Village Talks Ep. 11 — Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan on The Freedom to Dream

Freedom to Dream: Rethinking Mentorship, Eldership, and What Our Kids Truly Need

There are conversations that inform you.
And then there are conversations that reframe you.

Episode 11 of Village Talks was the latter.

In this episode, I sat down with Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan, Chief Visionary Officer and Co-Founder of the Youth Mentoring Action Network in Southern California. From the moment we started talking, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a surface-level discussion about mentoring programs or nonprofit models. This was a conversation about how we show up for young people, and just as importantly, who we are willing to become in order to support them well.

Mentorship Beyond Hierarchy

Dr. Tori challenged one of the most common assumptions in youth work: that mentoring must be top-down.

Drawing from ancestral wisdom and community-rooted practices from the Global South, she reframed mentoring as a collaborative, intergenerational process—one where elders, peers, and young people learn with one another, not just from one another.

Mentorship, in this vision, is not about control or correction.
It’s about walking alongside, listening deeply, and honoring young people as whole humans with agency, insight, and wisdom of their own.

From Classroom to Community Elder

As a former high school English teacher, Dr. Torie spoke candidly about the limitations of institutional education. With only minutes at a time and dozens of students per class, she saw firsthand how systems often ask educators to teach content while ignoring humanity.

Young people don’t arrive as empty vessels.
They arrive hungry, grieving, questioning, dreaming, and navigating identities.

Leaving the classroom wasn’t a rejection of teaching—it was an expansion of it. Outside the institution, Dr. Torie stepped more fully into her role as auntie, elder, and community guide, unbound by rigid expectations and able to respond to what young people were actually asking for.

Youth Power, Rest, and Radical Care

One of the most powerful moments in the conversation came when Dr. Torie shared how her organization centers rest as a form of resistance—especially for Black and Brown youth.

Through programs like Black Girls & Power, young people aren’t just given resources; they’re given permission to pause, to dream, and to simply be. Retreats, healing spaces, music studios, and even hammocks under open skies aren’t extras—they are necessities.

In a world that pushes young people—especially marginalized youth—to carry the labor of “fixing” society, Dr. Torie posed a radical question:

What if our kids didn’t have to organize their survival at 15?
What if they got to play first?

Building Spaces for Freedom Dreaming

At the heart of the Youth Mentoring Action Network is the Youth Power Hub—a one-acre estate intentionally designed for young people to imagine what’s possible. With wellness rooms, gardens, a sound studio, and creative spaces, it exists for one purpose: to give young people space to breathe.

Not to perform.
Not to grind.
Not to become “professional” too early.

But to dream freely.

Dr. Torie’s “magic wand” moment was clear: if she could change one thing, it would be to multiply these spaces across the country, ensuring that every young person has access to environments where imagination is protected and childhood is honored.

A Call to the Village

As we closed the conversation, Dr. Torie offered a reminder that landed heavy—and necessary:

Our young people need us now.

Not just as program leaders or formal mentors, but as present, patient, listening elders. Whether we sign up for a mentoring program or not, young people are watching how we move, how we listen, and how we care.

The village isn’t a metaphor.
It’s a responsibility.

And in this moment—marked by uncertainty, overwhelm, and rapid change—our willingness to reclaim intergenerational connection may be one of the most powerful gifts we can offer.

Episode 11 is an invitation to rethink mentoring, reimagine community, and remember that our babies deserve more than survival—they deserve space to dream.