Upworthy · 5 days ago

Big Sister Jaleesa and Little Sister Jaime Exemplify How Mentorship Is a two-way Street

When Jaleesa signed up to be a Big Sister, she brought with her the memory of adults who had once made her feel seen - and a quiet determination to become that for someone else. What she didn't anticipate was how much the relationship would ask of her, and give back in return. "Being a Big broke me open emotionally in ways that I didn't think were possible," she reflects, describing a bond with her Little Sister Jaime that has stretched across seven years, a pandemic, shared grief, and the particular weight of growing up as a Black woman in America. Jaleesa describes her role not as igniting Jaime's potential but protecting it - steadying her through self-doubt, teaching her that emotions deserve expression and not just suppression. What this match, now honored as one of the country's best, quietly reveals is that the most sustaining relationships rarely flow in just one direction: they change everyone they touch.