FROM MENTORSHIP TO LEADERSHIP

How Mentoring Shapes the Leaders Our Communities Need Tomorrow

Written by Naaila Gray Brown, US Dream Academy National Mentor Program Director

Naaila Gray Brown, National Mentor Program Director at U.S. Dream Academy, co-presenting the

“Building Infrastructure and Tools for Virtual Mentoring” workshop at the 2024 National Mentoring Summit.

Mentored to Lead: How My Village Shaped My Path

I am a product of mentoring, and more importantly, a product of a village that worked collaboratively with my mother to ensure my success.

Growing up, pastors and community youth leaders stepped into my life as trusted adults who saw my potential and took the time to nurture it. They stepped up to reinforce the very hopes, values, and expectations that my mother had for me. Together, they offered accountability, encouragement, and access to experiences that expanded my understanding of what was possible for my future.

One mentor in particular, Jay Harrison, had a profound impact on how I came to see myself as a leader. He introduced me to John Maxwell’s 21 Laws of Leadership. Every Monday, 20 other high school students and I gathered at a local community center, where “Brother Jay,” as we lovingly called him, taught us leadership principles grounded in responsibility, character, and belief.

2025 US Dream Academy Mentor of the Year awardee, Nicolle Green, with DreamKids from San Bernardino Learning Center.

One principle that stayed with me was The Law of the Lid, the idea that leadership capacity sets the ceiling for growth. By challenging us to raise that ceiling, Brother Jay helped us understand that our potential wasn’t fixed. He empowered our youth group to stretch beyond what we thought we could do and to lead with confidence.

Brother Jay didn’t stop at teaching concepts; he also created opportunities for us to practice leadership. When I was in 10th grade, he empowered our youth group to plan and coordinate an out-of-state college tour to Atlanta. We coordinated hotel logistics, scheduled tours across multiple college campuses, and organized a donation drive to distribute food and blankets to individuals experiencing homelessness in the city.

During that service experience, we didn’t just hand out food and blankets; we connected with people. We listened as individuals shared their stories, sang inspirational songs together, and prayed with those who welcomed us into that moment. Standing in that park taught me the power of presence and compassion: the importance of meeting people where they are, seeing their humanity beyond circumstances, and resisting the urge to judge a book by its cover.

Looking back now, I see how Brother Jay was intentionally modeling a core element of the Developmental Relationships Framework: Share Power by trusting us with meaningful decisions, honoring our ideas, and allowing us to learn through ownership and real-world experience rather than passive observation.

What stands out most is not just what we accomplished, but how Brother Jay’s consistency, guidance, and belief made it possible. He first empowered us to believe in ourselves, to see ourselves as capable, responsible, and worthy of trust. With that belief, I was able to do things I had never done before. More importantly, those experiences shaped who I was becoming and how I understood my role in my community. That mentorship did not end in my youth; it continues to guide how I lead U.S. Dream Academy’s mentoring programs today, centering relationships and community as the foundation for developing the next generation of leaders.

To Brother Jay, thank you for seeing my potential before I fully saw it myself. Thank you for sharing power, for trusting me with responsibility, and for believing that I was capable of more. Your consistency, guidance, and faith in me shaped my path, and they continue to ripple forward through the lives of the young people and families I now have the privilege to serve.