Our Cooperative

Our Educational Collective

Meet the wonderful humans of Upstate English for All!

Name: Krystiane C. Evans, MA-TESOL

Role: Founder & Lead Lecturer

Krystiane is a compassionate, dedicated educator with 23+ years of experience working with international students. Born in Flint, Michigan into a family of the Appalachian Diaspora, Krystiane has always been interested in migration, displacement, and resettlement issues affecting global communities. As a survivor of the 10 Childhood ACES, Krystiane has firsthand experience with the factors that cause interruptions to formal education. She is dedicated to ensuring her students have access to food, housing, transportation, and childcare resources throughout the community, in order that each whole person–not just the “language learner”–knows they will be safe and cared for in her learning center.

A first-generation college graduate, she holds an M.A. in TESOL from the University of Kentucky, where she spent a decade teaching and designing curricula for various international student initiatives. Midlife, Krystiane left academia to pursue an ecotourism career in the Caribbean. In 2017, she worked alongside various humanitarian agencies to restore communities devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. In this role, she gained the community connection skills, as well as the business acumen, to create her own mission-driven company. In May 2025, she established Upstate English for All, LLC, with $0 and the support of 12 founding student members.

Krystiane is known affectionately by her students as K, Kay, Krys, or Kiki, and answers to all, as well as to she/they pronouns. She lives in West Greenville with her husband Ronald, and bonus children Salem, Ezra, and Rosa. They are devoted residents of their mill village, and strong advocates of our local public schools, where their children have received an excellent bilingual (English-Spanish) education. Kay enjoys biking, swimming, playing and teaching chess, and caring for the community cats who live in her 100-year-old barn: Desdemona, Saros, Umbra, Aqualung, Mister Coconut, Doctor Coconut, Frederick Law Olmsted, My Sweet Audrina, and Troy Tatterton.

Name: Lissette L. Treanor, MA-TESOL

Role: Professor & Curriculum Design

Born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in the U.S. from age seven, Lissette L. Treanor has over three decades of experience in English language education. She holds a B.A. in English and Communications from Rutgers University and a Master’s in ESL from New Jersey City University. Lissette built and led the academic ESL program at Greenville Technical College for 24 years, mentoring instructors and expanding access for hundreds of multilingual students.

Beyond the classroom, Lissette has been deeply involved in community outreach and immigrant advocacy. She is a founding member of the Hispanic Alliance, a non-profit organization that builds networks between local organizations and the Hispanic community. She served for 11 years as Head of the Scholarship Committee for the Hispanic American Women’s Association, awarding scholarships to young Hispanic high school students. At Upstate English for All, she serves on the Dr. Ted Way Memorial Scholarship Program Committee, which provides free and reduced tuition to refugees and asylees. Her work reflects a lifelong belief that education and compassion go hand in hand in creating opportunities for others.

Lissette has been married to her husband, Brendan, for 31 years. Together they have two daughters, Isabel and Olivia, who have both followed careers in education, and a rescue dog named Toby, who keeps life joyful and lively. In her free time, Lissette enjoys traveling to explore and learn about new cultures, as well as spending time outdoors on long walks and hiking in the mountains. For Lissette, family, community, and exploration are at the heart of everything she does — and teaching remains her greatest passion.