Youth program coordinator Phylis Gedeon walks up to a crying woman sitting off to the side of her office in a chair. The woman smiles at her with tears in her eyes. 

“I got my first furniture!” she says.

 “That’s a big milestone.” says Gedeon, smiling. 

Gedeon walks over and wraps her arm around the woman.

 “I tried not to let out the puppy dog tears.” the woman says, her voice wavering. 

This is just one successful case from the discography of 49-year-old Gedeon at the Youthworks Masshire Center. Gedeon is the team lead at a state-funded career center that helps young adults prepare not only to get a job and skillset but to also understand how it looks and will look to work throughout their entire lives.

“I do think young adults having jobs is beneficial,” says Gedeon “but it depends upon the type of job you’re going after. Young adults often see money first before they see the actual career or the actual job.” 

And this is the challenge that she takes on in her job. Gedeon introduces young adults to new career paths beyond the major few where they would be best fit to work with their skillset and also make a good amount of money. “Let’s get beyond some of the basic things,” says Gedeon, “and look at “Where can I have a job that’s gonna pay me for a lifetime?”

Gedeon works with young adults aged 14 to 25 who need job counseling, help finding job opportunities, preparation, and job coaching.

Gedeon thinks that the job has a huge impact on the way she thinks of careers. 

“It allowed me to see the world of work a little differently.” says Gedeon. “It also challenged me to really think about: how do you help someone see the importance of having some type of skills, some type of certification, some type of credentials before they go out into that world?”

Gedeon is currently planning to return to school in a few years to earn a doctorate, specializing in young adults and career fields. However, says she wants to work in her field: “Till the wheels fall off.”

“I’ve made this my life’s work.” says Gedeon. “I believe that God allowed this to happen because working with young adults was a high calling for me, and I wanna feel good that I had something to do with young adults and put motherhood into them. That’s beautiful.”

Gedeon originally started working in a medical records department at a medical center in high school. She then graduated and decided to go immediately into college. She started working her first job in her current field in 1999 and due to her schooling and interest in the career path, decided to work professionally in the field for over 20 years. 

“It made me respect having credentials when going into the world of work.” says Gedeon.

Gedeon typically helps from 70 to 200 clients and keeps in contact with them to further assist their career journeys. She typically assists more so with career finding.  However, she also keeps in contact with the young adults to ensure their path is going correctly and helps them with any problems that may arise. “The most important person is the young adult.” says Gedeon.

Gedeon tells of how she had a client who was helped by her and ended up going back to college to earn her bachelor’s degree. She leans back in her seat, grinning from ear to ear. 

“That’s what I love about my job and what makes it worthwhile,” says Gedeon, “when someone comes back and says “Hey Ms. Phylis I’m doing alright.”

Gedeon stares into her crying client’s face, the woman’s eyes filled with tears as she smiles. Gedeon smiles back before it quickly drops as she notices the woman’s eyes.

“Oh, your eyes are red, are you okay?” says Gedeon.

“I haven’t eaten anything today.” admits the sniffling woman.

“Make sure to go home and get something to eat.” says Gedeon.