Colin Mitchell avails his talent and insight to a cause that he unwittingly was
being prepared for as a youth growing up in St. Johns. Those gifts have now
turned into his career and a calling that he administers as a steering committee
member of the St. Johns Call-In Coalition.
Colin established his craft as a human resources business leader. One of the
aspects of his profession that he likes most is working in the diversity, equity,
inclusion and belonging space. It is a perfect match that compliments the purpose
and mission of the coalition. “I’ve had a passion for this work for many years,”
says Colin.
Colin’s compassion and empathy were honed from his earliest days, by both
lived experience and family examples. He was born in 1978 and lived a wonderful
childhood in St. Johns. Colin attended Meadowland Nursery School, Central
School for kindergarten, St. Joe, RBW Middle School and graduated from St.
Johns High School in 1996.
“I learned about passion and service to others from my family,” Colin recalls,
adding that his dad was a postal worker and volunteer coach in St. Johns while his
mom was a respiratory therapist at Sparrow/Clinton Hospital (then called Clinton Memorial) and went back to college to chase her passion as an educator, later
becoming a public school teacher in St. Johns. His brother discovered a passion
for music as a kid and is a musician today.
“My entire family was loving and supportive and, in many ways, it was idyllic,”
says Colin. But inside Colin struggled with a truth that he felt he had to conceal.
“From a very early age I knew I was gay. I felt different, and that difference
somehow felt bad or wrong,” says Colin. “I carried that weight with me every day
for years and didn’t share my truth with anyone.”
Colin attended Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY, on a tennis and
academic scholarship. He graduated from Bellarmine in 2000 with a BA in
Business Administration and a minor in Communications. Colin then went to
graduate school at Purdue University where he obtained an MS in Human
Resource Management in 2002. “While in college I found my professional calling
during an internship in human resources,” says Colin. “I realized it was a career
where I could help people become the best version of themselves.”
Colin didn’t come out until his second year of graduate school. “Finally telling
the truth about myself was the most cathartic experience of my life,” he stated.
“Everything that I was afraid of as a kid living in the closet never came to be.
My family embraces and loves me, and they love my incredible husband Lee. I am
closer to my family now than ever before.”
Colin reflects that he has always been an empathetic person and having to keep
himself hidden for so long intensified that feeling. “I have a particular ability to
sense when someone is feeling like the ‘other’, and my instinct is to go to them
and make them feel included,” says Colin. “I realize that what you see on the
outside of someone may not have anything to do with what’s happening inside.”
Colin and his husband of 13 years live in Boston, MA. They met in 2006 on the
website ‘MySpace’. “Even though I no longer live in St. Johns, Lee and I come
home several times a year to be with family and friends,” notes Colin.
A Facebook post about the first St. Johns Pride Fest in 2021 nearly caused Colin
to fall out of his chair. “I was overcome with emotion,” he says. “As a closeted
gay kid in St. Johns in the 80s and 90s, you could have never convinced me that
there would one day be a Pride Fest in town where people like me would be
celebrated and embraced rather than ostracized.”
“I immediately thought of the LGBTQIA+ youth in the community who were
living in fear ... but felt comfortable being their true self at Pride Fest, perhaps for
the first time in their lives.”
Colin learned more about the St. Johns Call-In Coalition on FB and followed it
over the years from afar. “The coalition’s mission to create a more inclusive, safer,
and healthier community is so inspiring to me,” he says. “One of my goals for the
coalition is to explore ways to create safe and affirming spaces for marginalized
youth in the community.”
So, what are some of Colin’s favorite memories of his childhood in St. Johns?
• Learning to play tennis on the public tennis courts in town and playing as
much tennis as he possibly could!
• Spending summers with family and friends at swimming pools – his family’s
pool, his friend’s pool, and the Veterans Memorial Pool at the St. Johns City
Park.
• “I also loved riding my bike downtown and getting candy at D&C, Parr’s,
Paul’s or Fairway, or enjoying a meal at Traditions or the Grand Gathering,”
says Colin.
• Enjoying the Mint Festival each year where Colin played in the tennis
tournament, marched in the Grand Mint Parade with the high school
Redwing Marching Band, and attended a Beach Boys concert. Colin
remembers when he and his husband Lee went to the Mint Festival one year
and had a great time.
• Also, “I’ll never forget the anticipation of waiting for the fire whistle to
sound on Halloween, marking the beginning of trick-or-treating.”