAKER_04 4:36

Yeah, it's all about the cheese, hey.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

I thought it's all about a trousant, but okay, who am I?

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Well, we can talk about that later during do you know to today? I'm sure that you I'm sure that you have something to share about these two.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

I do indeed. I do indeed. Now tell us about the first time you met your mentor. Did you know the person already? Were you scared? Were you excited? Were you whatever?

First Mentor Meeting And Trust

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Like what was your emotional journey approaching this six-month pathway ahead of you?

SPEAKER_05 5:06

Um yeah, I guess it was a combination of excitement and fear. Um, so I was assigned to Vera Pajovic, who I didn't know at all before. So Vera is the head of marketing and communication at Soldier on uh Australia. And um yeah, so at first when I knew it was Vera, I was starting to ask people around like, do you know Vera? What is she like? And um we uh we first met um at the skiff club in Manley because I'm from the northern beaches, so um she came all the way to Menley to meet me, so that was very nice. It was a sunny day, and we had some food and drinks uh by the water, so it was really nice. And and you know, we we just uh instantly like connected. Um we we both and I understand why we got much because we have like similar backgrounds, we we both come from um Europe, so we both face similar changes challenges when we uh uh start to enter the workforce in Australia. Um and um she has like a really broad marketing experience across multiple uh businesses in the travel industry, uh so I knew that um she would be uh very good for me. And and you know, like she's not a mentor to me, for me, she's more like a friend now, and I continue to hang out with her and like enjoy uh getting her um feedback on some projects, etc.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

So, how important is that personal connection to intensify and maximize the mentor mentee relationship actually?

SPEAKER_05 6:48

I feel it's so important to be very, you know, at ease with the person you are matched with. Um Vera is someone so like um so warm and nice and genuine, and she can you can feel that she's like really genuinely interested in your personal um growth uh on a personal level but also professional level, and um our connection allowed me to feel more confident, uh to it allowed me to um trust her, and I felt like um I don't know, it's yeah, it's just this strong connection like it helped me to progress further, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 7:36

Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

I I think the more you're able to let your walls down, the bigger the effect of the mentoring experience is, and I think um, yeah, the personal connection, at least for me uh, would be similar, is extraordinarily important.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

And what a lot of people that we've interviewed in the past that are, you know, have given a lot of feedback around that. And I can see that, you know, like even more recently we um we've interviewed someone that said that their mentor became their therapist

Vulnerability And Stronger Growth

SPEAKER_01 8:10

in a way, right? Um because they went through during the the that mentorship period, there was a lot of things going on like in their personal life, and so that mentor was there, you know, along the way a little bit as well. But um yeah, I do I do agree. Uh and I and I think that we've also spoken to some mentors, not necessarily on the podcast, but when we go to some um networking events, that kind of like touch on that a little bit. Uh that sort of like yeah, uh bringing your guard down a little bit and being vulnerable on either side allows the connection to be a little bit deeper, and therefore um the benefit of the mentorship program seems to be a little bit stronger than just people that have this kind of like, you know.

SPEAKER_05 8:54

Yeah, Vera really opened up to me, you know. She was obviously uh sharing her success, but also all her challenge through her like life, through her like um with her family, friends, uh former um uh bosses, etc. So um I really enjoyed that she she was like you know like uh expressing her vulnerability with me because it helped me to open up as well.

SPEAKER_03 9:23

And within the sixth month, so you have created that safe space to professionally develop.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Was there a moment that was like an eye-opener moment for you? Something that probably surprised you in that moment, but also that was just a solution of to the thing that you've kind of always felt but wasn't weren't able to verbalize, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

Or maybe not.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Maybe that was the when they met, you know, and the skiff uh around a two platter.

SPEAKER_05 10:02

Yeah, I can't really think about one specific example, to be honest. I feel like it was just a growing relationship, and um while you know, um at the beginning I was I had so many objectives

Fewer Goals Better Progress

SPEAKER_05 10:15

mine all through the time, suddenly uh after all our conversation, uh I just I realized that I had way too many objectives in mind and I needed to focus only on specific areas. So she helped me navigate through um this uh process, and then I I kind of like you know, reorganized my thoughts, my ideas, and just prioritize what really matter to me.

