Joseph Little knows what it feels like to sit on the other side of a FRYSC coordinator's desk. Born and raised in Inez, in the heart of Eastern Kentucky, and still rooted there today. He grew up as a former FRYSC student, raised by his grandparents, navigating poverty, instability, and generational cycles that statistics suggest he had little chance of escaping. He escaped anyway, and he knows exactly why: because a handful of adults, in offices and schools and ordinary unremarkable moments, chose to show up for him.

Through his organization, Joe Little Inspires, Joseph travels across Kentucky as a speaker and youth development professional, delivering school assemblies, conference keynotes, and professional development for those who serve young people. He speaks regularly at Grandparents as Parents and Relatives as Parents events. Audiences that carry a particular personal meaning for him.

He is the founder of the Be the Someone Mentorship Series, a virtual mentoring program for students, and the author of Poverty and Me: A Journey of Inspiration and Escape. Written to give those who serve youth an inside view of the world their students carry through the door every day, and to equip them with practical tools they can pass directly into the hands of a young person ready to write a different story. Joseph doesn't just tell his story. He uses it to change someone else's.