My Best SHIFT

S5:E1: Candid Insights on the Power of Mentorship (with David C. Atkins)

• Hosted By: Chantée Christian • Season 5 • Episode 2

Share episode

What happens when mentorship shifts the course of a life? In this episode of My Best Shift, Chantée Christian sits down with David Atkins, a bestselling author and influential leader at George Mason University, to explore the power of mentorship, legacy, and representation. From a chance meeting in 2001 to a lifelong connection, we discuss the unseen impact of mentors, the evolution from giving advice to empowering self-discovery, and the lasting impact of leadership in Black and Brown communities.

Join us as we unpack the honest, sometimes uncomfortable truths that shape careers, identities, and futures, and reflect on how representation fuels community and personal growth.

Listen now to discover how mentorship can change the trajectory of your life!

Meet David C. Atkins – A Legacy Builder, Mentor & Visionary. From a small-town upbringing in Jarratt, Virginia, to shaping the future of students at George Mason University, David C. Atkins is a dynamic and integral force of mentorship, leadership, and legacy. A founding member and past president of the GMU Black Alumni Chapter, David has spent 35+ years as a student, alum, employee, donor, and change agent at the university. With a Bachelor’s in Decision Science from GMU and a Master’s in Theology from Howard University, he blends strategic thinking with a deep calling to serve and uplift others. His passion? Empowering young people to see beyond limitations and embrace their greatness. 

Connect with David via LinkedIn | Instagram

Show your support for the show in the form of a review, rating, like, follow and/or subscribe. It makes a huge difference with the algorithmic overlords!
________________________
INSPIRED ACTIONS/THOUGHTS FOR THIS EPISODE
What seeds are you planting today that will contribute to your long-term legacy?
How can you be more intentional about receiving mentorship or coaching in a way that serves your personal growth?
________________________
SUPPORT US BY SUPPORTING OUR PARTNERS
Buzzsprout – Following this link let's Buzzsprout know we sent you, gets you a $20 Amazon gift card if you sign up for a paid plan, and helps support our show https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1381600.
Headliner – Following this link let’s Headliner know we sent you https://make.headliner.app/referral/info_AwIgqs.
________________________
THE DREAM TEAM -- CREDITS
Audio Engineering: Superb Media (kevinwatkins.nyc@gmail.com)
Music Composition: Hitz Muzic Group, LLC (hitzmuzicgroup@gmail.com)
Photography: Peculiar Images by R.J. Paulk (rj@peculiarimages.us)
Hair: Rob Fooks Hair Salon (rob@robfooks.com)
Custom Artwork: Janae Danielle Consulting and Design (janaedanielleco@gmail.com)

Get your copy of "Awareness Put Me On" Today!

Follow us @MyBestShift_LLC on Instagram.

Chantée Christian:

hi, david, welcome to my podcast hi shantae, thank you, thank you very much. So before we get too into our conversation, why don't you tell the people a little bit about yourself?

David Atkins:

Okay, a little bit about myself. I am David Atkins. I am originally from a very small town called Jarrett, virginia down south, and I moved up to Northern Virginia to commence my undergraduate education at George Mason University, where I obtained my bachelor's degree in business. After that, I started working in the area of student affairs, student life and then later attended Howard University and obtained my master's in theology. And obtained my master's in theology, and after a few years I started working in brand management, brand development and licensing at George Mason University, which is where I am currently employed. I am very active with different social and community service organizations and I currently reside in the I call it the furthest aspect of Northern Virginia Manassas, virginia.

Chantée Christian:

I do mean the furthest it is, and by the time this airs, and actually while we're recording, you are a bestselling author. Yes, did I miss that you did, you did, you did.

David Atkins:

Yes, A best-selling author in six wonderful categories, which is extremely exciting. To be a not only a best-selling author, but a first-time author who is a best-selling author. You can't beat that. Where's the apple pie with the whipped cream and the cherry on top?

Chantée Christian:

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and I love that your connection to Mason for so many different reasons, but one of them is because I met you in 2001. And, if I recall correctly, I was in your first class that you taught at Mason.

