Job title: Assistant Sales Manager
Company: Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Alma mater: undergraduate degree from Texas Southern University; graduate degree from Murray State in Kentucky
Growing up in a single grandparent household, Curtez Kimble knows firsthand the power of a mentor.
When someone takes the time to foster, build and enhance the life of a youth, it has a lasting impact.
“Had I not gotten those words of wisdom from people in the community, I could have taken the wrong direction,” the Lufkin, Texas native says.
Kimble, who now lives in Arlington with his wife of seven months, speaks passionately about the urgent need for African American Leadership Society (AALS) members to play a role in AALS’ Friends of Oak Cliff mentoring program. He left a strong impression when he addressed the audience at the AALS Fall Party in October.
“I’d never spoken in a forum like that for AALS,” he says. “I came from the same type of community that we are trying to reach and help. I felt like I could get up there and speak from the heart."
Kimble, preparing for his third year on the AALS Steering Committee, says it takes just one visit to the club for AALS members to see the impact their time — just a few visits each month — can play in a local youth’s life.
“We can easily take for granted our positions in life,” he says. “But to see how receptive the kids are, how excited they are to have you there, it’s amazing…you can see it in their eyes.”
For Kimble, also a member of the Young Leaders Society, the diversity of United Way’s work and reach is invaluable.
“United Way offers something to everyone,” he says. “It has so many different programs, so many different Affinity Groups. It does a great job of creating a collaborative effort.”
Some of his favorite things…
Travel destination: Italy
Hobbies: Exercise
Book: Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography, by Sidney Poitier
Movie: A Beautiful Mind
Music: Musiq Soulchild
Best advice ever received: Life is hard no matter what. As soon as you accept it, it gets a lot easier.
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