We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kristen Geez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristen, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I am a CEO, EdTech Founder, Instructional Content Producer, Host, Author, Public Speaker, Professor, and a passionate advocate for young people. I believe that success stems from one’s ability to “learn from mistakes” and “allow themselves to be led before they can lead.” These two mottos have empowered me to overcome traumas, battles, and mistakes I experienced in my childhood and inspired and motivated me to create second-chance and personal development opportunities for others – specifically misguided young people.

As a servant leader and a skilled connector known for her unique gift of unifying generations with her compelling ideology, I urge society to “be intentional about making room for the young without abandoning the old”! Making the world a better place is our joint mission.

Kristen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As an adolescent, I had a tumultuous childhood. I was raised by a single mother after divorcing my biological father, who was later deported back to Africa. My mother got remarried my stepfather when I was five years old and divorced when I turned 15; he was physically and emotionally abusive to everyone living in his home, especially his two sons. This led my stepbrothers, who were five years older than me, to begin performing those same abusive behaviors witnessed by their father directed toward me, which could be physical or sexual abuse.

My story is not unique; like many children, experiencing problems in the home frequently creates behavior issues outside the home. This was the case for me. I became a completely different child at school than at home. I began stealing, bullying, and challenging authority, basically causing havoc in any way I could. I didn’t realize it then, but my defiant behavior was a cry for help, though no one seemed to hear. Unfortunately, as a child, I couldn’t articulate my feelings in a way adults could comprehend, making me more angry and aggressive.

As issues continued to arise at home, my behavior led down a dark path, where I was expelled from school for using the district’s phone to call and threaten a girl’s life I didn’t even know. This incident almost got me arrested and court-ordered to serve time at a juvenile detention facility. Thankfully, I was given a second chance! A chance that was followed by a seemingly small opportunity and her mother’s divorce from her stepfather and moving to a completely different part of town that changed my life in a BIG way!

Although I was enrolled in a new school district, my transcripted documented my behavior. To shift my focus to something more positive, my former high school assistant principal, who now serves as a founding board member for my foundation, suggested to my mother that I take a leadership role in helping organize the district’s first Black History Month program. My mother then voluntold me to participate, so I apprehensively accepted. However, it wasn’t long before I became enthralled in the planning, organizing, delegating, and implementing the school’s annual program – a significant success!

That life-changing experience shifted my entire perspective on life and myself. I felt seen…and not for misbehaving, but for doing something, I felt good about and was making a positive difference. It showed me what I was capable of, thus catapulting my confidence, leadership abilities, and intense desire to help other troubled youths like myself find something to ignite their passion and purpose.

After graduating from high school, I pursued a short career in modeling before realizing I wanted to be valued for my mind and not just her looks. I then enrolled in an HBCU, Wiley College, earning a bachelor’s degree in Ethical Leadership. During my sophomore year, I went back to speak at my old high school and noticed there wasn’t a safe place for young people to vent about their issues at home, school, and amongst their peers. The idea for launching my first company Advising Generation Z was born when I was 21 in 2010. I’ve spent the last decade working towards fighting on the frontlines for this upcoming generation before they became a trendy topic.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

As my mentoring program continued to succeed, I wanted to increase my reach outside of Texas to have a more significant impact on the lives of young people nationwide. To do this, I realized that I needed to equip seasoned youth professionals with a modern approach to redirect misguided youth. I devised a new innovative idea to reach more GenZers right where most of their attention is – on their cell phones! In 2018, the idea to create a digital diversion platform as a phone app came to me in a dream. I knew I wanted to focus on young people who were labeled hard to reach, those who consistently break the student code of conduct or law by creating resource professionals who work directly with them. As a Doctoral student, I knew the best way to make a lasting impact would be to research leaders who have dedicated their careers to young people.

After several meetings and conversations with parents, school administrators, police chiefs, and court judges – I knew that my dream of creating an edtech platform solely dedicated to first-time low-risk offenders would be a game-changer for youth practitioners. However, the only problem was despite having serval degrees. I had no technical experience to bring my vision to life. I spent the next two years writing down my vision while looking for the right group of people to help me bring this concept to life. After many sleepless nights, crying, raising, and losing money, I finally found the dream team that was instrumental in launching AdvisingGenz LLC.

With the support of Cox Media, Pyramid Technology Solutions (PTS), and DailCare Teletherapy, and the additional financial and intellectual support from 8 angel investors AdvisingGenz APP & LMS, I launched in March 2023!

Today the AdvisingGenz Learning Platform is a first-of-its-kind, online alternative disciplinary resource providing parents and youth practitioners with a modern approach to hold GenZers ages 10-24 accountable for their actions, allowing them an opportunity to learn from their mistakes while ensuring their social and emotional needs are being met.

Growing up as a woman of color, I have often experienced moments throughout my career where I realize things won’t move with me working alone. Many times, although I had my own business at an early age, I never really felt like I never truly embraced my ability to lead others in helping me solve the more significant problem that I wanted to address in shaping the next generation for their future. I kept looking for someone else to lead this charge, and every time I met with a leader, they kept telling me this is what you are supposed to do; we’re here to help. Getting the confidence to trust me to lead others regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, political or religious affiliation was a journey I couldn’t read about or Google. Instead, I needed to limit my access to people and worldly distractions.

While I had help launching this platform, I only received the help after I was committed to being completely engrossed in the work it took to create product leaders could use to create organizational change that would equip and empower frontline youth professionals with the tools to help the next generation succeed. This required me to give myself permission to liberate myself from societal limitations, expectations, and biases that would prevent me from tapping into the most accurate form of myself that believed I could launch the world’s first Mobile App Dedicated To Making Discipline Digital For young Workers To Address Defiant Behaviors!

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Getting the resources to be able to launch this app was challenging because most people want to donate or contribute to something that sounds sexy, and there is nothing sexy about discipline. However, the reality is that discipline has become a national issue that we can no longer afford to ignore. If we don’t start investing in innovation in our behavior management programs, we will continue to miss out on untapped potential from the next generation of workers. It took some time, but I eventually found the right group of seasoned leaders that saw the need and wanted to help me make this dream come true. Once I had their support, I began making it my mission to make my non-profit, Advising Generation Z, raise over $350k in donations to obtain the seed funding to establish AdvisingGenz LLC as an affiliate company to provide the technology component that my business needed to become a nationally recognized resource for parents and practitioners looking to dismantle the ‘school-to-prison pipeline’ by utilizing AdvisingGenz as a restorative practice instead of overly harsh punishment for minor infractions.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kristengeez.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Kristengeez/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thekristengeez
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristengeez
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/H5ghsbpWVks

Image Credits
Group photo setting at the table Kristen Geez Founder AdvisingGenz John Wagner, CIO Textron Phymaid Technology Solutions Leadership Team & Owner