David Atkins:

You were definitely in my first class that I taught the university transition course it was honestly the first time I've taught that class before, but it was the very first time I taught it to solely black and Brown students and it was one of the most amazing experiences to be able to fully be who you are, communicating to people who look just like you. It was an absolute amazing experience. And then we went on and decided to bring you on to our office to work as an office assistant in student union operations, and our connection just continued to grow Because even after you graduated we stay connected through the Black Alumni Chapter, which is an organization that I served as one of the founding members of and the longest serving president of five years and Shante, of course, you served as president for, I believe, three.

Chantée Christian:

For three, absolutely For three.

Chantée Christian:

Even though I asked for impeachment, I think on year two you asked for impeachment but yeah, no, and because I think and I I think I've told you this before, but maybe not, but I, working in your office, changed my trajectories, so I had I tell people this all the time my parents graduated high school, went into the military and became spouses of that right, and so they got their degrees later in life, through you know life and working, and then they said, oh, let me go back to school for various reasons, and so I hadn't actually seen what it looked like to be on a college campus and what it all meant outside of you know stuff on TV, but it was nothing like that.

Chantée Christian:

So in my mind I was like, oh well, my dad is a business major, I'll go be a business major. And so when I came into Mason, I was all on the business side of the house and I was like this is not where it's at, but I didn't know what else like spoke to me or what else I was good at. And so when I came into your office and we started doing that newsletter.

David Atkins:

I was like the association of college unions, international region for yes, and we won.

Chantée Christian:

you know, we, we won some spots, but like it was, it was then when I realized, oh, I really like this, Like there, there's a, there's a thing that they call this, and it was communications. And then it was like, oh well, I don't really like the marketing side of it, but I like the PR side of it, right. And so it was through working in your office where I was able to, I would say, hone that skill but also really take the ability and the courage to jump into a field that I did not know, and at the time I give my dad a lot of flack for it, but he called it a soft skill and a soft degree. And well, what was I going to do with it? And I'm like, well, see, look at what I did with it. So, but I attribute that to the work and the opportunity that I had in your office. So if I haven't said that to you before, I want to say thank you.

David Atkins:

No, thank you for sharing that. This is the first time, I think we have probably had that conversation in person. However, I did see a post on social media where you mentioned the same thing and I had honestly forgotten that that happened that you? Changed your major yeah.

Chantée Christian:

I did. Yeah, I mean, I wish I could have Gracious of life. It was one of the hardest conversations I've ever had to have with my dad, you know, because he was the person that was paying for my college education. And he told me I had four years and I was like well, I know, I don't have no money for no extra time, so how are we going to make this happen? Because I was so afraid to tell him. I didn't tell him until my junior year.

David Atkins:

Oh, wow.

Chantée Christian:

And I didn't change it until my junior year. I started working with you my freshman year.

David Atkins:

Oh my goodness. So you were taking classes towards that degree and had oh my God, did I ever meet your father?

Chantée Christian:

No.

David Atkins:

OK, ok, no, Look, I had to think about him like, oh, have you met him?

Chantée Christian:

It'll be like oh, you the one, now he will, now he knows, he does know, and his perspective has changed, right, of course, of course. And when he only knew the military, his perspective was very straightforward and so he just thought it was loosey, goosey and I'm like, no, like I can see. It's important for you to be a mentor to black and brown students, people, right, and I think that one of the biggest things that, um, I attribute to our relationship is your mentorship and, whether it was directly and or indirectly, it was something that showed me that, oh wow, like I can do this, whatever this was right, like even being involved with the black alumni chapter. That was. That was a u-choice, that was a b-choice, that was anybody that knows David Atkins knows that David Atkins has a David Atkins way, because when you call you like hey, it was like hey, but but you served well.

David Atkins:

You served well.

Chantée Christian:

I served well, I served for a long time, although I will I'm openly honest about that. First position as a secretary was not my stint, that that was not where my cert, that is not where my gift lies. But after we got me in the right position, I was, I was able to serve in a way that made sense, you know. But I but I say that to say, like, when you think about mentorship from your perspective, what is it that you see the value in putting back into the community?

David Atkins:

That is a great question comes to mind.