SPEAKER_02 10:45

I think um that happens quite a bit that we have people on the journey who don't have like the big golden moment, if you want to call it like that, but you know, just have a gradual, small change from session to session to session. And suddenly when you look back six months, there was like this big change actually happening, but you didn't really notice on the journey as much.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Yeah. It's the 80% effect.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

I don't read a lot of books.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

No, but I mean you know, but oh my god, you're gonna make uh you're gonna make comments on the around this. So there's a there's a French theorist that talks about that and explains that you know in the in the long game, in the long in the yeah, in the long game for productivity, right? Um the uh performing at 80% is um the best way to achieve greater goals than just going full throttle, right? If that makes sense. And and it explains that the French are uh people who incorporate that into their life. You know, it's it's all about that 80%. Um so then you can't you can have like, you know, you talk about longevity and that. Um and so there's a there's a lot of science around that. Um and so yeah, um, I do uh I can I can relate maybe to what Maion um explained because I didn't necessarily feel that there was like moments where I you know achieved 200% of what I wanted to achieve out of some of my mentoring sessions, but I thought that there was like a state, a steady achievement that was equal every single time. So I can understand where she's coming from. No comment.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

Okay, great, thank you.

Graduation Talk As Cruise Story

SPEAKER_02 12:41

Mario, I quickly want to talk about your um your graduation speech because you had a very strong, pretty much TED talk style um graduation. How long have you gone? Thank you. Yeah, no, it was really good, it was really impressive. Um I mean, nearly as good as Arnold's, but not quite, you know. Mine was not that that flash.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

I wasn't there, I wasn't there for your graduation, my own, so I apologize for that. Um I was obese at the time, but I've heard from multiple sources that it was something pretty special, something that we had not seen at the time for either a long time or ever. So congratulations, you've you know, you've um yeah, you you've sent up.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

Quickly explain to Arno what your concept was, what your concept was, how it went.

SPEAKER_05 13:36

Um so basically, I um I really wanted to create a creative storytelling presentation, uh, because as part of my uh goals, I wanted to improve my uh public speaking skills. And uh I wanted to, you know, kind of I guess impress the audience, make an impression, and make sure that people remember me. Uh so I decided to tell the story of my time mentorship through a cruise journey, because um I consider that a um a time journey is pretty much like setting still on a cruise voyage, because you you go through, you know, uh sometimes you go through um the direct passage, you know, it's a rough sea, you face a lot of challenges that you didn't expect, and sometimes you have clear days where you're gonna set cells at full speed. And uh so I put together actually uh a little boarding pass, a cruise boarding pass that was like featuring um the date of my uh cruise, so the date of my program, uh my room number, which was the name of my program. Uh, I put the um also my destination, which was my goal to become a strong leader. Uh also listed my captain, Vera, because she helped me navigate through uh this uh journey. And uh yeah, so I pretty much like highlighting uh in my presentation the different actions that I led during the program. And um when I you know disembarked, um, I was just explaining that this is just uh the beginning of my journey because as everyone in the industry we love traveling, so I know that I will um travel again and continue uh working towards my goals.

SPEAKER_03 15:33

Okay, how long how long were you working on your graduation speech for? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:43

A few I can't say in in hours or days, or basically um, you know, I had uh during my mentorship, I had like one-on-one coaching session with um uh speaker that I admire. And so we talk about how to prepare for a presentation, how to um how to present on stage in terms of body language, uh tone of voice, and all these things. And once I had all my coaching session, I decided to put the theory into place, into practice, sorry. So um uh I actually did two presentations. Uh one was this um graduation presentation, and the other one was an uh a presentation about my uh last Arctic voyage. But for my graduation presentation, yeah, just yeah, put I had like maybe just 10 slides with images, and then I just needed to think about the story behind it. And um I was meant to see my notes, but um I just it was just yellow, you know, because uh in this venue there was no lectern, so I couldn't actually see my notes. So I was like, that's fine, I'm just gonna do it because um, you know, I uh I practice, uh practice like uh, you know, uh at home, and I I was just confident enough to just do it like this, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

The coaching, the coach that you had um

Coaching For Public Speaking Confidence

SPEAKER_01 17:20

to to like for public speaking, was it something that you decided to do outside of like uh or was that recommended by by Vera?

