2019 40 Under 40 Yearbook: Trysta Herzog, 35

• 
• 

Then: Communications and public engagement director, Greene County
Now: Chief relations officer, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ozarks

While she wasn’t looking into employment in the nonprofit world in early 2018, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ozarks came at the right time for Trysta Herzog.

It came in the aftermath of a state auditor’s investigation into alleged misuse of public funds in Greene County, for which Herzog was the first whistleblower in late 2017.

“It wasn’t a very good, healthy environment,” she says.

At BBBSO, Herzog says the organization rebranded at the end of 2018 and is working to match more “bigs” and “littles” to reduce the roughly 100 children – 85 percent of which are boys – on the waiting list annually.

“We know even if it’s just one child that we’re helping, it really is the future of our community,” she says. “That’s a pretty amazing feeling.”