ORLANDO, Fla. – Depending on who you ask, they might tell you that success begins with a mentor, an idea that today’s guest on “Black Men Sundays” has devoted himself to uphold.
This week on the show, host Corie Murray interviews Dr. Anthony Robinson Jr., an author, speaker and coach in the ways of teen life and dissertation assistance who dedicates his time to positively impacting students.
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Robinson got his first degree in 2011, a Bachelor of Arts in Radio/TV from Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas. The next year, he founded myBR1DGE, a nonprofit that worked with at-risk youth to help them achieve their dreams by teaching them relevant skills.
“I’m a product of having various mentors, you know, people who have helped me navigate life and get to the place of where I am today,” he said. “...One of my pet peeves is hearing people say, ‘Well, I pull myself up by my own bootstraps;’ none of us gets to where we are, at any level of success, by ourselves. There was someone who sold something to us, there was something that we read, there was something that we learned, and so we didn’t get to somehow magically develop these things in ourselves 100%. So myBR1DGE kind of takes that idea from, you know, helping someone get from where they are to ultimately where they want to be, and we all need a bridge to navigate that process.”
In 2014, Robinson completed a PhD in Leadership at Tennessee Temple University, later being certified as a Teen Life Coach in 2015 and getting a second doctorate in 2016.
“If you, you know, survey all of these mentor programs out there, what you will find is that their biggest challenge is finding mentors, right? So we all believe that mentoring is important, but we’re not all so quick to go do the work. It reminds me of that scripture that says ‘The harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few,’ and the same applies with mentoring,” he said.
He also founded WritersER, a company that seeks to slash the time it takes for students in a PhD program to get their dissertations approved. His book, “Unleashing the King in the Kid: Making Dreams Come True, One Life at a Time,” contains guidance that parents and other mentors can apply to helping children achieve their goals.
“I started WritersER because I learned at some point in the process that most students who start the process don’t end up finishing, and there are many studies out there that show that about 43% of students will not complete their doctoral degrees in a 10-year time span. That’s almost a 50% failure rate,” he said. “...The large majority — if you dive down deeper into the numbers — you will see that a large percentage are African Americans in this space, and so what we’re doing is we are taking this process that is not necessarily designed for untraditional students, we’re helping students navigate this process by giving them tips and strategies and even support on making it through the process and a much quicker timeframe, and what that equates to, in many instances, is as little as and even beyond $108,000 saved in tuition costs.”
Hear the full interview and more in Season 2, Episode 16 of “Black Men Sundays.”
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