Ask anyone at UrbanPromise Charlotte about Leslie, and you’ll hear some version of the same refrain: she was made for leading students.
But, prior to coming to UrbanPromise, Leslie never imagined herself working with kids. In fact, it was necessity, not passion, that initially brought Leslie through UP’s doors.
Or, looking back now, perhaps it was fate.
Leslie as a StreetLeader in 2018
“It was my junior year of high school, and other individuals were starting to talk about college,” Leslie recalls. “I wasn’t sure what [kinds of experiences] I was supposed to have in order to apply, so I talked to my guidance counselor. She introduced me to a job working at a summer camp. That was how I came to UrbanPromise.”
Leslie was hired in 2017 into a special cohort of East Charlotte StreetLeaders tasked with a big assignment:
1) Learn how to plan and execute an out-of-school-time experience for kids, and...
2) Launch a brand new UrbanPromise site in their own East Charlotte neighborhood that fall!
During that first summer, Leslie and her colleagues split up and shadowed UrbanPromise's previously established sites on South Boulevard and in West Charlotte. Then they got to work learning how to translate that learning into building a program of their own.
“We knew what the UrbanPromise model could do, because [after that summer] we had all experienced it at other sites,” recalls Erika, UP’s East Site Director at the time. “But creating our own identity in East Charlotte was a challenge. When I think about that first year, it felt like we were building our own family. We were building a home for our own kids.”
Thankfully, that summer Leslie realized she had “fallen into” something she truly loved — “helping kids and students.” Her lack of experience in building an out-of-school-time program was eclipsed by her passion and natural leadership capabilities.
With the support and empowerment of UrbanPromise's staff, Leslie soared.
Leslie (left) with Liz & Cici, two other founding East Site StreetLeaders, in 2018
Over her next two years as a StreetLeader, Leslie would help establish the DNA of UP’s East Charlotte Site, paving the way for the next generation of StreetLeaders and creating a home for the hundreds of younger students who would attend UP’s AfterSchool and Summer Camp programs in the years to come.
But even though she was excellent, it wasn't always easy.
“Erika and Will (UP’s East Site StreetLeader Director) were able to help me during a time that was really hard for me,” Leslie remembers through tears. “There was a lot going on in my life, and they helped me all the way around — emotionally, academically, spiritually. They were very understanding, working around situations, helping me keep it all together.”
Will looks back on Leslie’s first year as a StreetLeader with a shared sense of gratitude — when Leslie joined UP, he was also brand new to the UrbanPromise staff. As they navigated the complicated college application journey alongside one another, they both benefitted and grew.
“We were working together to understand the whole application process — understanding what it meant to get into college,” Leslie remembers. “He helped us write our college papers, helped us understand all the information we needed. Will was an amazing supporter.”
Will credits Erika with helping him learn on the job — she had previously served as a StreetLeader Director at UP’s South Site and brought a wealth of knowledge from that experience.
Together, Erika, Will, and Leslie navigated the path that ultimately led to Leslie accepting an offer to attend college at UNC-Charlotte.
“There was a weight to it,” Will remembers. “Leslie trusted us and trusted the Lord. Her story continues to give me confidence to trust the process.“
But the story doesn't end there.
Leslie (center) serving as a Camp Hope Intern during the unusual and challenging summer of 2020
In 2020 “the process” led Leslie to another opportunity: a brand new AfterSchool Program called RISE was opening in East Charlotte that fall, and they were hiring.
“I wanted to apply, but not for the Group Leader position (similar to a StreetLeader role),” says Leslie. “I felt as though I wanted to grow in learning, I wanted to challenge myself and apply for a higher position — leading the site.”
Leslie wasn’t offered the leadership role she applied for — the director of RISE thought she might need a bit more mentoring before taking on such a big job. So Leslie settled for the Group Leader position, but that wasn’t ultimately where she landed.
Like many of us, 2020 had different plans for Leslie:
“Because of COVID there wasn’t anyone who could take the Site Leader role, so I had to sub in. So I proved that I was able to run the AfterSchool Program,” Leslie explains. “Again, we were learning together about building a program from scratch. And I was talking about my old boss all the time — ‘here’s what Erika would do.’ I was taking everything I had learned from UP to start RISE.”
Leslie is now in her second year as a Site Leader at RISE. She oversees 18 Group Leaders and 72 students — leaders and kids who remind her of herself and the students she served at UP only a few short years ago.
All of this she has managed while completing her coursework at UNCC — Leslie graduated last weekend with a degree in sociology focused on urban youth & communities!
Leslie (left) and the leadership team at RISE
There are at least two people who aren’t surprised by Leslie's passion and success:
“One of the things that was clear early on was Leslie’s gift as a culture creator,” says Will. "If there was ever a gap in creativity, she didn’t wait around for someone else to step in. The other StreetLeaders rallied around that when we were building the initial culture at East. Leslie had a willingness to step out in front and say — ‘come follow me.’”
“Leslie helped build what Camp Hope is now,” Erika affirms. “She has always served with such a full heart as a servant leader.”
Five years ago Leslie was searching for a way to build her resume. She ended up building two out-of-school-time programs that serve hundreds of East Charlotte students instead.