David Atkins:

It is for me, mentoring is about pouring into people that which has been poured into me, and so we all have a limited capacity that we can store within ourselves, and in order for me to have more pouring into me from others and other mentors et cetera, I have to release some of that positivity into other people, one that are deserving of my mentorship. And I think you may have recognized over the years that I'm very selective in terms of where I spend my energy, and that is tied into those that I identify that I believe can benefit from my mentorship, because I'm sure you have kind of touched on it here just a tad that it is a unique type of mentorship, but it is the most sincere level of mentoring that I can personally find and give to anyone. But it is always my hope that people take what I pour into them and not necessarily replicate what I'm saying or what they see in me, but take that information and better shape who they are and what they want to give to the world.

Chantée Christian:

Yeah, no, and I think I can speak for myself, I can't speak for anybody else that there were times where I didn't appreciate it.

David Atkins:

I know that there were times where I didn't appreciate it. I know. Well, I know, I know, I know, and let me I'm going to tell you really quick I had to get to the point within myself to accept that what I am giving to some in the moment is not being appreciated. And I learned it because those who received from me I'm thinking about Air Hernandez as being one who graduated and went on and then came back and say I now get it, I get what you were doing. Yeah, You're not always going to get it in the moment.

Chantée Christian:

No, and I think that that's like so important, right, because there's so many different aspects of things that are going on, and age, I feel like, plays a part in it from a perspective of experience, right, right. And so when you're given someone's insights and experience and you haven't gotten there yet, you're like I don't even know what you're talking about, you just talking, I don't know. And then, when it happens, you're like hold on, wait. I've been here before, I had a conversation about this, had a conversation about this. This is something that I can actually, you know, implement, apply.

Chantée Christian:

Oh, wait, a minute, let me go back and like go, go, peel that onion back a little bit more because, like you, right, I had to realize that everything that I was giving out to people they weren't ready to receive it didn't mean that I wasn't in the right space to give it to them, it just meant that they weren't ready for it. And so I think that, for me specifically, there were moments where I was like David gets on my nerves, all right, and then something would happen and I'd be like, I think David and I talked about this. Let me go back to my notes, cause even though you were getting on my nerves or whatever it was. I always made sure that I kept a note so that I could go back to it, so that I could, because just because I don't get it now doesn't mean that I won't need it later.

Chantée Christian:

And I think that that's so key in mentorship that people don't understand it's like the relationship isn't just you give, you give, you give and I get all that I need. It's planting seeds, right, right, and you can plant a bunch of seeds, and sometimes they grow immediately, and sometimes it takes them six months a year. One of my friends has been trying to grow peonies for like five years Poor thing, like you know, and so it's part of that process when I think about mentorship. Yeah, you know, and so it's.

David Atkins:

It's part of that process when I think about mentorship. Yeah, I was. I'm going to add a footnote to that, one thing that I have done later in my life, and I am certain that it has something to do with my age, because I almost feel like the older I get, the less patient that I have.

David Atkins:

So when people seek advice because you know formal and informal mentorship some people just come and you know, get advice, feedback or what have you. And when those people do that, I have oftentimes responded this way before answering their question of are you ready for my honest feedback? Because that's all I'm going to give and you might not like what I'm going to say, you might not like me after this, and I'm okay with that. Can you be okay with that? And if your answer is yes, then let's have this conversation.

Chantée Christian:

Right, and I think even to that. I think that that's one of the reasons why I started coaching. It's because people would come to me for advice. I would give them not just honest feedback, but I would give them a path forward, and they wouldn't take it and I would get frustrated because then, a month later, they were coming back with the same problem and I'm like pretty sure I already told you literally what to do.

Chantée Christian:

So when I realized that coaching wasn't what I had been doing coaching was more so of allowing them to get to the answer and helping and coming from a curiosity perspective and I was like, oh, this is different, like this is right here where I need to be, because if I tell one more person how to get somewhere and they don't go there, I'm going to lose my mind. Because it was just. It felt like when you were talking about energy earlier. It's like you give so much energy into it and then for people to be like yeah, yeah, yeah, and they walk away and they do the complete opposite. It's like you want to punch them. It's like, come on, what are you doing? And so it is definitely one of the reasons why I moved to formally coaching. And even when people come to me for advice like well, what is it that you want to get out of this conversation? Because it might not be what I want to give you.

