BE A BALLER -"Building a lifelong legacy"

Empowering Tomorrow: Celebrating Mentorship in Columbus with Mia Prewitt, Gerry Hammond, and Priscilla Tyson

• Coach Tim Brown, Uncommon Life • Season 3 • Episode 2

Share episode

Send us a comment about the Be a Baller Podcast Episode. Thanks for support.

Be a Baller Live Event, Mentors Impact and Inspire.  Join us for an inspiring panel discussion with Gerry Hammond, former PGA Tour golfer and youth mentor, City Councilwoman Priscilla Tyson, a fierce advocate for black girls, and the dynamic Mia Prewitt, who's at the forefront of student leadership and engagement for Columbus City Schools. Together, we celebrate the profound connections and pivotal moments that mentorship fosters, and how these relationships galvanize not just individual growth, but the flourishing of entire communities.

This episode is a journey through the hearts and minds of those who dedicate their lives to guiding others. It's about the immeasurable value of mentorship, the ethos of 'paying it forward', and the indelible legacy that’s crafted through the wisdom imparted from one generation to the next. Tune in for heartfelt stories and powerful insights that will remind you of the enduring impact of mentorship.

Support the show

Speaker 1:

This is Coach Tim Brown, the Be A Baller Podcast. Thank you for joining me today for season three, episode two on the podcast. This episode we feature panel discussion on mentoring with mentors and mentees from our recent Be A Baller Ballers Edge event. Thank you for listening and continue to Be A Baller, building a lifelong legacy. Enjoy the show. I mean our bless we are in Columbus, ohio, to have some great people in this city. How many of you know how blessed you are to have some great people in this city who are doing some great things? This particular discussion will be about the relationship between a mentee and a mentor. Our first guest here on the table will be Jerry Hammond. Jerry is the founder and CEO of the To Be Countdown Foundation and a number organization.

Speaker 1:

Jerry is a Columbus Ohio guy. He graduated from St Augustine University in Raleigh, north Carolina. His dream was to be a professional golfer. So he pursued that career and he actually joined the PGA Tour in 1997 and ascended to the elite class. A status Give him a hand for pursuing that dream of being a golfer. Jerry's consistent servant leadership inspired him to pivot from golf to instructor. In 1994, he launched the Adapte Junior Golf Program, which focused on providing opportunities to underserved youth living in hybrid areas throughout Columbus. For the next 25 years he's used golf course as a classroom to teach not just the sport but life principles, including positive character traits, academic excellence and the importance of self-discipline and teamwork. And this is a good one. In 2008, jerry established and continues to operate the Hammond Golf Academy. Jerry has raised $6 million in programming and college scholarships for over 80 students who have gone through that program. Wow, his students have collected, secured, over 315 wins. You've come in from the Hammond Golf Academy have a 100% high school graduation rate and a 99.5 college graduation rate. Wow, for Jerry, unity is the goal. Compassion is the guidance and respect for the rights of global citizens. As a gift, let's give Jerry a hand On this end. And she's always smiling. She's always smiling that million-dollar smile. And that's a former city councilwoman, assistant Tyson. Let's give her a hand.

Speaker 1:

Assistant Tyson is a career. As a career, it spans over four decades of service. She's a lifelong resident of Columbus, ohio. She actually who's familiar with City Year. You might know about City Year in Columbus. She actually founded and started the City Year program here in Columbus. A councilwoman service to the City of Columbus, she became the longest woman to serve on Columbus City Council and the second longest tenure in the council history in Columbus Ohio. One of her landmarks is she established a 25-member commission on black girls to study and assess the quality of life of black girls 11 through 22 in Central Ohio. The commission's recommendations are currently being used by the city to impact and improve the quality of life for girls in Columbus and Central Ohio. But the most important thing that she's most proud of, her and her husband, renny Tyson Sr. They're proud parents of five adult children and four grandchildren. They are also deacons here at First Church of God. So she's at home. She's at home here today. She's at home here today.

