See how Year Up United helped Keylin go from community college to associate director — all without a bachelor's degree.
Keylin built his career by betting on his skills long before the workforce fully recognized them. After high school, he balanced community college classes with full-time work, searching for something more meaningful than the routine he felt stuck in. Everything changed when he joined Year Up United, where he gained technical training, mentorship, and the confidence to see his own potential more clearly. What started as an opportunity to build skills became the foundation for a career centered on leadership, communication, and helping others grow. After working at State Street Investment Bank, Keylin returned to Year Up United as a staff member and spent more than nine years growing across five different roles, eventually becoming Associate Director of Learning and Advisory Services.
But like many STARs, Keylin still encountered the paper ceiling. At one point, a mentor told him he would not be able to work at Year Up United without a bachelor’s degree — a moment that stayed with him deeply. Instead of accepting that limitation, he applied for 13 different roles within the organization before finally getting hired. Within six months, he earned a promotion, and another soon followed. Over time, he became one of the organization’s youngest program managers nationally and later helped Fortune 500 employers rethink how they value skills-first talent.
Today, Keylin uses his expertise in facilitation, talent development, and people-centered leadership to create opportunities for others. He believes learning happens everywhere — through experience, repetition, relationships, and resilience. His story reflects the strength of the STAR community: people whose talent, determination, and impact cannot be measured by a degree alone. As Keylin says, “You can’t control the jobs, you can’t control the market… Control how you respond to it all.”
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