Ameera Sullivan: Giving back to Strawberry Mansion
Almost ten years ago, Ameera Sullivan was a terrified teenager clutching the armrests of her airplane seat. She was headed to Indiana to say goodbye to her boyfriend who was being deployed to Afghanistan.
Sullivan had never been on a plane before, and she thought she would start to cry.
The woman sitting next to her noticed Sullivan’s discomfort and started to talk to her. She asked her if this was her first flight and calmed her down. They talked for the entire flight. It turned out they had a lot in common. Both had grown up in poverty, and both had a drive to be successful in life.
At the end of the trip they had formed a relationship that would have a big impact on Ameera’s life.
“Something just told me to ask her to be my mentor so, I did, and she said ‘yes,’” recalled Sullivan, who now holds a Master’s Degree in school counseling and is about to receive her certification as a Licensed Professional Counselor. “She’s been in my life ever since.”
The woman who helped Ameera get there, the chance airplane encounter, is Kathleen Noonan, the senior legal advisor at the Policy Lab at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“She always saw potential in me,” said Sullivan. “She could see past my exterior– I was a bit rough on the outside back then and I had a lot of anger problems.”
Ameera Sullivan grew up with a drug-addicted mother in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood of Philadelphia. When she was eight, she had to go into foster care for a year while her mother went through a rehab program.
“My experience was really terrible. It was a lot of psychological abuse with my foster mom,” Sullivan said.
She was reunited with her mother after the year, but things didn’t immediately get better. Her mother was still taking drugs.
Sullivan says during those times, school became a positive outlet, and she connected with teachers. “If I needed to talk to somebody I went to my teachers I’d say ‘my mom didn’t come home last night, my uniform is dirty, I didn’t have breakfast,’ and they would help me and make me feel comfortable.”
It was during this time in her life that Sullivan decided she wanted to get into social work and counseling. When she became pregnant at the age of fourteen, she was determined that even that wouldn’t stop her from achieving her goals. Her mother ended up being a big help. She was also pregnant at the same time and was in recovery. They gave birth within ten hours of each other and developed a system where Sullivan would watch the babies in the evenings when her mother worked, and her mother watched them during the day when Sullivan was in school.
Sullivan graduated, went on to college, received a BA in psychology and then went on to get her Masters.
Now she’s putting all of her energy into helping kids like herself. During the week, she is a college counselor at two high schools. On Saturdays, she works with teens at the Lenfest Center in Hunting Park.
This is part of her “Butterfly Project” an expanding vision of helping kids through tough times and allowing them to achieve their full potential.
During her sessions at the Lenfest Center, she works with participants to figure out what their strengths are and what they might want to accomplish professionally. She also works with them to complete their paperwork and takes them on college campus trips.
More than that, she is a responsible adult that these kids can count on and connect with.
Sullivan has chin-length hair, an easy smile and wears glasses with black frames. The way she carries herself is reminiscent of a teacher who is caring and loving, but stern if needed.
“It’s really just about being present, letting them know you are there. I’ll go to their games, or school events, because with some of them their parents have never been to their games. I let them know if they messed up in school, I’ll be there.”
This is what she says her own mentor provided to her over the years– support during crises, conversations about making important decisions, a connection, or a job reference.
Sullivan’s big dream is to open her own brick-and-mortar center for teens, a place where they could really feel at home and feel safe.
In that center, she hopes to provide college counseling, life coaching and therapy, and even offer room and board for teens who are homeless.
She chose the name “butterfly project” because of her love of butterflies. “I have seven butterflies tattoos, they represent the ability to be free and transform into different things,” she explained.
“I was a very determined kid. People always told me I wouldn’t be successful, I’d be like my mom. I can look back now, and I have shown all of these people they were wrong.”
Sullivan now wants to share her hard-earned success in life with teens who are struggling– and to be the person who believes in them –much like the stranger-turned-mentor she met on a plane.
