I know I wouldn’t be where I am today had it not been for people mentoring me.
I met one of my most influential mentors in college—I went to Cheyney University in Pennsylvania. His name was Dr. Williams and, at the time, he was the dean of the Keystone Honors Academy. He pretty much took me and a bunch of my friends under his wing and put us on to what conferences to go to, what scholarships to apply for. He also pushed Alpha on us from, like, the gate (laughter). Throughout our time at Cheyney—and even beyond—he was our sounding board, giving us advice on our careers after college and more. And that was very important because a lot of us were the first in our families to go to college. So it wasn’t like we could ask our parents for advice on certain things. I mean, we could, but here we had someone who had ‘been there and done that,’ and did it well enough to become a dean. And he was also a black man. That was just phenomenal.
Althea Kitchens has been a very influential mentor to and advocate for me ever since I returned home from Cheyney. She’s a Cheyney alum I met in 2008 and she’s seen more in me than I’ve seen in myself, which has been the most important aspect of our mentor/mentee relationship. Through her mentoring, I’ve spoken on panels, volunteered with the Delta EMBODI program countless times with their young men’s group, and she’s even recommended me to other chapters around the city to speak. I’ve used the mentorship model that we have with people I have an opportunity to mentor and as a way to pass on the knowledge I’ve received.
With regard to my business (GReid New York) and some other aspects of my career, my Uncle Jeffrey is a mentor to me. He owns a couple of Golden Krust restaurants in the Bronx and he was my first employer. It was definitely the hardest I’ve ever worked but I learned so much. There
was something about riding around the city with a black man who owned his own business, who was able to employ people, and who was providing a valuable service to the community. I did wash pots and scrub floors, but I also got to go on bank runs and market runs. And I went to important meetings with him. I saw how he did things. He left the corporate world to become an entrepreneur, and that sparked my entrepreneurial spirit from a very early age.(Continued on next page)
“Life can be this crazy thing that you just go through and let happen to you, or you could actually impact it and learn from those who did it before you.”
I started to see myself as a mentor when I was at Cheyney. Most HBCUs inspire a level of confidence in you that’s hard to match anywhere else. Something about HBCU culture gives you this inspiration and confidence. And at Cheyney, they were big on you being a living legacy. And in thinking
about that, I decided that even if I don’t become a multi-millionaire or billionaire, or have a building named after me, I want to be able to say that I changed at least one young man’s or young woman’s life. I want someone to say, ‘Okay, I wasn’t sure about going to college, but I spoke to Garvin and Garvin made it seem easy.’ Or, ‘Garvin made it seem achievable.’I want to be a normal, relatable, down-to-earth, every day role model. Because most of the young kids I speak to in high school have basketball stars—maybe some rappers or football stars—as role models. But I try to break it down to them, like, ‘I went to this high school just like you’re doing now. I was raised pretty much by my mom, too. I had some of the same struggles as you have.’ And while I’m not on TV and I’m not making millions, I’m living a pretty comfortable life. And I’m able to show them that there are other paths to success.
When I was working in the Admissions office at Monroe College, I did the Male Empowerment program twice, and this past year I did the Black Man Can Institute at Wings Academy. That wasn’t through NYU or any other organization. That was the fundraising I did through my friends and family. And we got it done.The legacy I think I want to leave behind has to do with where I’m from. I’m very Bronx-passionate and Bronx-proud. Especially because I feel like the Bronx is, like, the “underdog” borough a little bit. And there’s so much good that comes out of the Bronx that’s never recognized. I want part of my legacy to be, when you talk about the Bronx or influential people from the Bronx, I want my name to be in that conversation. That’s definitely what I want part of my legacy to be.
Garvin Reid is the assistant director for Career Development/Career Coaching at New York University. He’s 28 and lives in the Bronx.