Meet Klyne Smith | Education Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Klyne Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Klyne, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I incorporated YourNextSteps-US in January 2022, after 30 years of helping students prepare for college and obtain jobs both during and after college. My vision started while I was still in college; where I realized there were far too many people from my community and extended community who remained unclear on both what is required and how to apply for college. This pattern continued until I started realizing that attending university provided only one step of the process, finding one’s passion and motivation was equally important. This led me to focus on “meeting students where they are”, particularly in ability, life experiences, and maturity; and the concept of college consulting shifted.

In 2012, I realized many of the students I helped gain admittance to college still struggled to find internships, how to proceed to graduate school, or land (and negotiate) the first positions of their careers. This gave rise to a pragmatic method of career counseling. The combination of college counseling and career counseling allowed me to continue mentoring and coaching students for the next decade.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My career is broken into three parts:
Part 1: 27+ years corporate America delivering software solutions in over 26 countries. Leadership roles on three continents with a focus on driving revenue using software solutions. This was a wonderful educational experience. It really guided me to a better understanding of what we offered in the United States in terms of educational opportunities. It also solidified the need for education beyond high school. During this stage in my life, I really focused on methods to help students realize their passion through higher education. All the corporate organizations I worked for completely supported volunteering to advancing education for students.

Part 2: 5 years+ university professor focused on teaching, coaching, and mentoring students in computer science, software engineering, and project management. This was a transition from one career to another in terms of work. The field of study remained the same, the mode of delivery, and the need to help college students understand corporate needs was very much a new undertaking. It was and continues to be a positive impact on my life to help college students understand their value and encourage them to pursue them through education. These last 5 years have helped hone the work that I would transition to in the future. Understanding the thought processes of college students as freshman, seniors, and graduate students helps me guide and coach high school students as they enter the college realm.

Part 3: Education consultant. This career has been in parallel to my other careers as a part time effort. In starting the nonprofit yournextsteps-us.org, it shifted this as a higher priority with a formal organization, board, volunteers, and a structure that allows for expansion, consistency, and repeatability. The organization’s primary focus is coaching and mentoring students through their journey to their future. Our goal is the “meet” the student where they “are” and help them create a future that aligns with their values.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We would start off with a weekend visit to the Farmer’s Market to visit the local business owners. This would allow my friend to experience many aspects of Dallas in one place. We would then walk up to Klyde Warren park to take in the culture at a different level, enjoy the food trucks, and awesome outside environment. The next couple of days would take us to the Perot Museum, African American Museum, Opportunity Park, Dallas Museum of Art, and Dallas Black Dance Academy. We would eat at Kitchen Kocktails, Corrientes 348, Sum Dang Good Chinese, Postino, Cake Bar, Sanfoka Kitchen, Island Spot, and other food trucks. Dallas has so much to offer from a dancing and partying until 4am standpoint or sitting and watching the sunset.

We would also make time to visit Cowboy Stadium and Six Flags.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Thanks goes to my wife, Raquel Rivera, my sons, Haven and Quinn, and my mother who demonstrated how to help people through education, mentoring, and simply caring.  

Website: www.yournextsteps-us.org