Keller Williams Realtor Aubrey LaRue was shocked when she learned someone had nominated her to be an UnBought & UnBossed mentor.
Teens participating in the Girls Inc. program “SHE: She Can, She Will” select a nominee to mentor them based solely on the strength of their biographies and without knowing who they are.
“I thought I was too young, or inexperienced, to be able to offer a young person life advice,” LaRue says. “It scared me a bit.”
The 17-year-old East Ridge High School senior who selected LaRue, Mahala Ezell, liked that LaRue was slightly nervous and uncertain about becoming a mentor.
“We both have a fear of failure,” Ezell says. “And I wanted to be with someone likeminded.”
As the pair spent time together over the next several months, from participating in Girls Inc. activities to striking out on their own to play laser tag or buy milkshakes, they discovered they had other things in common.
“I’m a very detailed oriented person and I like to schedule things down to the last minute,” Ezell explains. “And if life isn’t going the way it’s supposed to, I freak out.”
“I was very much like Mahala at her age. I was a detail-oriented perfectionist. If I didn’t do well on a test, I’d think it was the end of the world,” LaRue remembers. “But as I grew older, I realized things do not always go according to plan and you have to roll with it.”
Although Ezell is an accomplished student – she carries a 4.0 GPA, is her class representative on the Student Council and is a commander in the East Ridge Pioneer Battalion – she expressed concerns to LaRue about her future.
As LaRue learned about Ezell’s plans to attend the University of Tennessee at Knoxville beginning this fall and study to become a radiologist, she calmed her mentee’s apprehension.
And LaRue did not fail, as she had feared.
“She’d say, ‘You don’t have to know exactly what you’re going to do,’” Ezell recalls. “There are many other things you might end up doing.”
“My degree is in advertising but I became a Realtor,” LaRue pitches in. “I simply told her the world is full of opportunities.”
LaRue also helped Ezell explore her area of interest by arranging for her to speak with someone who works in radiology. Beyond that, she reviewed Ezell’s college essays, helped her to prepare for the prom and encouraged her to try new things.
Ezell scrunches her face when she remembers one of these fresh experiences.
“I’m a very picky eater. If it doesn’t look good, I won’t eat it. But Aubrey helped me to try new foods. I even ate a cherry tomato. It took me about 10 minutes, though.”
As the pair arrived at the end of the official mentorship term with the celebration at the Chattanooga Convention Center of the annual The UnBought & UnBossed luncheon on Tuesday, LaRue and Ezell were reflective.
Although Ezell says she takes comfort in the things LaRue taught her, she says the time her mentor spent with her, despite her hectic schedule as a Realtor, meant even more to her.
“Aubrey was excited when I was accepted into my top colleges,” Ezell says. “And she never failed to let me know how proud she was of me. I could not have picked a better mentor.”
LaRue, in turn, learned a lesson she says assuaged her own uncertainties. “I’ve come to realize people of all ages have something to offer others,” she notes.
UnBought and UnBossed is a tribute to the spirit and determination of Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman to run for president of the United States.
Chisholm declared herself to be a representative of all people and made a commitment to serve as a leader who would remain “unbought and unbossed.”
This year, six SHE participants connected the past to the present by honoring a half-dozen mentors with a short speech and awards presentation.
Although their mentor-mentee relationship has concluded, LaRue and Ezell are planning to travel together this summer.
LaRue says she’s looking forward to celebrating even more successes with Ezell.
“Mentoring Mahala was not at all what I expected. She knows what she’s doing. Looking back to what I was like at 17, she’s a lot more mature than I was. I wish I’d had someone to mentor me.”