- I'm here with Ledisi. (audience cheers)
(Kelly claps and cheers)
So one of the most pivotal elements
of success is having a mentor,
someone to guide you along your way.
So last season, I met a man who was going above
and beyond to help young boys in Chicago
become real gentlemen, to dream big and thrive.
Well today, I wanna introduce you
to a woman doing the same for underprivileged young girls
in Chicago and around the country.
She is today's Rad Human.
(uplifting music) (audience claps)
All right y'all, let's take a look at Kelly Fair's story.
- I had been mentored
by some really powerful women since the age of 13.
And so once I became an adult woman,
I knew that it was my turn to give back.
And that was pretty much the beginning of Polished Pebbles.
Basically Polished Pebbles was borrowing
from the old '90s take your daughter to work day.
And what we're doing is bringing that concept to communities
of girls whose parents can not be in the type of jobs
that could afford to take their daughters
to work for the day.
Girls get a chance to shadow VPs and executives and
companies like Bloomingdale's.
In these programs, they get exposed to all different types
of professionals who are not only sharing practical lessons
with them, but also giving them some inspiration.
We've worked with well over 4,000 girls in,
throughout Chicago and all across the country.
We want to empower these girls
to let them know that they have had the power all along
to succeed in anything that they want to do in life.
(audience claps)
- All right, well, we have Kelly dialing in right now.
Hey Kelly, meet Ledisi.
- [Ledisi] Hi.
- Hi Kelly.
Hey Ledisi (laughs).
I'm so excited.
- I'm so excited, okay.
Oh my god, every Kelly, if you're named Kelly,
you must come with energy, 'cause you and I are similar
in that sense. (Ledisi laughs)
- Absolutely. - So SHINE seems
so simple Kelly, but why do you think
it's so important for girls to understand that concept?
- Well, it is really simple,
but the best things in life are simple,
and they're timeless.
And what I love so much is girls today
even get the point that you need
to have a great first impression and shine
to be successful in life and that it matters.
So we really help emphasize with them
how and what you're communicating all matters.
So if you can shine and have great communication skills
for girls that helps them get through conflict at home
with family members,
conflict at school, conflict in their communities,
they know that that is the foundation
for success in any area of life.
- Yes, beautiful. - Yes.
Yeah, that's powerful.
So Kelly, where did your passion for mentorship come from?
- So my passion for mentoring comes from me being a girl
who was mentored by some really powerful women.
But the inspiration for me really started
on the pages of Essence Magazine.
I loved Essence Magazine as a little girl,
and I wanted to be an Essence lady
in every sense of the word.
They were bold, they were beautiful, they were brilliant.
And Essence featured some really hardworking career women.
So I started Polished Pebbles thinking that, you know what,
let's take a cross section of women that can mentor them
and support them, because the quote is,
"You can't be what you can't see."
And so on Polished Pebbles, - Yes.
- we bring in these empowering mentors that teach them
about their future careers.
And with those communication skills,
girls become great communicators at home,
at school, and the future workplace.
They really know how to adapt and bring their best selves
and know that the boardroom becomes the bomb
and a party stop, because,
or starts actually once they get there (laughs).
- That's awesome.
Have you, - (sighs) Beautiful.
- Ledisi, did you have any mentors, like?
- Yeah, I did, but my,
- [Clarkson] I guess your parents were kind of
a little bit cause they're musicians.
- Yeah, my mom was a huge mentor for me, still is.
And she taught me, the one thing my mom taught me
is don't let the world dictate who you are,
and know that when you're walking out into the world,
you're carrying with you a legacy, you're creating a line.
So you finish out whatever that line is and do it well.
Even if it's waiting tables, do it well, you know,
- Yeah, whatever you're doing,
yeah. - Whatever you're doing,
do it well.
And so that's why I love my mom.
- That's amazing. (audience claps)
- But at 68 years old,
my mom went back to college and graduated,
- Wow. - From college.
So I have nothing to complain about.
Magna cum laude too.
So yeah. - Wow.
Oh my god, what a bold, beautiful mama you have.
- I love her, love her.
- That's awesome too, because I can relate,
like I have a six year old little girl guys, and it's like,
she, I already see her going, "Is this pretty?
Do I look pretty?"
And I'm like, "Oh no."
I'm like, "Why is she asking that all the time?"
Like, why is she finding her worth outside of herself?
- Yeah. - You know?
So that's a big thing, I think, for a lot of us.
Mamas, like especially with your daughters.
So Kelly, I mean, are there any memorable success stories
like that you really love that you would hand pick
to kind of show us?
- Absolutely.
I mean, there are so many different success stories,
and I'm proud of each and every one of our Pebbles.
One I'm really proud of is Ariel (indistinct).
She was one of my very first pebbles
that came when she was in middle school.
And she was that kid that, you know,
you weren't quite sure she really wanted to come.
You weren't quite sure if her mom was making her come,
but regardless, Ariel stuck with it,
she graduated from the program.
So I was shocked a couple of years ago when she tagged me
on social media saying how much
Polished Pebbles had played a role in her development.
So it actually kind of brought me to some tears.
I'm so proud of her.
