Mentorship is a true gift, and I want to highlight SCORE and the incredible mentor program and business templates that they provide for free. I had my version of a business plan, but I downloaded the SCORE business plan template, generously sponsored by Progressive. I found this process valuable and realized that there were things on the business plan that I had not fully fleshed out. But the real value was talking through my business plan with my SCORE Mentor, Ralph NeSmith. He sees things that I do not, and he challenges my approach and thinking, which is invaluable to me. I appreciate the dialogue that we have and how he provides a perspective that makes me see things differently. We meet at the Braselton Library in Braselton, Georgia, and this feels like home to me since my educational journey was shaped significantly by summer reading programs at the Roseville, MI, public library. I remember taking my stack of books, giving a short book report for each book, and getting my name on the reading wall. It’s incredible how in life your continuous education journey circles back to spaces where the journey began.
Mentorship is also a two-way street. I am proud to be both a mentee and a mentor. For people in my professional circles, you know that my passion project is to read college essays and talk to students about their college dreams. I am honored to earn the trust of every student who shares their dreams with me and their personal essays, which are the raw, unedited versions of themselves. Not only the incredible talents, but the messy, unedited, authentic versions of themselves that make each of them phenomenal. And it is a true privilege to write letters of recommendation for students who cross my path. Dreams do come true, backed with initiative, effort, and some incredible people to guide us along the way. Life is a constant journey, wrought with twists and turns, but incredibly spectacular.
So here’s to all of the mentors out there, and to all of the mentees!