The Joy of Mentoring: How One Youth Leader Helps Build Community and Confidence
December 15, 2025
Joy of Mentoring, Mentoring Stories
Check out the first-ever feature in MENTOR’s new Joy of Mentoring series, which elevates the stories of young people and mentors across the country who help ensure that human relationships remain our grounding force. We are proud to highlight these amazing individuals and programs that are fostering belonging and partnering with MENTOR to build more connected communities where young people can thrive.
Kubura Issah: Emerging Leader Cohort Participant
Kubura Issah is a Junior at Howard University, majoring in International Business with a minor in Political Science. She is a travel enthusiast interested in fashion, modeling, and content creation as both creative outlets and avenues to connect with younger girls around confidence and self-expression. She is looking forward to launching her career when she graduates by joining McKinsey & Company as a Business Analyst. Outside of class, Kubura is heavily involved in student leadership and mentoring on campus. She serves in roles that enable her to plan programs, work with administrators, and create spaces for young people to feel seen, heard, and safe. Long term, she plans to work in venture capital, helping build and scale businesses that serve communities in Ghana and across Africa.
We were lucky to have her participate in MENTOR’s inaugural Emerging Leaders Cohort at the 2025 National Mentoring Summit. The Cohort is a chance for young people (ages 18-24) in the mentoring field to experience a Summit specifically tailored to them, attending specialized workshops and connecting with peers and other leaders to sharpen their skills, broaden their perspectives, and build essential relationships.
Kubura shared that through the Emerging Leaders Cohort
“She learned practical tools for how to lead when you’re young, how to advocate for yourself, and how to build relationships with mentors and sponsors, all while having the opportunity to connect with other young leaders in the field.”
She is a shining example of the depth of passion, knowledge, and energy that aspiring leaders in the mentoring movement are bringing to strengthen the field. She believes
“Mentorship is essential especially for first-generation and Black students who are often navigating spaces without a built-in roadmap. A good mentor isn’t just someone who gives advice, they expand what you believe is possible, challenge you, and sometimes open doors you didn’t even know existed. Personally, a good mentor changed the whole trajectory of life. Helping me to understand that I had agency over my own life and had the power to get back on track.”
Kubura’s story and the mentors in her life showcase the organic and sometimes unexpected ways that mentors come into a young person’s life and leave a lasting impact. She shares that
“I’ve been blessed to have mentors who met me where I was but didn’t let me stay there. Our relationships usually started in very ordinary ways through a campus program, or an internship and deepened because they consistently checked in, gave honest feedback, and trusted me with real responsibility. Their impact shows up in the opportunities I pursue, the confidence I have walking into rooms, and the way I now try to show up for the boys and girls I mentor. Mentorship has made my journey feel less lonely and more intentional.”
As an Emerging Leaders Cohort participant, Kubura gained as much as she brought to others at the Summit, sharing her lived experience as a mentor, mentee and leader who is intentionally creating spaces for other young people to feel seen and heard. These spaces and the sense of community and belonging they provide are powerful. As Kubura shared
“My favorite part [of the Summit] was when we met with all the participants in a more casual setting and just talked. There were no mics or slides, just real conversation about what it feels like to be young right now, where we are in life, and what we’re trying to figure out. Being able to laugh, be honest about our fears and dreams, and hear that other young people are dealing with the same things was powerful. It felt like community. Overall, the experience gave me more confidence that my voice matters, my story has value, and that I have a responsibility to turn the mentorship I’ve received into impact for others.”
MENTOR is excited to continue expanding the opportunities built through the Emerging Leaders Cohort at the 2026 National Mentoring Summit because as Kubura highlights
“The Summit reminded me that mentoring is not a ‘nice to have,’ it’s an essential. When young people have mentors, they make fewer blind decisions, they bounce back faster from setbacks, and they’re more likely to imagine themselves in spaces where they’ve never seen someone like them before. The Summit pushed me to be more intentional about both sides of that relationship: continuing to seek out mentors who challenge and support me and also showing up as that person for the students coming behind me.”
The National Mentoring Summit, and the hope and energy of the thousands of practitioners and young people who attend, are a crucial part of the mentoring movement; a movement that builds community and belonging, increases the adoption of proven, high-quality mentoring practices, and expands access to quality mentoring relationships for young people.