She is a Fulbright Fellow,
she just got back from Italy,
and she is in her very first semester at Yale law school.
- Wow. - So I mean,
Ariel is tremendous, and we're hoping,
yeah, I mean, (audience claps)
we're hoping with our new book, "Every Girl is a CEO!",
we can provide the blueprint for what success looks like,
for successful women like Ariel to even more girls.
- Yeah, and it shows you, you have no idea
who's really paying attention to everything.
And you're really, I mean,
you're investing, and you have no idea.
You might think, "Oh, they're not really paying attention
or listening," but they are.
Kelly doesn't know this,
but we actually have Ariel standing by
on the line right now. - Wow.
- So let's bring her in.
Hi Ariel! (audience cheers and claps)
- Hi. - Okay, you did it.
- You're a surprise Ariel,
so this is, she's crying.
Kelly's, apparently it's a thing
that if you're a Kelly, you cry a lot too.
I do that too, Kelly.
So Ariel, you say that you're where you are now
because of Polished Pebbles, right?
- Yeah,
I absolutely, I, it was like six or seventh grade,
I think I got involved with the program,
and my mom actually knows Ms. Fair,
because they went to high school together.
So when she found out about the program,
she encouraged me to go ahead and join.
And at that time, it was a little rough period for me.
So I didn't really fully appreciate the program
as much as I should have.
But looking back, (Fair laughs)
it's such an invaluable experience.
It was the first time I had ever been faced
with what professionalism is,
and especially for black women.
And at that time, I was really into STEM.
And I remember one of the mentors that they brought in
during Saturday Academy was a scientist.
And to be able to see a black woman that was a scientist,
that was a game changer for me.
And yeah, I love the program.
- I love that you were like, I mean,
I was in seventh grade, and I'm like,
by the way, Ariel, we all weren't our best selves
as seventh graders. (guests laugh)
It's like the worst age.
It's like puberty's hitting,
we're hormonal. (Ledisi laughs)
No one's shining in that moment.
- No (laughs). - Very few of us.
So I mean, Ariel, you've even created
a sub program within Polished Pebbles, right?
- Yeah, something like that.
So after graduating from the program,
I still remain close to it.
I'm a big believer of moving forward while reaching back.
So when I was at the University of Illinois,
before I came here, I started an initiative
called Sister to Sister
through a registered student organization
called Women of Color.
And through this program, I was able to bring some
of the Pebbles on campus, and Pebbles are, you know,
the small, young women that are in Polished Pebbles,
to campus, and I really wanted to show them
what college life looked like,
so they could imagine themselves there.
- Wow. - But that was a very
exciting moment for me.
And I mean, now I hope to do something similar at Yale.
- I love the ripple effect
that all these Pebbles are making.
That's amazing.
- Wow, oh bravo. - This is a beautiful
success story, yeah.
I mean, I think it's so important.
I had such great girls around me when I was young,
and people that, you know, you said earlier Kelly,
that, you know, you find these people,
and you see them, and they don't have the confidence,
and these young kids, and you, something, you know,
it's almost like someone along way
said something horrible to them, and they believed them.
They believed it - Right.
- about themselves instead of saying,
"You don't know me," like, you know,
and it's so great what y'all are doing
and to surround yourself
with other females are empowering to your being
and to your confidence and all of that.
So Ariel, what do you, what do you want to say to Kelly?
- I want to say thank you.
What you are doing is so, so important.
You are filling that opportunity gap,
not only in the community that we're from
but across the nation.
You are equipping young women with the ability
to be able to communicate and express themselves,
which is half the battle, you know,
operating within the world.
And I just remember always looking up to you,
seeing you as like this force.
I was just like amazed by you.
And as a sixth and seventh grader,
you saw something in me that I didn't know existed.
And I just want to say, thank you
for your continued support and your hard work
and advocating for young girls throughout the country.
- Yeah. (audience claps and cheers)
How does that feel Kelly?
Like what you're doing matters,
it's making - Yeah.
- such giant ripples.
- It does, because for a kid that's as accomplished
as Ariel, and to hear that you had some impact on that
means so much, but I'm proud of every Pebble,
and to hear them continue in the legacy of mentoring,
I think is really key and important.
And so as long as we're keeping this thing going,
that's all that any of us can ask for.
So I thank you for that.
- Yes, the paying it forward is the most beautiful part.
- That standing next, all the women standing with you.
It's that beautiful - Yes.
- part I love, yeah.
- I love that as well.
Okay, So Kelly, you said this all started
because you wanted to be an Essence woman.
Well we called our friends at Essence Magazine,
and they're going to feature you and Polished Pebbles
and in Essence Online,
so you are gonna get your Essence dream.
- [Ledisi] There you go. (audience claps and cheers)
- And that's actually not all.
We want to see you help as many girls
as possible to dream big.
So we reached out to our friends at lulus.com,
a woman's fashion brand that carries all your trendy
must have pieces.
They want to help you continue changing lives,
so they're donating $5,000 to Polished Pebbles
to help you out. (audience claps and cheers)
We love what you're doing, and like I said, you know,
we got to continue to surround ourselves
with positive people that make us better
and also pay it forward to the people
that did things that are beautiful for us.
Pay that forward y'all.