Mentor Highlight | Anne LeBaron, CEO of Take Stock in Children Manatee & Mentor
When Anne LeBaron is asked what it takes to be a mentor, she doesn’t quote a manual or list credentials. Her answer is simple: a heart. “Not just a heartbeat,” she jokes, “but the willingness to care, to listen, and to keep showing up.”
Anne began mentoring with Take Stock in Children in 2014. Since then, she’s walked alongside six students, some through heartbreaking losses, others through complicated home lives or emotional struggles. “Mentoring isn’t always rainbows and unicorns,” she likes to say. Still, she’s seen how steady compassion can instill hope even in the hardest seasons.
What sets Anne apart is her intuition. She pays close attention to what her students don’t say. If someone seems withdrawn, she’ll ask a question designed to gently pull them in, like, What color do you feel like today? That kind of unexpected opening often leads to deeper conversations. One quiet student with curls like Anne’s lit up when she was asked about her favorite hair products. “That was the icebreaker,” Anne says, laughing. “The Curly Girls had officially met.”
She also uses mentoring as a way to teach life skills. One of her go-to strategies? Letting students take the lead on scheduling their own meetings. “I tell them, I work too. If you want to see me, schedule it. That’s how life works.”
Anne is especially passionate about helping students discover what lights them up, not just what might impress on paper. Her two current mentees, both of whom she’s mentored since seventh grade, are graduating this year. One plans to study dental hygiene at SCF, with hopes of diving into marine biology. The other hopes to combine dance with a career in physical therapy.
The core of Anne’s mentoring style is honesty plus optimism. “You’ve got to be raw and real,” she says. “But you also have to be the one who says, ‘You’re going to get through this. Let the hard stuff shape you in a good way.’”
She doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, but what she does give is unwavering support. “I tell my students, we can clear the roadblocks, but you have to tell me where they are. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out together.”