Speaker 1:

Our next one here in the middle is Ms Mia Pruitt. She brought her fan club with her. She started a girls group and boy them. Girls were something else and all of them are doing well today. But currently she's the supervisor of student leadership and engagement and the superintendent's student ambassador advisor. She's offered the student leadership engagement for Columbus City Schools, dr Good, when he was superintendent he started the program for student ambassadors because Columbus City Schools believes in student leadership. They believe in student empowerment, students, and who better, who better to lead that group than Ms Pruitt. Who better to lead that group, and so she was tired to lead that group. It's doing a wonderful job. Her and her husband have two great children. Let's welcome Ms Pruitt as well. Let's start here, since you were last one, ms Pruitt, can you introduce your mentor Mentee and talk about that relationship, how it came about and all of it? Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Well, good morning. I have the honor of introducing my mentee, bidia Carell. Bidia is a first year college student at Capitol University, so I think give it up for her with that. But Bidia is a proud Columbus City School graduate last year from CAUSE Columbus Alternative High School and Bidia is one of my former superintendent student ambassadors. And Bidia is just someone who and we'll probably get into this a little bit later, but I just want to quickly say Bidia is someone who, when we talk about leadership and opportunities, I always have this mantra about leaning in, and Bidia is someone who just leaned into absolutely every opportunity that was presented. It was always hands up, I'll try it and as a result of it, she is just doing marvelous. So this is Bidia Carell, and you'll get to hear a little bit more about her a little later.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 3:

Jerry, Good morning everyone. My name is Jerry Hammond, a PJ professional. I have the honor of introducing my guy here, Ryan Menafee. Ryan was J-Big Well, he was a little bigger than that but when I took him on and baseball player in the beginning, but I'll let him tell a little bit of that story. And then he gravitated towards golf and he became an elite junior golfer in the city of Columbus Probably one of the top obviously one of the top black kids in the area and went on to get a scholarship to play at Wright State. He's now got Wright State in house. Ok, there you go and he's now back. He's followed me home and he's my main guy. He's an assistant professional at the Depot teaching plan and doing some great things. So this relationship has come a long way and it's just a beautiful thing to see. And we've got a lot more to do.

Speaker 4:

Good morning Again. I'm Priscilla Tyson and I am just elated to be able to introduce to you Erin Hathaway. Erin Hathaway is an amazing woman that is in this community that is serving right now. She's serving programs that elevate and support black girls. The organization is called Erin Pink.

Speaker 4:

Our relationship really started when I was on Columbus City Council and I had the opportunity to be able to you know, erin came and talked to me a little bit about the program that the program that she was running to support black girls and, based upon that relationship, was certainly able to see that she was, I would say, a superstar. When she came from Gahanah we're not going to say Gahanah she went to Gahanah High School, went to Audubon for college. But what's so important about Erin and her husband, who are supporting black girls and black young men, but really and then also focusing on all girls? Because when you support a black girl or a young black man, you support all boys, young men and young women.

Speaker 4:

What I love about Erin is that she is so dedicated to her work and that she is someone that you can talk to, you can share information with her. She listens to that information. I'm really proud to be able to say that I'm based upon what I recognize in the program that she works, the programs that she is, that she's created her work ethic. She's a woman of faith. That really was important for me to be able to support her work financially and to support her as an individual so that the work that she does continues to move individuals forward. So I'm so happy to be able to work with Erin and that she looks to me as someone that she can get advice from. That she trusts me and so I'm so proud to introduce Erin Hathaway.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Now let's hear from the mentees. Ryan, can you start us off, Ryan? The question for the mentees is this how, when you first met your mentor, how did that relationship start First off and how have you ever been able to maintain that relationship through the years? I guess Jerry said he met you when you was. He probably changed your diapers, I don't know.

Speaker 5:

So I met Jerry when I was nine. So I've known him all my life and he's kind of like a second father almost. So I think for me he kind of transitioned my life into not only something I could do for the rest of my life, but just being just a human that instilled a lot of good morals and ethics into me just by leading by example and I think that's one of the highest acts that a human can do is to inspire. So that mentorship has just meant the world to me and it's obviously put me in the position I am in today and it's kind of molded me into the person I am. So I mean I'm just thankful to have him.

Speaker 6:

When I first met Mamma Mia, I think I was in 10th grade Mamma Mia.

