When Your Weakness Becomes Your Strength - Feature Mentor Kelly Moore

Back in the day, Kelly Moore says, she is sure she annoyed people with her extra-sensitive ways. She says she had a nice life but often felt like she didn’t fit in because, “stupid little-things just seemed to hurt me more than they did most people.” As a young person, that must have been pretty tough to take, but this wise woman has found a way to turn what was perceived as a weakness into her strength.

For seventeen years, Kelly lived in places all around the country, enjoying life with her husband and raising their kids; from Seattle and Southern California to Manhattan and Westchester County, New York. But, no matter how exotic the place, or how appealing the weather may be someplace else, Kelly is very happy to be back home in Vancouver, WA. She says, “It's the connection to people who know all about me, and love me anyway, that cannot be replaced.”

Because she lived far from many of the people she loves and cares about, Kelly doesn't takes people for granted. She prioritizes family and friends, and has put her Master’s Degree in Education to work as a substitute school counselor. All that and Kelly also makes time for mentoring.

Education is a big passion for Kelly because she believes, “Education is the key to get out of the situations of poverty and instability.” She says, “That is the ticket for a lot of the kids I see in and out of my office.”

Kelly volunteered twice a week at an after-school program in Santa Ana, CA for four years. All that time she was working with the same group of kids and found that it was the reliability and consistency of her “always being there” which caused the kids to trust her. She wanted to offer that same kind of consistency as a mentor, to “make a real, lasting, positive impact” so she joined Great Life Mentoring in 2017.

Kelly is a good listener, she tries to accept and not judge, and she is able to really help people feel heard and understood — something so prized at Great Life Mentoring that it’s included in the mentor training. These characteristics that come so naturally for Kelly are exactly what people need - empathy and consistency.

Research shows empathy could be the most critical ingredient in whether or not a young person’s mentoring has a meaningful impact on their life. Great Life Mentoring has given Kelly the opportunity to put her ability to understand another person’s feelings and emotions into action in a way that benefits both she and the girl she mentors.

Kelly Moore has found what makes her good at her job and mentoring is the very thing she use to think was a weakness. She has turned it into a strength.

When asked about the girl she mentors, Kelly beams with love. “I am so proud of my butterfly! She has grown in her self esteem so much, I love watching her confidence grow. She is a smart and capable girl.”

Kelly laughs when she recalls how a student recently asked her, “Are you Gandhi?” But, with her calm and compassionate spirit, Kelly really is much like Gandhi: “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi

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