Georgia believes that every young person is whole, promising, and musically capable regardless of their circumstances, and that there is no greater privilege than being a part of a person’s childhood and musical journey. She is a musician, community organizer, and educator who has been passionately teaching music for 13 years to youth aged birth through highschool. At 19, they began their first professional teaching artist job at the Chinatown Neighborhood Center in Boston, where they developed the beginnings of their original songwriting curriculum. Observing the life-changing effects of creativity-powered musical expression within this program, and reflecting on the role musical expression played in her own life and development, Georgia has been finetuning her curriculum each day of her teaching journey since then. After graduating from Berklee College of Music, they spent 9 years in Nashville, working as a music teacher and musician, where they co-founded the nationally recognized organization Girls Write Nashville (NPR, Today Show) in 2016 and helped guide a community of middle and high-school aged girls towards their most authentic voices through songwriting. She was also a public school 5th-12th grade songwriting instructor at Valor Collegiate Academies in Nashville, TN. In 2022, Georgia and her husband Kaston moved to Pittsburgh and launched You Be You Inc. As a fierce advocate for equitable music education access, she made sure that the organization was built on a model of accessibility from the beginning, and committed to having the majority of the organization’s services be free. Georgia has taught in pre-schools, juvenile detention centers, libraries, homeless shelters, schools, and everywhere in between and enjoys working with students long-term through their musical and human development. Georgia holds a Bachelors of Music from Berklee College of Music, and is also attaining their masters in Music Therapy from Duquesne University. Post-graduation, she plans to become a licensed music therapist in addition to continuing her community music education work. She has received extensive training in early childhood music education, trauma-informed approaches in education, and strives for personal and professional growth in cultural reflexivity at all times. She is also a working musician and performs around Pittsburgh. She is obsessed with her puppy Nellie and also fond of her husband Kaston.

Kaston Guffey started teaching himself to play the guitar at the age of twelve. As lead singer and songwriter of his band My Politic, he has been writing, performing and touring professionally for over fifteen years. He prides himself on being a self-motivated and endlessly curious musician, learning as much as possible on his own and from the talented musicians he's worked with along the way. As a teacher, he strives to impart this same sense of curiosity onto his students. Married to Georgia, Kaston has been with You Be You since the beginning and primarily teaches guitar and songwriting in individual lesson settings and community group classes for kids and adults. He has also taught the basics of piano and ukulele in summer camp settings as well as weekly songwriting mentorship meet-ups with teen students. He enjoys songwriting, playing guitar, baseball, playing with his adorable dog Nellie, and exploring Pittsburgh on his bike.

Sean Cannister is a producer and audio engineer with over a decade of experience. Raised in Curaçao, Sean brings a deep cultural understanding of global music styles, rhythm, and sonic identity. Sean holds a bachelor’s degree in Recording Arts and a Master’s degree in Entertainment Business, an education that sharpened both his creative and strategic understanding of sound. Sean has worked with artists and brands around the world, delivering high-level sonics across music, media, and commercial platforms. His work has been released and featured through major outlets including Universal Music, ESPN, and BET, reaching international audiences at scale. In the music space, projects he has mixed and mastered have charted on Apple Music and iTunes in multiple countries, and have received radio airplay both in the United States and internationally. Registration will open tomorrow for all our free community music classes. Thank you for your patience with our very very small team.

Heyd is a musician, music therapy student at Duquesne University, and Youth Music Outreach Coordinator at You Be You Music. He is the son of two musicians, so it has been a part of his life for as long as he can remember. It was something he developed his own ongoing love for and pursued at CAPA. He is excited for his role here teaching lessons on bass, guitar, and piano as well as hosting a space for the youth of the Millvale community to congregate and engage with each other while using music as a platform.

Camden Yandel is a Pittsburgh-based illustrator and You Be You's in-house curriculum illustrator. "Camden Yandel approaches his illustration work with the instinct of a true comic book artist—attuned to the small details that give a character its spark. Born in Pittsburgh and raised in the East Hills, he brings his observational curiosity to everything he creates." - Pittsburgh Arts Council

Derek is a multi-Instrumentalist and working musician who specializes in teaching guitar, bass, ukulele, theory, and songwriting. Derek grew up outside of Worcester MA where he first fell in love with the classic rock and folk music of the 60's and 70's. At 18, Derek moved to Nashville TN where he grew as a songwriter and performer. Derek spent seven years in Nashville recording, performing, writing, and touring professionally. After living in Nashville, he moved back to Massachusetts where he began teaching music full time. For the past five years, he has been teaching students from early childhood through highschool and adults, and loves to pass on his passion to those around him. He values taking the extra step to describe and break down the "why" we are playing something, instead of just the "how" to play it. He receives each student as their own unique person with their own wheel of strengths and weaknesses. His main goal is to teach students the way that resonates with them rather than force his own approaches. He hopes to not only teach his students how to play some of their favorite songs, but to also expose them to new bands and sounds that they can fall in love with. He hopes each student of his will find their own unique sound on their instrument of choice.

Gabi serves as You Be You's Operations Manager. Music has been a part of her life since she was little putting on performances for her family and starting lessons when she was in third grade. Through high school and college she performed various roles/instruments in marching and symphonic bands. Gabi handles all of You Be You's organization behind the scenes including scheduling, billing, event planning, and anything else that may arise outside of lessons. You likely will see her around crocheting or being the camp nail tech. If you have any questions about our organization please feel free to reach out to gabi@youbeyoumusic.org

Chael Schalcoscky is You Be You Inc’s Youth Creative Director. As YCD, Chael develops activities for younger children that are designed to guide them towards their values and hopes through art. He leads arts-based program quality assessments with youth participants, helping our organization improve by integrating feedback from our students expressed through art. As a youth himself, Chael’s approach fosters authentic feedback from students who may not feel as comfortable expressing their program experiences to adults. Additionally, he is a researcher, currently focusing on developing his own arts-based research practices whose findings will be a core part of our adult-staff trainings. Chael has been with You Be You for three years and has built strong relationships with young students. He loves working at YBY because even though students come from vastly different backgrounds and have different ideas and create different things, they all work together in a very wholesome way that makes a very welcoming community for everyone! Committed to the learning process, Chael is currently studying guitar. His favorite musicians are David bowie, Phoebe Bridges, TV Girl, The Beatles, and The Neighborhood! He is the 2024 recipient of the nationally-recognized Hamilton Education Program Contest.