Speaker 1:

Mamma Mia, I'm going to Mamma.

Speaker 6:

Mia. I was in 10th grade and that was all during COVID and I was part of SSA and most of the things were virtual. But as we started meeting in person, I kind of like I started seeing her as my mentor, when every time she would find opportunities for us and she would tell us to lean and take advantage of this, I would be like, yes, as long as you're there, I'm also there. So whenever we went to events, even right now, she's here. That's why I'm here as well.

Speaker 7:

Because Miss Tyson is an elected official. I've always been able to watch her behind the scenes when she was in office, and it wasn't until closer to 2019-2020, when she began to do the work for the Commission on Black Girls, that I began to connect with Miss Tyson on a professional level and to be able to sit at the table and allow and to be offered an opportunity at the table with her through business. Miss Tyson is the first woman of Columbus, in our city, to grant our organization more than six figures to support the work that we do, and for that I will always be unrally in support of her, for creating a space for me and for her. Doing her and fulfilling her purpose allow me to fulfill my purpose and also impact others. So I'm truly grateful for the work that she's done and the impact in the role she's played in my life.

Speaker 1:

But for the mentors, there's a lot of students you can mentor. There's a whole lot of people that want you to mentor them. What was it about these students that attracted you to them? What was it about them that made you want to be their mentor, so to speak?

Speaker 4:

It was important to be able to support Erin because one she was so committed to the work of supporting our girls and our community and she'd already demonstrated it and without having lots of money, just her commitment for change.

Speaker 4:

And so when you see someone who's working hard and is also willing to listen because part of being a mentor is to provide encouragement, to provide to give feedback, which is positive or negative, and hopefully the person who is your mentor is coachable and will listen to what you have to say, because they realize that you really do have their best interests at heart, and so it's really important, when someone takes an interest in you, that you really show up and you really be open to listening to them, because they could go and try to mentor someone else if you're not open to that.

Speaker 4:

So Erin was absolutely willing to learn, had already done great work. She had a very positive attitude. She's already demonstrated she had these skill sets to move people forward. She also was someone that I respect, that I trust, and I know that part of having a mentor, having a mentee, is also the confidentiality that I could share information with her. I didn't have to worry that it's going to go someplace else, because that's a kind of relationship that's really important and I'm really really happy that I was able to provide Erin with just help her and encourage her to be able to do the work that she was passionate about.

Speaker 2:

I will say that I have just had being in the space. Of this is my 16th year in education and being in the space with young people. I've had an amazing opportunity to mentor many students along the way. In the beginning, at Eastmore Academy, I had the opportunity to have a young ladies organization where I mentored a lot of young ladies, and then later on, with the superintendent student ambassador program that I've been a part of for the last nine years, I've had the opportunity to also mentor young men and young ladies across the entire district.

Speaker 2:

What I will say that stood out and really fostered the relationship with Bidia is her energy, her energy and really just her ability and desire honestly to go after it. She's ambitious and Bidia has participated really all throughout. High school she was in, I believe it was called leadership. Was it leadership first? Law and leadership? Yes, law and leadership. So Bidia has always been just very passionate and she has a desire to pursue immigration law and with that, she is someone who really balanced, because being a superintendent student ambassador as my students here will tell you it's a commitment and you have to make the decision to invest in yourself right, and this is someone who there were barriers. There are tons of barriers that our students face every single day, transportation being one of them, and so this is someone that, just, no matter what the barrier, she always came with an eager smile, a great attitude and just a willingness to grow, and that was infectious for me and it just made it an easy opportunity to really pour into her.

