I grew up terrified of my friend's mother, who I always knew as an authority figure: she was my teacher, my youth group leader, etc.
In my late teens we were appointed to a committee together and she gave me a ride to and from the meetings, so we got a chance to socialize and serve together as equals. We became good friends and I stopped being terrified of her as an older authority figure.
(She's still rather scary, but now I know EVERYBODY thinks she's scary, even people thirty years older than her.)