This article examines the life writing of Roland Sintos Coloma and Audre Lorde by considering how their narratives portray forms of mentoring and social support during the middle and latter half of the twentieth century. Through a close reading of the two texts, Chamberlain explains how the writing speaks to matters of ethnicity, gender and sexual identity. Likewise, this article explains how the authors' narratives exhibit hybrid and activist qualities through the writings' content, style and technique.