I have few friendships outside of the internet. However, when considering the content I view online and the people I am connected with, I realize there are some key figures I know that already fill the mentor roles for me.
- The master of craft
The master of the craft that I have been studying is Levy Rozman. He has many similarities with me but also has a lot more professional experience than I do. He is both a streamer and a chess coach who wrote a book titled “How to Win at Chess”. Part of what makes him a mentor to me is that he is doing all the right marketing strategies and is one of the most famous people in the world of chess.
What makes Levi so effective is that he provides hundreds of hours of free content on YouTube and Twitch, teaching people the principles of chess and example games. But he is really more than that because he is also a comedian, in my opinion, because he includes recurring jokes that make his audience laugh and people go crazy in the comments. Such recurring themes include mentioning Magnus Carlson in every video, phrases such as “and then he sacrificed THE ROOK!” and showing ridiculous games that never should have happened but did! Doing this style of comedy is perfect when combined with the most played board game in the world. Levy (also known by the username GothamChess) has made use of everything he has to bring the knowledge of chess to players and entertain the internet for over ten years.
- The champion of your cause
According to the article I read, this type of mentor is someone in my current workplace. In this case, I would like to mention 2 people who are both my team leads at Walmart. I really feel like Carl and Cendahl have my back, and they also communicate with others about my work ethic. I love them both as mentors who share their experience and wisdom that I rarely find in a grocery store job. That being said, if I had to choose only one of them as a mentor, I would choose Carl because he always tells me to prioritize my schoolwork, even over my job. I couldn’t forget this because right now, I am taking his advice and writing this post while I take a night off. Carl is the man who knows what takes priority. I don’t know the full story, but he was previously a Rocket Scientist who changed careers so he could raise his kids better.
- The copilot
The copilot I would like to mention at my current Walmart job is Tina. Of all the people I have worked with before in either the Frozen or Grocery departments, Tina shares the same work ethic as I do. I know that we fully support each other and do our fair share of the work. I specifically remember how she told me the team leads noticed my work ethic and wanted to make me a team lead. I told her I already knew, but I also felt like she was just as much qualified to be a team lead as I was, if not more. We build each other up, and there are no two people in the store who work together better than the two of us. Beyond that, we also have the same taste in music, with the exception of Taylor Swift, who Tina believes is overplayed!
- The anchor
My number one friend and family member has always been my mom. She raised me as a single mother, and we only have each other to lean on in our daily lives. Even though she doesn’t understand anything I talk about, she loves me, and I will do just about anything I can to help her. The reason I know she is so important to me is that I often fear what will happen when I lose her because I have never been without her support my entire life, with the exception of Navy Boot Camp when I could not talk to her at all. That was a hard time, but not as hard as it will be when she dies.
To this day, the username for her email is navyboymom. I may no longer be in the Navy, and I’m not a boy anymore (I am transgender), but she is still my mom. Some things change, but some things never do. I have a feeling that not even death can separate me from her love.
Most importantly, she accepted me when I came out as transgender, and I realized that she loved me for who I actually was rather than what body I happened to be born into at the time. I should have known she would, but still, I was afraid because I had heard stories of those who were not so lucky and were rejected by their family.
- The reverse mentor
I don’t actually have an example of a reverse mentor based on the required TED article I read. I have never been a mentor or teacher to someone else before in my life. So, instead, I will tell you what I first guessed a reverse mentor is!
I would guess that a reverse mentor is someone who is the opposite kind of teacher who teaches you the kind of person you DO NOT want to be. I would like to mention my father. He taught me that I do not want to be the kind of person who beats their spouse, lies and never keeps promises, divorces their wife who has been faithful to them for 18 years even when putting up with abuse, and then has the nerve to contact me and recommend a book on how to be a man.
He even had the nerve to tell me that I am self-centered. Am I? Well, in that case, I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! I will give him credit where it is due. He taught me everything about who I don’t want to be. I vowed when I was a child to speak the truth and be the opposite of my dad. As I live my life, I often think about how I will be successful in spite of the bad start I got from having a lack of a father. Instead, I followed the example of my mother because she was the man!
Sources
[GothamChess]. (2023, October 8). SACRIFICE THE ROOOOOOOOKS!!!!!!!! [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye1p_x60Hlg
Klebs, J. L. (2013). From Rejection to Love (and other poems). Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Rejection-Love-other-poems-collection/dp/1492789062/