Speaker 2:

And so, as we would pour really into each other from rides home and we talk about the confidentiality piece and we talk about just being good energy, there was a lot that Bidia and I were able to share, and we were talking even this morning just about how it's been going in her first semester over at Capitol and just what some of the hurdles and challenges and what some of the highs are. So, when we talk about even the Rob Role as a mentor is opportunities to expand her network Right, and so I'm here now. When we talked about desires to for her to, she would like to ultimately pursue immigration law. But how do we jump over some of those hurdles? Well, there's a network of people out here in the community. How can I foster and help her do that? But this has just been a really organic relationship and it's really been her energy and her ability to really want more, and so it's been an easy pour.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, as far as how I kind of took on Ryan, obviously he came to me as a kid and, and you know, just started lessons, I think what probably this thing evolved over time. Right, I didn't know what I had until things started happening, but the first, I guess, thing that really struck me was he was a great athlete, and that's what I do. I'm a golf bro, I'm an athlete, I teach, and he was a phenomenal athlete. As a kid I could just see the motor patterns and movement. His, his attention to detail, his willingness were a lot of the things that really attracted me to Ryan. But as time went on, I mean this kid actually progressed at a, at a rate that I had never seen, and today he is the only kid that I've ever taught ever, and I've taught tons of people, tons of kids. He's the only kid to ever shoot even par in one year. I've never had a kid. I mean, I don't know how many of you are golfers, but just to get it in single digit handicap is a task in itself, but this kid was shooting par golf in one year. He hit the scene like no other, so and then it was just. You know, there were a lot of things that were there were the family. His family was strong, he had good, you know morals, so it was a easy. It was a easy kind of take. I mean he was a, he was a great kid, and then to see him excel and start winning tournaments, and the practice behaviors, his commitment, those were all the things that you know kind of said okay, I want to invest in this kid, I want to dive in and try to give him all that I can give him and he's been there to receive that. I think.

Speaker 3:

The other thing that I think that everybody at the table and I can't speak for everybody, but I'm pretty sure as far as me, I look at everyone, not how they are, but how I want them to be. You know what I mean, and I think we all have the biggest mentee. I mean this guy right here was one of my biggest mentees. I mean Larry, a lot of guys in the crowd. I mean I had, I've had, a lot of mentees, but I would have figured out is the biggest mentee of all is the big man above. He mentors us all, and this through someone else to get to you. That's the biggest mentee. He's, he's, he's given us the roadmap, and it's all about caring. You know what I mean. That's all. It's what it's really all about. It's all about caring and, and for me I've always cared. So I've taught a bunch of kids, boys, girls different nationalities, shapes, sizes, et cetera.

Speaker 3:

But you know those who, like Ryan, that have kind of stayed in the industry and wanted to become a golf professional. This is how we've just kind of connected and now why he's doing great things playing at a high level, winning tournaments, making money, teaching, and you know that's I don't know. I've been blessed. I've been blessed by you, pastor Tim, in such a way that it's just kind of trickled down. And here I am pouring into this kids lives and I think for all of you and everybody at the table, there's someone out there for you, right, that you'll gravitate towards and then you'll be able to reciprocate that. Now, where that goes and how that goes, we don't know, but as long as you stay focused and you listen to kind of all the, all the information you're getting today, it's powerful and that will be the information that will allow you not only to do good for yourself but to do good for others and take this life on and do well in it, because it's a tough one. So you know, again.

Speaker 3:

Who does you Pastor, tim, for doing this.

Speaker 1:

Mentees. Can you share? What did you see about the mentor? Your mentor, you know. What was it about them? Well, let's step the switch. What was it about them that attracted you to them, that you said, hey, I want that Because I'm telling you young people. You got to see somebody, what Jerry said, who's doing what you want to do, and you got to go find them. You got to go find them. You got to go find them. So can you share? What did you see about Miss Tyson?

Speaker 7:

I can see myself in her and even even now I do.

Speaker 7:

I admire her work ethic and when you were going down her bio and her accolades, I can inspire myself to follow that same path.

Speaker 7:

And so, even when I think about the moment and how I really got personally connected with her when I found out about the work of the commission, I probably inserted myself email in her and calling and trying to figure out how can I get involved, because I was attached and I appreciated the work that she was doing, and so I think that her work ethic, I think her faith and who she is as a woman in her family.

Speaker 7:

I also had the privilege of working with her son when I interned at a company when I was fresh out of college, and so I had already had my eye on who this woman was and this woman of color was and what she was doing. And so that's what I value about mentorship, because it's not always the personal relationship and the being able to touch someone, but I always see someone, maybe if I don't have reach to them, but maybe they're online or they're in areas that I'm not in yet. I'm watching from a distance because I can always learn and take from what someone is doing, what someone's doing well and what they're not doing well, and learn from those behaviors. But I certainly admire what she was doing, what she was accomplishing, and I figured out how to insert myself so I can be at the seat at the table with her, so I can learn from her and be a part of what she was doing in our city.

