Dr. Adriane Johnson-Williams

to do it, right?

So I have a little filter.

I'm not going to work with you if I don't believe that you are ready to do the work.

And so we have to have a lot of conversations about the sacrifices it's going to make, the sacrifices you're going to have to make, the challenges you're going to confront.

I so, you know, I vet my clients.

I have I'm very privileged that I'm able to choose my clients as opposed to, you know, really having to struggle to find folks.

And when it comes to mentorship, even I give every young person who comes to me and ask for help on an assignment.

The first thing they have to do is complete a set of actions.

And if they do it, great.

Then we can get up and running.

If they don't do it, then often they know well enough not to call me back.

Like, I just I don't hear from you again because I expect if I'm going to invest time and energy.

it's going to result in something.

And the same thing, even though my clients are paying me, they're paying me to get movement.

And so they have to want to do it.

The other thing is being able to help people see the pathway, right?

The folks I work with are trying to solve some pretty big problems.

And it's hard to imagine how any one person or any organization can really have an impact on some of these things.

But I had a professor in grad school.

Her name was Gloria Ladson Billings.