SPEAKER_05 17:30

Uh yeah, we talk about it, and I said, like, look, uh, I I know um two people because uh uh at Ponon I look after our roadshow events. Uh so I put together um presentation with uh our speakers, and they were two speakers at Ponon that I really admire, and I asked them if I if if they were open to do this um challenge with me.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

Uh and so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

All about that is it just shows you know how how different the time journey goes in my uh in regards to directions or you know where the compass swings over the journey, going back to your topic or to your theme, sorry. Um, you know, from from thinking about how do you present actually a message perfectly into a probably a bit more detailed personal work for your actual workflow on the day. Um it's quite a plethora that can be covered easily within the six months, and there's many more aspects in between that we can't mention here uh all. Um that's pretty cool. What do you think? Would you recommend it?

SPEAKER_05 18:39

You know, uh before I was on I was like thinking, yeah, we want to avoid public speakings because now they if you want to go up the lane, you really need to be a good uh communicator. Uh but I didn't even know I will like it. But once I was on stage, I was just like loving it, you know. I was uh um especially you know at the graduation, uh um it was so nice to see uh how engaged the audience uh was. Like you you can hear them laughing, you can uh see them nodding, uh so it just uh gives you even more energy to do even better, you know. So it it really builds and boosts your confidence. And I will definitely recommend uh um to any mantis to try this as well.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Yeah, um I was obviously there when you graduated because I made an effort um to come along to the networking event. Oh never scenes. And um what was really impressive, I could see how you how you soaked in the energy and how it you know just put you on a different level and you were on your zone and you just enjoyed it so much. And a lot of people are often afraid of public speaking, especially in front of industry leaders. Um, and I just want to cool out what you said. It's worth the risk to try to do something unusual and use that also as an opportunity to develop further. Because in the end, it's the least critical audience you get because everyone is there, they want you to succeed, they love you, they love your journey, they love what you do. So it's actually the best forum to try something a bit unusual and see how it lands, I think.

SPEAKER_05 20:21

Yeah, definitely. I feel like the time program is definitely a time where you have to try something out of your comfort zone.

Networking And Industry Visibility

SPEAKER_05 20:30

So, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

This is exactly why I made um Armua thing at uh Moore Park. He was very excited. Has he ever told you? Yeah, actually.

SPEAKER_04 20:41

I want to know the story.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Did you listen to that podcast where we're all singing in that car?

SPEAKER_05 20:49

I okay, so this podcast here we go. I must have I I have to admit I probably listened to the first 15-20 minutes. Um, and then I got off the bus, so then I was at work, and then I didn't listen to the end.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

You didn't like the singing. It is a tough episode to listen to, and we we do recommend having it on low volume just to protect your ears.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Well, okay, it's a little bit. Oh no, go ahead, Mario, Mario.

SPEAKER_05 21:21

No, I was just saying I loved the energy that you all had in this car. It was like brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

It was a lot of fun. Definitely push outside of my comfort zone. That's that's uh that's for sure. For sure.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

That's excellent. Now Marion, let's tell a uh talk a bit about the network that you built throughout the six months. Um, I'm not sure how well you were or are connected into the industry. How has time helped, if at all, for you to grow your network in a meaningful way?

SPEAKER_05 21:53

Uh so I uh had the chance to go to the time um events and workshops. um I only missed one but otherwise I was always accepted to be part of uh those events. Um I find the work the workshop uh pretty interesting and it was good because uh in most of the workshop they um invite you you know to um to you know to do a little workshop with someone you don't know uh so you get paired with people you've never met before and it's a good way to break the ice and connect with new people. So that was good and um and once the workshop is finished we always enjoy having a few drinks also with the mentors um and it really uh allowed me to meet uh all the leaders from the industry uh which was good and um beyond that um as like growing my network and increase my visibility was part of my um it was one of my goals I really uh uh asked uh many times to uh Pona if I could go to um industry events because uh I'm in the marketing team and those events are usually mainly for salespeople uh but uh Pona was happy for me to go to AFOS for good uh CLIA um a travel daily uh event as well uh so uh it was a good way for me to connect with other people as well at this event and I also had um uh Vera who was so nice because she invited me to go with her to uh the event uh Woman in Travel Awards and again during this event I connected uh with new people and I also reconnected with uh former colleagues so that was like a very uh successful uh uh event for me very nice so we had personal development we had public speaking we have networking you found a friend as well yes I made a lot of new friends and now you're on a podcast there we go yeah what's next exactly