Speaker 6:

It's quite similar for me as well. Growing up, I didn't see many people that looked like me and when I first met Mamma Mia, she said she likes my energy, but I love her energy even more. She's always so vocal and when you see her for the first time, you get this friendliness and that comfort feeling. And that's how I felt and I was like I want to be someone like her for other students who are going to be coming after me and I got inspired by her Imp, by her.

Speaker 9:

I think, just to piggyback on what she said, it was, you know, a rarity to see somebody that looked like you, because I'm the only guy in my family, so and so, and I also grew up without a father, and so what I saw with Coach Brown was the fatherhood part of it, the ministry part of it, the mentorship part of it and the coach part of it.

Speaker 9:

And now I'm in a place now where I'm coaching. He's a coach, he's mentoring, he mentored me and I'm mentoring others a couple people that I work with, ministry wise, and one of my kids from the churches right there, a few people from schools I've worked with. It's because of him that I do that ministry as well. He was the first one to really show me that, you know, ministry is beyond being up here, that is going into the schools, it's praying for people, it's for, it's just saying, hey, how you doing. And so I think it is made a major impact, not only as I go into, as I started young, but as I get a little bit older. I still carry on these lessons and some of the practices. That's the biggest thing is not just the lessons, but just carrying on the practices that were instilled in you and imparted in you. So that's a couple of things that I saw a lot of him as a mentor for the mentors.

Speaker 1:

We'll stay with the mentees. How do you create a mentor relationship that lasts? Because some mentor relationships are just, you know, for that time, for a season, some people coming to life for a season, others are around for a lifetime a lifetime and I believe these relationships are sitting here, our lifetime relationships. But the question becomes is how do you make sure that that relationship lasts?

Speaker 9:

you know, one of the biggest things is staying in contact. I think I probably annoy him because I'm always asking him a bunch of questions about certain things. It'll be the littlest thing. He'll always, he'll always answer and it's just.

Speaker 9:

I think it's, you know, just staying in contact with that person and and always, you know, I'm not gonna say I mean always being faithful, always being willing to, to help whenever he needs help, because my favorite thing, my favorite quote forever, will forever be pay it for it, because you'll never be able to pay it back.

Speaker 9:

What he has any buck-eyed fans in here that know that, and so coaches paid it forward to me and the most I can do to help to pay it back to him is to pay it forward and to also continue to listen to what he has to say, because he still has a lot of. He still has a lot of wisdom to give. He has a lot of wisdom to give and we and we have to appreciate the mentors that are still here to give it to us, because there are a lot of people whose mentors are no longer here and they're saying I wish I would have listened, I wish I would have done what they said, and so anytime he tells me to do something, or anytime he has it has an opportunity, I take it and that's how I keep it going is keeping in contact and making sure I listen and keep those lessons in.

Speaker 2:

I will say that for me, it is about, it's almost an expectation, it's what I experience, it's what I had the. When I think about mentors for myself coming along, I don't know that I had one in particular growing up. I don't know that I had one particular mentor that I can look to to say, oh, this person was my mentor. But while thinking of it, I had influential people in my life and these people collectively poured into me and it was teachers, it was principles, it was people from the church and really in from my neighborhood. So I mentor because it is really, it's within me. And when I think about even my mother, who is at the forefront of where I get it all from, she's, she's social, but she cared deeply, deeply about young people and just authentically I do too, and so I.

