About GYST Youth Rise
Helping people move from surviving one day at a time toward building a life that is stable, independent, and their own.
Who I Am
I’m Glennis Taveras, founder and CEO of GYST Youth Rise.
My professional work has placed me alongside people during some of the hardest transitions of their lives. I have worked within the criminal justice system, mental health services, education, reentry, and community-based programs. Across each of those settings, I kept seeing the same problem: people were often expected to rebuild their lives without the support, preparation, relationships, or practical resources needed to do it successfully.
I created GYST Youth Rise because I believe transition should come with preparation and a real plan.
My background in social work, counseling, education, program development, and the justice system has shaped the way GYST approaches this work. I also bring personal experience that has allowed me to see how incarceration and difficult life transitions affect not only individuals, but entire families.
For me, GYST is about helping people move from surviving one day at a time toward building a life that is stable, independent, and their own.
Our Promise
We do not wait until someone is standing at the door of adulthood, leaving a facility, or returning home to ask, “What happens now?” We want to help build the bridge before they get there.
Why GYST Exists
Transitions are hard enough. No one should have to face them alone, unprepared, or without a plan.
Preparation
We build skills before the transition happens, not after.
Connection
We surround people with mentors, services, and community.
Independence
We equip individuals to live stable, self-sufficient lives.
Dignity
We treat every person as capable of a meaningful future.
Family
We understand that reentry affects entire families.
Hope
We believe lasting change is possible with the right support.
Our Team
Meet the Women Behind GYST
Three women who learned to navigate life side by side — and built GYST so no one else has to figure it out alone.
Founder & CEO
Glennis Taveras
Glennis created GYST Youth Rise after years of standing alongside people during some of the hardest transitions of their lives — within the criminal justice system, mental health services, education, reentry, and community-based programs. Across every setting, she saw the same problem: people were expected to rebuild their lives without the support, preparation, relationships, or practical resources needed to do it successfully.
She believes transition should come with preparation and a real plan — helping people move from surviving one day at a time toward building a life that is stable, independent, and their own.
Co-Founder & CFO
Yris Rivera
Sometimes, the greatest purpose in life is born from the places we once prayed to escape. Yris’s story began in the projects of Brooklyn, NY, where she and Glennis met at around twelve years old, growing up in an environment where survival often came before dreams. But even as a child, she quietly knew something different: the neighborhood she grew up in could be part of her story without being the ending.
She searched for something better — enrolling herself in after-school programs and finding places where she could learn, grow, and stay busy. Those programs gave her something incredibly important: hope and exposure to another possibility.
Life would not be easy. At 17, she became pregnant and became a mother shortly after turning 18, eventually finding herself living in a shelter. Instead of giving up, she kept going. She learned computer skills, worked, went to school, and completed a hospital internship in medical billing that launched her professional career. She became a mother of four by the age of 27 — and step by step began creating the life she once could only imagine.
Her career took her from accounting to MTV, to eleven years at FedEx, to Corrections, and eventually to military service. But no matter how much her life changed, she never forgot where she came from: the young people without the same opportunities, the after-school programs that gave her somewhere to go, and friends in foster care carrying wounds no child should have to endure. She kept asking one question — “What happens to the children who don’t have someone to show them another way?” That question became a calling.
Years later, Yris and Glennis were no longer two children trying to find their way through the neighborhood. They were adults with a shared vision. Instead of running from where they came from, they decided to use what they learned there to help build something better. This nonprofit was born from that vision.
“You are not your zip code. You are not your circumstances. You are not your mistakes. Your beginning does not determine your ending.”
Program Director
Sonya Guthrie
My passion for this comes from my own life experiences. I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, in a middle-class family that faced its share of challenges. My grandmother raised me for much of my childhood, and then, as she took ill, my mother became my primary parent.
Because she worked and was away often, I learned to navigate life on my own. At the time, I didn’t realize I was simply figuring life out as I went. As an adult, I met Maribel and Glennis Taveras, and we were simply three women figuring life out together. We encouraged each other, supported one another, held each other accountable, and learned how to navigate adulthood side by side. That support system became one of the greatest blessings in my life and showed me the power of having people who genuinely believe in you.
Looking back, I realize it took me years to learn lessons that someone could have taught me much earlier. While I don’t dwell on regrets, I do see them as lessons that shaped who I am today. I understand what it feels like to enter adulthood without the guidance and support needed to succeed.
My goal is to help young adults build the confidence, life skills, and support system they need so they don’t have to spend years trying to figure life out on their own. I want to help them recognize their potential, make wise decisions, and build a future filled with purpose, stability, and hope.