What’s Next And Under $100 Wins

SPEAKER_05 24:10

very good question what is next what's your future within time uh I'm still working on my goals because you know um I set up goals for the time program but I also set up long-term goals uh have personal goals and uh professional goals uh Vera is still helping me with those um I need to organize my wedding that's gonna happen next year I have a hand strip coming up as well um in August and I'm working on my uh career at the moment uh the next step for my career I'm looking to give another angle uh to my role so what just a space good writing time's ahead yes looking forward to hearing more uh more about it yes that's one thing before that I want to know though however tell us something that has changed your life in the last six months that cost you less than one hundred dollars you know Timo I heard this question you asked but that's when I was like and I had to go to my banking app and filter my expenses to see what I spend under $100 and that was challenging.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

You're welcome the most prepared guest we've ever had on that on that podcast she's listening to the questions she knew that if she was going to be asked that question of less than $100 she went on to a banking app to find out what she paid for this that's brilliant I love it was after the third was set to less than $100 and nothing appeared on the statement no on the serious note what was it tell us so the at first I saw electronic touch brush so I was like I can't talk about that in the podcast so no the the other one I I I I thought I would share is um so this month I'm focusing on my well being uh and I've decided to do a dry month for the first time ever in my life so not drinking alcohol cost nothing more than and um to align with this goal I uh decided to um pay some session at the at spa so I've been going to the spa it's under $100 uh every every week and it really you know helped me to uh manage my anxiety and also um relax and sleep better uh because I I love ice bath yeah I don't understand that but yes um anything which is really cold it really doesn't do it for me but I mean look yeah it's a very commendable thing for you to do Mario so yeah um anything which is you know supporting uh having healthy habits yeah it's congratulations it's

Ice Baths Finland Story And Farewell

SPEAKER_01 27:20

a good challenge uh well I've been sober for the last five years so you know for me doing dry months is not going to make any change because I haven't had an alcohol uh the drop of alcohol for the last five years so the challenge was something very different yeah exactly it's good actually yeah no it's a different challenge all right so um I don't know when is your next podcast but you have until the next time to do one ice bath and uh you're gonna do easy okay can you and you can you stay five minutes in this ice bath and put your head under the water not for five minutes you can breathe don't worry but you you just dive into the ice bath full body and then you survive for the next four minutes and a half I can't do this I can honestly say I can't do this so I've been to Finland like a million times in my in my you know not so long past um and I've not been able to last more than a minute in the ice bath it's too cold for me that's what I remember this once I went back to Finland I think it was in 2022 um it was in April uh I was going to Norway for for a work trip and um it's not the night the night before I was there and the water of the Baltic Sea was like one degree or something like that. And then I was going there and I just couldn't pass my knees in the water because it was too cold. And there was this Finnish lady she said to me she said it's okay I'm gonna hold your hand and she held my hand um until I could actually dip all the way to my shoulders and then I was like I just couldn't do it anymore so she held me like going back up the stairs she was really really lovely I tried a lot of times I and I've really tried a lot but the ice bath like more than a minute I've never been able to last more than that. And I will report in the next episode I promise exactly I was always wondering why we made a movie out of Gandhi's life when we have stories like this right she was making fun of me she was like I was like also because maybe when I put my feet in the water I kinda like squealed a little bit and she looked at me she was with her daughter and she was like okay yeah this guy's not from here clearly of course um but she was supportive of like me trying to go into the cold water yeah so because that's what we are also within the time community we are always very supportive so whenever you have to walk through the cold water I know you know who to call Mario voila lovely already at the end of this lovely podcast thank you so much for sharing uh Mario it was great to have you here and I hope um maybe we see another graduation speech in the future of you because we can do the time program not only once but twice three four five times whatever suits your life amazing thank you thank you Mario merci beaucoup au revoir au revoir