David Atkins:

Right, right.

Chantée Christian:

Or able to.

David Atkins:

Yeah, absolutely.

Chantée Christian:

You know. So, yeah, I love that. So I'm curious, because I don't think I've ever asked you this oh, what has made you stay affiliated with Mason for so long?

David Atkins:

Oh, that is a huge question, shontay, and I won't be able to answer it multi-dimensional because we don't have that much time, so I'm going to try and be a little more focused on one aspect, maybe one or two. One aspect, maybe one or two. Initially you know from the at the time that was it 20, 20 years when you were at Mason. You know, back during that time and even before me stand at Mason A big part of it was about representation. A big part of it was about representation. I'm an alum of Mason.

David Atkins:

At the time that I was there there were 15,000 students, of which 500 were African-American students. Those numbers are a little different today, but as a student I knew that there were very few African-American, black professors, administrators at the university that I could go to for advice, direction, feedback, growth. Adrienne Hillary was one that stood out or Charles Smith was one that stood out for me, but, honestly, beyond those two. So for me it was about representation and making myself available and I always said that I never got paid to do my job at Mason because you only paid me to do that job description. In my job description it was not to mentor and support and be available to African-American students, african-american students but it's an unwritten expectation, honestly, whenever an African-American is hired at a predominantly white institution. But I found enjoyment and I'm certain that you could tell that from the way I interacted with students and I remember having a student who worked over he's African-American male, he was a manager over in our recreation game room facility Many times and everybody worked these different shifts and so I didn't always get to see people who worked at night, but a lot of times and I did it with that area a lot I would stop by there at eight o'clock at night and engage and have conversation.

David Atkins:

And it wasn't about you know the actual work function, like, how are you doing here at the university? You know what challenges that you're dealing with. That maybe I can assist you. For me it was about that Now, later in life, it is about how would I put it, and you may not be able to keep this on your recording, but it is about convenience, honestly, at this particular stage in my life where I am years away from retirement and so there's really no desire to make a real career change or job change at this particular time change or job change at this particular time.

David Atkins:

And I say that I mean, I love what I do professionally with brand management and development, but my interaction with students is nowhere near the same as it was back, when my job was focused over in student union management and student life and working with students and hiring and developing them and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, that's why I have stayed. That is why I have stayed at Mason. I have not and I don't know, some people may not know this because I'm trying to think, yeah, because when you came, I had come back. I left Mason.

Chantée Christian:

Oh, I never knew you weren't famous.

David Atkins:

Exactly, I left Mason for a year and a half and went to work at the University of Maryland at Baltimore. It is the professional campus about 5,000 students, doctors, nurses, what have you is not far from the harbor in Baltimore. I worked there was the director of housing and the student union. There was a unique situation because their student union had housing on the top floor but it did not how would I put it? It did not serve me a hundred percent.

David Atkins:

It was early in my profession and I did it to determine if I wanted to work or stay in student unions or work in housing, and I learned there that housing is not where I wanted to dedicate my professional life, and so when Mason had an opportunity to work back in student unions, I applied and got hired back and I've been back ever since. So I did test the waters at another university.

Chantée Christian:

I'm telling you, you learn something new every day. You learn something new every day. I think that there's so much power in the longevity Right because, regardless of when people graduated from Mason, nine times out of 10, they know your name. Mason, nine times out of 10, they know your name. And so when I think about you and your tenure at Mason, I think about the legacy. And so then my question to you is when you think because you said you're at this point, you know in your career which, I believe, most people that when they get to the point of retirement being a clock away, they're like you know what? We almost there, we're almost there. And I wonder, when you think about the legacy that you have left and are leaving at Mason, what is that, or what will it be?

David Atkins:

Oh, that's an awesome. That is an awesome question. Do you know? I never look at legacy like that oh it is, but I know people do. I think when I have been most impactful at Mason, it has really been. It has really been in mentoring students, because that grows and expands, you know, to other people through their body, through their own body. But to be even more specific, it has really been with Alpha Phi. Alpha that I have found at the university number one, excuse me and advised officially on behalf of the university for 10 years and working with specifically African-American males on a daily basis.

