6: Trust Is the Currency of Leadership

There’s one thing we all have to face at some point in this world, and it’s a word that both protects us and makes us vulnerable: trust.

Trust built every relationship I had inside the Black Male Educator Alliance (BMEA). When the high school mentors looked at me for direction, they had to trust I would guide them toward growth. Looking back at them, I had to trust they would rise to the challenge. And when we stood in front of elementary students — wide-eyed kids searching for someone to believe in them,  trust was the unspoken contract that held it all together.

But trust isn’t easy. It comes with accountability. It comes with criticism. It comes with apologies. There were moments when I had to humble myself and stand in front of kids and mentors alike and admit I was wrong. And honestly? That’s what made the community real. We weren’t just building a program; we were building a family. Families make mistakes. Families get vulnerable. Families learn together.

I’ll never forget one afternoon at my site. A mother walked up to me as she was picking up her son.

She stopped, looked me in the eye, and said: “Thank you for helping him. Things have been rough, and the way he talks about you lights him up. He’s excited to come back.” Her words hit me harder than she could have known. I knew her son’s situation at home. I knew the challenges. But to hear her say that I was a light in his darkness made me emotional. Because truthfully, I was still carrying that old voice in my head: you’re not good enough, you can’t carry this weight.

That moment changed me. I came in thinking I was teaching these kids to trust me. But what I learned is that they were teaching me to trust myself.

And then the world started to notice.

In February, ABC News came to Detroit to spotlight BMEA’s work. Cameras captured our community-building event. Stories of our mentors and mentees were broadcast across the nation. Suddenly, kids I saw every week — kids who once felt invisible — were on a national stage light, being recognized for their brilliance, resilience, and leadership.

For me, it wasn’t about the cameras. It was about knowing their voices mattered. That the dreams we worked to keep alive inside those classrooms were now being amplified across the country.

BMEA gave me so many of those moments. Trips to Tennessee and Washington, D.C. — where high school mentors got to leave Detroit, see new worlds, visit the African American Smithsonian, and realize that leadership has no borders. Countless after-school sessions where elementary kids grew in confidence, mentors grew in responsibility, and I grew in purpose.

This chapter taught me something I’ll carry forever: trust is the currency of leadership. It’s not built overnight, but when earned, it can transform a classroom, a program, and a city.

I didn’t know it then, but BMEA wasn’t just preparing the kids or the mentors. It was preparing me. Preparing me for the next chapter I never saw coming.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

“What stood out most to me about your leadership as you stepped into the Site Coordinator role was your steady presence, your willingness to learn, and the way you consistently showed up for our young people. You approached the work with humility, curiosity, and a genuine investment in doing what was best for the students and the team.

I also saw real growth in how you organized the day-to-day operations—your communication became clearer, your confidence grew, and you learned how to navigate challenges without losing sight of your purpose. What I appreciated most was your ability to adapt and respond to the needs of the moment, while still keeping students’ joy, safety, and belonging at the center.”

Your leadership wasn’t loud or performative; it was grounded, dependable, and rooted in service. And that’s exactly the kind of leadership that makes BMEA’s work possible.”

— Dr. Curtis Lewis, Founder & CEO, Boldly Moving Education Ahead