paying the strong mojo forward

A young woman named Crystal called me this morning. Crystal used to work for me 5 years ago. We’ve kept in touch over the years and seen each other a few times. She’s the sweetest, smartest, petite little hard-worker I could’ve ever had as an employee. She came from a very humble country upbringing and has made great things happen for herself. It’s been fun for me to watch her grow up (My, I sound like an old lady.) We hadn’t spoken on the phone in months so I was happily surprised by her voice on the phone; “Di! I just got out of a final job interview and I used you as a reference! It went great!” I asked her some details about the job and we chatted for a few minutes about other life stuff catching up. She then went back to talking about the interview:

“So the lady that interviewed me asked me who my favorite manager from all my jobs was and I told her you! Remember that time after you hired me, you sat me down after a couple weeks to talk? You told me that you thought I was a perfect fit and a hard worker, but that I needed to try to put myself out there more, have more confidence in myself and speak up/not be so shy. At the end of our talk I told you thank you and I will try. Then I tried and became awesome!” (The end line was delivered with Crystals adorable giggle. You’ve gotta love that closing line of “I became awesome!” Too cute…)

I didn’t tell Crystal that I don’t remember that conversation but it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that she wants to excitedly call me to share news of a new job. She knows that I will always care and be excited for her. The timing of the call from Crystal couldn’t be more perfect after my post about strong mojo and Traci yesterday. It’s a perfect example why if any of us are ever in the position to mentor young people, it’s a huge honor. If we take the gifts we’re given that help us to “become awesome” we then have the responsibility to pay them forward to the next generation. Traci helped me learn confidence, I passed it to Crystal, and now she’s going to be working with high school kids in Philly supporting them to do community service work. Someday 10 years down the road she will get a call from a young woman she cared enough about to pay attention to, and that person will excitedly tell her about a fabulous job they just got because she had the confidence to go for thanks to Crystal.

Full circle. I absolutely love it.

This day helps me to remember even the tiniest things don’t go unnoticed. Thanks Crystal. You just made my week. Keep being your awesome self and I can’t wait for the next phone call.