David Atkins:

And when I talk to you about being present and visible and answering my phone call at 2 am in the morning from one of them because they havea challenge that they need some counseling with, for me that's what my legacy represents.

David Atkins:

Yeah, and I'm almost. I feel like I'm just getting emotional just thinking about it, because I can remember and visually see the person calling me at 2 am in the morning, because I remember these conversations. It is that and those are the things that the university on a whole don't see. They don't see that and I'm sure some of that probably happens in other arenas and areas of the university. But they don't see that because my job function don't communicate that, that is an expectation or something that you would even think about. And I do those things without even communicating or talking about that, even within the workplace. They're just done because it is just a part of who I am. I don't even think I necessarily. I think at some point I think I just no longer really associated it with my job or my workplace. It is who I am and is how I want to serve the community.

Chantée Christian:

Yeah, I love that. So I'm curious you said you don't think about legacy that way, but you know people do. So how do you typically think about legacy?

David Atkins:

I don't, I don't think, I think, I think I here's a good example, I think I think about legacy as actually something that. I even wrote in my bio and awareness put me on because it was something that I learned later.

Chantée Christian:

Y'all can't see me, but I just grabbed the book.

David Atkins:

I'm trying to see what he said when I like I think a legacy like oh, my great great grandmother Founded the first school in Jarrett, virginia, for African-Americans Americans. My great-great-grandmother founded the church that served African Americans in my community. Now, as a child, if someone told me that that existed, that she did that, that that was a part of our family history, I do not recall it. I do not recall it. But as I got older and it was being communicated, I was like no, because okay, so my great, great, great great grandmother founded the school Jefferson School. Okay, years later the state took over the school you know, built a whole new school and they called it Jefferson elementary school and they named it in honor of my great great grandmother. Our family, because of her starting that school, called Jefferson school. So for me that's how I think no-transcript that's, that's legacy, that's how I see legacy, and I do know that legacy is seen all different kinds of ways.

Chantée Christian:

And.

David Atkins:

I see it as the way that I kind of described it to you earlier, but I usually see it more in a structural format.

Chantée Christian:

Yeah, that's interesting. I like to think of legacy. Well, first of all, I'll say your great, great grandmother was. She was bad. Yes, she was bad, because when you think about the time frame that she was doing this type of stuff, it's groundbreaking, literally.

Chantée Christian:

Um, I like to think of legacy as imprints, right, so we leave imprints and places that we're at, and so I think that sometimes people think about legacy from a longevity perspective. Sometimes I think it can be not as long as people think, right. And so it's the imprints right, because it doesn't mean it's not about the job description. Those things are very rarely articulated and expressed. It's about all the other things, right, like me doing the newsletter and all of that stuff.

Chantée Christian:

It was a part of the job in general, but the actual support and the going back and forth with the edits and how do we get a story and the ideation, and all those things had nothing to do with the job description.

Chantée Christian:

It had everything to do with, for me, the imprint right, and it's a lasting imprint. And so when I think about legacy, I think about the actual imprint that you have left, and when I think about for me, right, when I think about your legacy at Mason, excuse me, I think about the imprints on the students' lives that had these rippling effects right, because you had an impact on my life and, specifically, I've had an impact in other people's lives. So the scholarships that we've given out and the things like some of those people have become people that I mentor, right, and that will call me in the midst of a storm, or their jobs are being like how do I navigate the spaces, and all the things, but that was because of an initial imprint, that I've been able to leave an imprint Right, and so I think about legacy from from that perspective.

David Atkins:

So it's really cool to hear how how you have you have framed legacy and I love everything that you just said about defining that and totally support it. But I would also tie it into leadership and following the footsteps up because for me, as like, oh, she followed my footsteps as being the president of the Black Student and, I'm sorry, the Black Alumni Chapter and to be in this, moment with you is just absolutely amazing and I've done that with other.