Speaker 4:

It's important for me to create space, to create relationships and to create space so that you're better first of all, coach Brown, thank you for the question, and when I think about why I mentor, I have to first think about. I think about my grandmother, I think about my mother, I think about I'll say their names because they were important to me. I was a, I'm a graduate of Eastmore and so I I think about, and this made me even look to make sure, because we didn't call use people's first names. It was Miss, so it was, but I'll say it was Miss Lorraine Perry who was the assistant principal at Eastmore. It was another individual that also was an amazing guidance counselor there. It was Mrs Mills. Joyce Mills was my guidance counselor, but then when I also got my, when I first my very first job, she's one of the first people of color. I was a banker for 16 years and her and her name is Helen Evans. I also think about when I was getting my degree in retelling a woman by the name of Vera Stone. Or I also want to think when I was, when I was at church, at Trinity Baptist Church. Now I I'm a, I am a member here, and but it was a woman by the name of Les Wright, who, so I, I will and I still am in contact with Les Wright. I'm still in contact with Miss Evans. She now has has a. She's now ill but I talked with her doc, her daughter and calling check on her.

Speaker 4:

Those are individuals that and I can say their names and I think it's important that, as you think about, you know people in your life and these people were older than me but they saw something in me and what that means is you know how you show up matters, how you show up matters and so you have to think. I would always tell individuals you should always look and act the parts you want to play. You may not be playing that part yet, but you need to look and act the part you want to play because people will see you in that role. If you don't look that part, people will sometimes not want to think about you in that part. When I look at Erin, I absolutely she is. She looks and acts the part she's already playing and the part she wants to play in the future.

Speaker 4:

So for me, thinking about why mentoring is why it was so important because people mentored me, I would not be here, I would have not have had opportunities to be able to do the work that I was able to do without people pouring into me and also people saying my name. So when Erin was saying she knows that when she's in a room with someone saying my name, I can guarantee you she's gonna say positive things. If I'm in a room, I'm in, and anytime they say Erin, I am absolutely gonna be smiling and promoting the work that she does, because I know what she's doing and she's doing. You know, when you put your name on someone, when you're promoting someone, I will say this to you you have to be 100% confident that they're gonna show up in that space and do the things that you are saying they can do, because that person is tied to you. That person is tied to you. So anyone, so you have to.

Speaker 4:

So, as you've heard from Ms Watkins and you've heard from Coach Brown, when they're talking about their mentors, they know when their mentors go someplace that they're gonna be on point, ready to go, ready to learn, because they have been working with them and they know those individuals.

Speaker 4:

So, but also for me, it's important to be a mentor because it's about it's about this generation, the next generation, pouring into them, so that I know for a fact that the girls in our community are all gonna be better because of the work of Erin Boys are gonna be better because of the work of her husband. They're gonna be better. So it's important for us we can't keep, we're gonna all leave here at some point and it's important for us to be able to for me at least to pour in to individuals so they can move this world forward in a positive place, and that we show up, that we show how important we are, that our ancestors you know our ancestors worked and thrived and, you know, died for us to have certain things and based upon that, I need to ensure that I am making them proud and hopefully the people I'm pouring into makes themselves proud, but others proud.

Speaker 2:

And Coach Brown, can I just say one more thing? I too am a proud Eastmore alum, but I just want to say also, ms Tyson, you are someone that I look to and I think and when we talk about mentorship and the why, you have poured into me and that has made me a stronger person in this community to really understand and affirm my why, so that my mentee and all of my students get the best of me. So it's a cyclical thing here. So what is poured into us, know that it is, it is given to the universe. So I just want to make sure that you have your flowers and know that you have had an impact on me as well.

Speaker 4:

Thank you. Can I also say something, because I don't want to just say the people that I mean have mentored me, but I have to say that Aaron, aaron pours into me. I mean Aaron. I mean there, I love being around younger people. I mean I mean not only their energy, their intelligence. Aaron pours into me Anytime I can go, any place that Aaron is doing something. I know it's going to be fantastic. I know I'm going to love to have a good time there. So it isn't just one way. So each of you have something to pour into us. You have. You have special gifts and talents that we want to be, we want to be a part of. So you have to. Just, you know, I hope that you can all have mentors. See people that can mentor you and you're pouring into them. You have so much value. So I don't want to sip you and think we're the only ones. No, you are. You are amazing, you are, you're beautiful, you're amazing and you're talented.

Speaker 8:

If you enjoy our show, please share this podcast with your family and friends. Be A Baller podcast is available on all major podcast stations. Be sure to come back next week as we continue to discuss on how to build a lifelong legacy. Until then, don't forget to Be A Baller.