Tomorrow morning I’ll be spending time with middle school girls who are participating in a project called “We Are Girl Entrepreneurs,” or WAGE, offered by the Center For Teaching Entrepreneurship. I had the pleasure of facilitating the very first WAGE program years ago, when I owned my own mural painting business and made jewelry on the side. It was a real pip meeting with the girls every Saturday morning over the course of the school year as they worked through a curriculum of how to create and run their own business. The girls in that first graduating class made and sold beaded jewelry. Along the way, they learned how to work as a team, and about the rewards of financial responsibility. I gained a personal glimpse into the world of at-risk youth. I’m certain that the girls taught me as much, and probably more, than I taught them. I think we all came through that year with a stronger sense of who we were and how to harness our unique strengths. And, of course, I had the added benefit of being schooled in the latest slang!

I’m excited about meeting this new group of girls and sharing with them the experiences of that very first team. I’ll be bringing some samples of my jewelry, and of course, some issues of AJ. Because… that’s how I roll.

Have any of you been a mentor? Or had a really great mentor when you were a kid? I’d love to hear your stories.