David Atkins:

I mean it was Ryan, ryan Laurie, who was probably one of the. He was probably one of the third most formalized mentorship relationships that got developed and he also followed the footsteps and became president for three years of the Black Alumni Chapter. The imprint the imprints because of that is one of the major Donors to the black alumni chapter because of those imprints and you know, I'm sure his experience and others experience that Mason was enhanced by other things.

Chantée Christian:

But I would like to also think that it was also enhanced because of those imprints by me. I mean, they had a place. They had a place, no, just a little place. I mean, I think, and I think that that's true, right, when I think about, when you think about your time at Mason as a student, there's so many factors and pivotal moments, right, and for me, there are key ones, though, that literally changed everything and anyone that has been following my journey.

Chantée Christian:

I got my MBA right after I left Mason, so I still ended up doing business, right, right, you know it. It just was different. I went to it with a different perspective. I went to it with an organizational behavior and organizational design perspective which a lot of people don't know. Right, and unless you understand that that's what I've done, and so, over the years, for me to still be focusing on human dynamics through coaching and through the way that I consult and all the other things, is it started, though, with a seed that was planted that wasn't even supposed to, when you look at it on paper, to be that right? And so for me, it's those moments where it's like, yeah, I had a lot of things that happened at Mason that were, you know, exciting and amazing, but there were some key moments that literally shifted how I move and how I've done everything then after move and how I've done everything.

David Atkins:

Then, after Wow you used the term seeds. That just hit a chord for me, because some people in my what happened? I went to Howard, and let me pause. Before I went to Howard, I went to Mason and started studying sociology. And so, david, why were you studying sociology at Mason? Why were you first? Why were you even seeking a master's degree? Well, here you go.

David Atkins:

When I was rehired at Mason, you know, I told you I left four year and a half and I came back when I was rehired. I was rehired under the contingency that I would get a master's degree, which is very normal in the profession of, you know, working with students. Yeah, I'm like, okay. So I said I'll just, you know, go to Mason. You get, you know, credit hours, whatever, free pay for it, based on your tuition benefits, whatever. So, okay, I'll do that.

David Atkins:

And enrolled in Mason and took that sociology class and sat in that first class, I was like this is not, you know, because I like engaging with people. So I was like you know, working with people. I thought this was a thing. This is not, you know, because I like engaging with people. So I was like you know, working with people. I thought this was a thing, this is not me.

David Atkins:

So I stopped that and happened to walk in the office of the assistant director for programming in student I think it was called student activities back then an African-American woman who was a then and still is a member of Alpha, kappa Alpha, and she had on her desk a book, a catalog for Duke University Divinity School, and I was like what is this? And it just struck me. It struck me and then I started researching. I researched Duke and I was like, well, that's not going to be that feasible. I'm working and living here in northern Virginia. And so I think she at that moment, or a little different moment, shared with me about the Howard University School of Divinity and I researched that and decided to apply, got accepted. Now, listen, I didn't go to theology school to be a minister.

Chantée Christian:

Wait a minute.

David Atkins:

Did I not say that I have an interesting journey in life? Yes, I did. I did not go to theology school to become a minister. I went there, one to satisfy a requirement of my hiring condition, fair, and two, it was a topic or a study area that was of interest to me. I'm certain that it was an interest to me based on my life experiences, and so I studied there and it was an amazing, remarkable experience.

David Atkins:

I had never had that type of education before and in every class, for the exception of maybe two professors, all being African-American men and women with PhDs. It was absolutely amazing. Very supportive environment and even while there I wasn't really thinking about becoming, and even though there were ministers who were also there getting their degree and I wasn't really thinking about that until they started started being those. I call them human confirmations, david, and so when I started receiving those, it took me back mentally to my own pastor when I was 16 years old and I don't know what I had done in church that Sunday or said but, you know, after church you go home with the big family, you have your Sunday dinners, all that kind of stuff.

David Atkins:

The phone rang. Mom answered the call, she's having a conversation. It was the pastor and she says David, the pastor want to talk to you. And I said okay, so hello, rabbi Morgan. And he said uh, dave, you know, head to low you know, chit chat whatever not not too long. And then he said um, god has called you to preach.

