Top Ladies of Distinction aids by mentoring teens, older folks
Andress Gray’s life changed at 13 when she joined Top Teens of America, a program started by Top Ladies of Distinction Inc.
Top Ladies of Distinction was chartered in 1964 in Texas as a nonprofit educational, humanitarian organization. The Arkansas chapter was chartered in 1974 by Mary Louise Williams, Sammie Nell Tollette, the late Dorothy Arnett and the late Catherine Marshall.
Top Teens is a mentoring program, pairing young women and men with a member of Top Ladies.
As a young teenager, Gray says several teachers in the Little Rock School District were members of Top Ladies and encouraged her to join the Top Teens program.
“Through this organization, we really had the opportunity to see the value of education and that it’s not something that’s free for all and you should take advantage of it,” Gray says.
Gray celebrated her 50th birthday in June by attending the national Top Ladies of Distinction convention in Atlanta. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the formation of Top Teens of America.
In Atlanta, Gray worked on establishing a Top Teens alumni association.
“There’s never been an alumni association where we can pool [our] resources together,” she says.
She was joined at the convention by her 20-year-old son, Jason, a student at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. Jason also participated in the Top Teens program.
“Every teen is matched with a lady who best fits their profile sheet, their interests,” Gray says. “If someone wants to be a nurse, and we have a Top Lady who is a nurse, we will match them so she can tell them exactly what you need, why it’s important to take any math classes in high school that you can.
“We try to encourage them to take college-level classes in high school so that by the time they graduate, they will have credit hours already. That expedites their college years.”
She points to one graduate of the program who had completed so many college-level classes in high school, he was able to graduate from Morehouse College in Atlanta
in just two years.
Top Ladies awards scholarships to some of the teens in the program. All of the teens are encouraged to apply for as many scholarships as possible.
“We’re working with them to make sure that their ACT is as high as possible so that [they] can get as many scholarships as possible,” she adds. Top Ladies also awards scholarships to some of the teenagers in the program.
Gray, who joined Top Ladies at age 37, serves as president of the organization. In her role, she serves as a mentor to all of the teenagers in the program.
She is the only person in her Top Teens class who joined Top Ladies.
“I am the only one. That’s why we think the alumni association is so important. I know a lot of these ladies — some are in my sorority. … I think by just forming a real alumni association will really help us.”
Gray also is active with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and a member of Jack and Jill of America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering future black leaders by working with children between ages 2 and 19.
Professionally, Gray is director of network management for Aetna. Her husband, Joe Gray, retired last year as the Little Rock Fire Department’s chief fire marshal. The couple also owns Dazzling Creations salon and Gray Enterprises, a commercial and residential property management company.
In addition to working with teens, Top Ladies also helps senior citizens by going to nursing homes to clean up overgrown weeds, plant flowers, host bingo and put on holiday celebrations.
“We are on our knees. We are digging. We are physically doing it,” she says. “It is not just writing checks. We are there.”
Top Ladies also support the National Council of Negro Women, the NAACP, the United Negro College Fund and March of Dimes.
At meetings, the Top Ladies are decked out in pink and gray — the colors of the organization — wearing pink hats, gloves and pearls.
“That’s just our pomp and circumstance. It’s funny when people say ‘Hey are you guys the same ladies that we saw picking up trash on the highway?’ It’s just a part of our organization’s culture. But it doesn’t mean we don’t get our hands dirty.”
More information about Top Ladies of Distinction and Top Teens of America is available at tlodinc.org.
In addition to working with teens, Top Ladies also helps senior citizens by going to nursing homes to clean up overgrown weeds, plant flowers, host bingo and put on holiday celebrations.