[14][15] From 2016 to 2018, he served as Arts Fellow at Define American,[16] a media and culture organization founded by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas which "uses the power of stories to [...] shift the conversation around immigrants, identity and citizenship in a changing America."

[23] Reyes began performing his poetry at 16 years old upon realizing the power of language after being called “joto,” a derogatory Spanish term used to refer to gay men.

[35][36] In June 2016, Reyes premiered a solo staged reading of Prieto, his first autobiographical play, in collaboration with Guerrilla Rep Theater, Galería de la Raza, and Define American.

[44] During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Reyes launched his virtual #YosiBookClub and IG Live Writers' Series wherein he interviews prominent Latino authors in an effort to demystify the creative process.

Among interviewees have been celebrated Mexican-American journalist Maria Hinojosa, playwright and USC professor Luis Alfaro, Vida TV series creator Tanya Saracho, National Book Award finalist Kali Fajardo-Anstine, BuzzFeed contributor Curly Velasquez, former Goldman Sachs executive Julissa Arce, and noted poets Yesika Salgado, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Walter Thompson-Hernández, and Javier Zamora.

[45][46] In addition to his literary practice, Reyes has curated or participated in multidisciplinary art exhibitions, including Homegirrlz: Demos and Remixes, Migrating Sexualities: Unspoken Stories of Land, Body and Sex,[47] We Never Needed Papers to Thrive,[48] #UndocuJoy,[49] In Plain Sight[50] and Creatives in Place.

"[54] In 2022, the San José Museum of Art acquired Yosi con Abuela, a portrait of Reyes and his grandmother by artist Rafa Esparza, for its permanent collection.

There, he was recognized by the LXI Legislature of the Congress of the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla “for his contribution and commitment to the challenges faced by women [and] the promotion of cultural identity, global governance, migration, and international affairs.”[citation needed] As a co-founder of La Maricolectiva,[56][57] a grassroots performance community, Reyes created a platform for queer, undocumented poets and creatives.

[58] In solidarity with the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, Reyes educated the US Latino and undocumented communities on anti-blackness and systematic racism in Spanish via Univision and radio programs.

[70] For KQED's series, "The Bay Area's Great Immigrant Food City", Reyes wrote about his early life with Galeana in the article, "My Abuela's East San Jose Kitchen Fed Dozens of Undocumented Workers Every Week".