David Atkins:

And I still have a little sassiness today. So you can imagine at 16, how sassy I was. Even with my pastor. I said Reverend Morgan. I said not answered, I have not answered. That was nowhere in my thought it was not. But it was so rewarding to me that when I did accept my calling that he was still alive and. I was able to call him and I think at that point he was probably 82 years old.

David Atkins:

I was able to call him and let him know I was inviting him but he was not in health enough to actually come to the initial sermon. But he shared some very empowering, encouraging words and reminded me when you were 16, I told you this. When you were 16, I told you this and it's fine.

David Atkins:

People are charged or encouraged to do things, you're mentored to do things, you get your advice and you know it may take you years before you heed to them, and that was my case in this particular situation. So yeah, you didn't know that.

Chantée Christian:

I did not Y'all. I'm like, oh my goodness, I love that On so many different levels.

Chantée Christian:

Because one I believe that our steps are ordered, and so often we find ourselves fighting against the tide of the steps, and then there come opportunities that put us back in alignment with the steps, and we don't even know it. And then there's a moment when we know it and then we're like no, it can't be, it can't be. And then when we realize it is, it's so, it's, it's actually. Words are hard to put around it, because it's those moments when you realize I'm doing what I was put here to do and I'm actually falling in alignment with what God has in store for me, and if I just continue to keep letting go of the wheel, he will literally take it.

Chantée Christian:

And so for you to say, you know well, I left Mason, but to come back I had to have a master's, and I went into a class and I was like this, ain't it? And then you went to theology and you were like I'm just kind of here. And then it was like hold on, wait a minute, you're here for a reason. And those human confirmations were confirmations, because he was like oh so you didn't you, you didn't you still, you still don't get it All right, cool, let me help you Right. And and to me that is so powerful because that's really when you step into who you are fully, you know.

David Atkins:

So I love that and I'm going to say the word that just popped in my head those human confirmations, which is oftentimes not shared or reinforced with people. What they were saying is that you are worthy.

Chantée Christian:

Yeah, yeah.

David Atkins:

You are worthy, yeah, and that is what I believe I needed to hear.

Chantée Christian:

You are worthy. Yeah, yeah. I think that's powerful and I think that it's a perfect time for me to ask you the question that I have been asking everyone for all of the seasons prior what would you like to leave the people with?

David Atkins:

Because we talked about so much we did talk about so much, and I'm going to actually I'm going to narrow down what I want to leave the people with. Okay, and it is in the last section of my chapter An Awareness Put you On communicates where we live our lives as we go through this journey in life way that capitalizes on personal growth and serves as a conduit that touches the lives of others in a manner that is positive. And then I'm going to add one final note that we be as open and available to those around you, but be earnest at the same time in protecting your own well-being.

David Atkins:

That's all I got for you, Shantay Amen.

Chantée Christian:

I love it. I love it. So if the people wanted to find you outside of going to George Mason's campus on a random day, how could they get in touch with you?

David Atkins:

Look for me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook. I'm even there on Twitter, but I'm not that active there.

Chantée Christian:

And we'll have your handles in the podcast notes so you all can find David. You can also Google him, because Google works Okay.

David Atkins:

Google works and I'll come up.

Chantée Christian:

He will come up and I just want to say again thank you for everything and this is full circle for me, right? You joining me on Awareness, Put Me On and joining me on my podcast is really full circle.

Chantée Christian:

So, 23, 24 years later from this perspective, and for us to have started my whole PR and communications world together, and then for you to be a part of my personal third bestselling book, but for my company to come out of the gate swinging with a bestseller. As a co-publisher and as a visionary for this, I could not have thought of another person that I wanted to share that moment with. So I just want to say publicly thank you.

David Atkins:

I thank you First. I'm going to pause before I thank you. I want to say thank you for one, for inviting me to be a part of something that is so transformative, honestly, and thank you for creating the platform for Black and Brown people. This is absolutely amazing. The work that you are doing is outstanding and we are proud. When I say we, George Mason University, the Black Alumni Chapter, we are overly proud of you and how you represent our institution. Thank you, Shontay.

Chantée Christian:

I received that, thank you, and we're going to cut this because y'all are crying.