By Hailey Gilbreath and Lydia Hill, 2026 ACN Student Mentorship Program participants
As a benefit to Ag Communicators Network student members, ACN started a mentorship program in 2026 where ACN student members would meet one-on-one with more seasoned, professional ACN members. Hailey Gilbreath and Lydia Hill were among the 11 mentor-mentee pairs in the first year of the program.
To give you a taste of the kind of lasting connections the mentorship program can spark, we asked Hailey and Lydia to share about their experience. We hope their story inspires you to invest time next year in a student and in yourself.
We are now seeking ACN members who would like to mentor student ACN members beginning in January 2027. Find more details and sign up at https://forms.gle/aFH3pzCQRL9bEKgd9.
If you know a student who would be interested in the mentorship program, encourage them to join ACN as a student member at www.agcommnetwork.com/member-resources/become-a-member using the code AlltechStudent. Thanks to Alltech’s sponsorship, we are offering 50 free student memberships. ACN student membership gives student access to the ACN Student Membership Program.
–Courtney Girgis (cllgirgis@gmail.com) and Olivia Hoots (olivia@illinoisbeef.com), Future Ag Communicators Committee co-chairs
Initial Connection
Hailey: Just before the ACN/ACT mentorship program began, Lydia reached out about a completely different project: she wanted to interview me for The ACTual Story podcast about my experience with social media, branding and content creation. We hit it off and had an incredible conversation while recording the episode. Afterwards, I was happy to serve as a resource and offered to stay in touch. About two months later, I received the email, notifying me of my pairing with Lydia! I remember laughing out loud when I read her name; it felt too perfect to be a coincidence. I was beyond honored to now get to serve as her mentor.
Lydia: As I was scrolling through a spreadsheet consisting of names of professionals in the ag communications realm, my eye caught on the Kansas Beef Council. After some light LinkedIn stalking, I decided I already liked this fellow black-haired lady. I needed to have her on The ACTual Story. After that podcast recording, I knew Hailey and I’s paths were not done crossing, so I was not surprised when I received an email announcing that she was my ACN mentor.
Why We Said Yes
Hailey: Mentorship holds a special place in my heart. I had, and still have mentors, who truly shaped me into who I am today and who are a big part of the reason I have the career I do. They saw things in me before I saw them in myself and were patient with me while I figured out what I actually wanted to do with my career. Joining this program was my way of paying that forward to the next generation. If just one conversation with Lydia could do for her what those conversations did for me, it was worth saying yes immediately.
Lydia: I am always seeking opportunities to grow as an individual and young professional, so when I heard there was a mentorship opportunity through ACN, I knew I had to hop on it. At Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC), I have excellent professors who pour their time and energy into mentoring their students. However, I thought having the fresh perspective of an individual currently in the industry would be nothing but beneficial. Hailey has this incredible ability to make everyone around her feel seen, heard and capable of accomplishing whatever they set their mind to.
First Impressions
Hailey: Funny enough, given that podcast connection, it didn’t feel like starting from zero. We’d already spent an hour talking about the things we care about most professionally, so when we found out we’d been matched, it felt less like a coincidence and more like confirmation that this was supposed to happen. We hit it off immediately! It was the kind of connection where you go from podcast interview to mentorship without missing a beat, and where the “getting to know you” phase basically didn’t exist because we’d already done it. Lydia is one of the brightest and kindest souls I’ve met. She reminds me so much of my younger self, and we joke that we’re long-lost sisters, (especially given we share the same black hairstyle and fiery spirit). She has an extremely bright future, and I can’t wait to see where she blazes a trail next.
Lydia: Because Hailey and I had already met, it was such a relief that we did not have to start from scratch. We immediately hit it off, and it felt like we had known each other a lifetime. Hailey and I are two sides of the same coin, and that made our connection that much deeper. I knew after I cracked a few incredibly dumb jokes and she genuinely laughed at them that we were going to turn out alright. I have never opened up to someone so easily, and Hailey made me feel safe enough to be authentically myself right off the bat. She is not just a ray of sunshine; Hailey is the sun, and all of that glorious sunlight reflected right onto me.
