Just to be clear, I am supporting her interpretation of the statement. I am not claiming that the statement itself is sexist, intentionally or unintentionally,

Just to be clear, I am supporting her interpretation of the statement. I am not claiming that the statement itself is sexist, intentionally or unintentionally, even in this context. We don't know what was going through her mentor's head when they said it. Even if we did, they were probably given incomplete information about her background and may have been given inaccurate information. The problem lies with the company creating the framework for her interpretation. It set the tone for her tenure, a tone that implied that she was facing an uphill battle since she was hired in spite of her qualifications. That tone would understandably (in my opinion) alter the meaning of what was being said. In this case, the intent may have been to encourage her but the interpretation was that they saw her as unqualified.