Memorable Moments
Hailey: The mentorship settled into an easy rhythm of regular check-ins, but a few moments stand out as the ones that turned it into something more than a program assignment. A few months in, we picked up The Converse Cowboy’s newest book, Perspective Is a Verb, and started reading it together, recapping chapters over calls as we went. Around the same time, Lydia had just moved to Washington, D.C., for an internship and I had plans to go to our nation’s capitol with Farm Bureau, so we planned an in-person meetup, turning a mentorship that had lived entirely over calls and messages into a real, in-person friendship.
Over the last eight months, I’ve had the honor of watching her excel at anything she does: winning scholarships, earning awards and landing leadership roles in the industry. This program may have been initially designed for the mentee to learn and grow, but I’m walking away having learned just as much from Lydia as she did from me.
Lydia: One of our first goals in the mentorship was to build a professional portfolio. Because I had zero website-building experience, Hailey recommended I use Wix. After our meeting talking about what website building looks like, I hopped on Wix and created Twisted L Creatives. Hailey did such a thorough job of teaching me the basics of Wix. I had zero issues creating the basics of my portfolio. One afternoon, I emailed her a link to my new website, and I immediately received a text: “GIRL YOU DID THIS?!” Yes, I did, but not without her guidance and encouragement.
While that was a huge milestone, my favorite memories had nothing to do with building a website. Reading Perspective Is a Verb together sparked conversations that challenged the way I think about leadership, communication and life. Then getting to meet Hailey in Washington, D.C., after months of video calls made our mentorship feel even more meaningful. Somewhere along the way, she stopped feeling like just my mentor and became one of my closest friends. I signed up hoping to gain career advice, but I walked away with a lifelong relationship.
What Made This Partnership Work
Hailey: What makes Lydia a great mentee is that she brings genuine curiosity to everything she does. She was the one who reached out first, before we were even paired, just to learn from someone else’s experience. That same initiative showed up throughout the mentorship: she read, she asked real questions, and she showed up consistently even after moving across the country for a new internship. She’s not just soaking things up passively; she’s kind, self-aware and ambitious in a way that feels grounded. Some of the best mentorships stop feeling like mentorships at all and start feeling like friendship between equals, and that’s exactly what happened here.
Lydia: Hailey is one of the most patient people I’ve ever met. She always had an answer, or knew how to help me find one, even if my questions had absolutely nothing to do with agricultural communications. More importantly, she created an environment where I never felt embarrassed to ask questions or admit when I didn’t know something. She celebrated my accomplishments as if they were her own and encouraged me to dream bigger than I thought possible. Having someone believe in you that wholeheartedly gives you the confidence to believe in yourself.
Advice for Mentors and Mentees
Hailey: My biggest piece of advice for other mentors is: don’t over-plan it. Some of our best moments came from things that had nothing to do with a formal curriculum: reading a book together just because we both wanted to, meeting up in person when our schedules happened to line up and checking in just to hear about the other person’s week. Treat your mentee like a whole person and a future peer, not a project. Show up consistently, be honest about your own path, including the parts that didn’t go according to plan, and let the relationship become whatever it wants to become instead of forcing it into a template. The structure is just a starting point. The real value shows up in the unscheduled moments.
Lydia: Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Your mentor signed up because they genuinely want to help you grow. Be honest about your goals, your struggles and even the things you’re unsure about. The more authentic you are, the more your mentor can help you. Also, don’t limit your conversations to career advice. Some of the most impactful moments Hailey and I shared came from simply talking about life. The mentorship will become whatever you invest into it, so show up, stay curious and don’t be afraid to build a genuine relationship.
Why Other ACN Members Should Participate in the Mentorship Program
Hailey: It’s always a good thing to have a mentee because not only can they learn from you. You can learn from them. The moment you stop learning, you stop growing. Mentoring Lydia didn’t just help her figure out her next steps; it pushed me too, and reminded me why I fell in love with this industry in the first place. If you’re on the fence about signing up next year, know that you’re not just giving your time. You’re getting a genuine relationship back, and quite possibly a friend for life.
Lydia: If you’re even thinking about signing up for the mentorship program, this is your sign to do it. College professors and advisers are incredible resources, but having someone currently working in the industry who has recently been in your shoes offers a completely different perspective. I gained practical career advice, professional confidence, and someone I know I can call long after this program ends. I expected to gain a mentor; I never expected to gain one of my closest friends. Looking back, applying to the ACN Mentorship Program was one of the best decisions I made for both my personal and professional growth.
Hailey Gilbreath is the Director of Communications for the Kansas Beef Council. Lydia Hill is a student at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.