Own It: Starting a Business after Prison

"I've turned my pain into purpose." That's Latahra Smith, owner of Trinity First Aide & CPR Services and Executive Director of the KC Freedom Project. After being released from prison, Latahra had to overcome a lot of obstacles to heal relationships with her family, to reset her life with a renewed mindset, and to start her nonprofit and business. She has lost family members tragically and been mistreated by the criminal justice system, but she has persevered by staying true to her purpose of helping others and by trusting in God. Today's conversation is humbling, and Latahra will inspire you to make the most of your blessings and your pain.      Learn more about the KC Freedom Project on Facebook. 

On his podcast “Escaping the Odds,” Aaron Smith interviews second chance entrepreneurs who have started successful businesses after returning home from incarceration: https://anchor.fm/aaronesmith Aaron conceived of the show while he was spending nine years in prison for drug crimes. He was so impressed by the caliber of men that supported him through his journey, that he knew when he got home that he needed to share their stories with the world in hopes of helping others as they return home from prison.  Follow Aaron and Escaping the odds on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/escapingtheodds/) & Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/escapingtheoddspodcast/) 

Ricky Kidd is the founder of I am Resiliency, a speaker, an entrepreneur, and a recent exoneree in the state of Missouri. Ricky served 23 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Today he shares his story, and how he used that time to grow as a man, a leader, and an entrepreneur.  Learn more about Ricky's case and the Midwest Innocence Project: https://themip.org/clients/ricky-kidd/

Lamont Carey is an author and entrepreneur from D.C. who has been featured on HBO's Def Jam Poetry and the tv show The Wire. His journey to successful business owner started after prison when he realized that in order to dream big, he needed to do right by others and make his hustle legit.  Keep up with Lamont: https://www.lacareyenterprises.com/

Jabari Muhammad and his wife own FOI ETC. They sell fragrances, oils, and incense at stores and online, and are the creators of the Bari Butter. Jabari honed his entrepreneurial skills on the streets in KCMO, and became the upstanding business man he is today in prison.  Visit FOI ETC: http://www.foietc.com/

Welcome to Own It: Starting a Business After Prison, a podcast where we interview second chance entrepreneurs about what it really takes to start a business after prison. For the next season of the show, we will share the firsthand experiences of formerly incarcerated people who have started successful businesses. These episodes are called "Drafts," and will be rough and full of inspiration and education. Enjoy! Learn more: www.determinationincorporated.com

Paige Johnson is a successful entrepreneur in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the founder of the Gilded Sparrows Network. The team at Gilded Sparrows works with women with justice-involvement to help them create product-based businesses that are beautiful and profitable. https://gildedsparrows.org/ 

Marcus Bullock started a construction company when he got home from prison, and now he is the founder and CEO of Flikshop: www.flikshop.com   Marcus is the keynote speaker at the Rise Up, Get Started Entrepreneurship Celebration in Kansas City, MO, on Thursday, May 30, Kansas City’s first entrepreneurship competition for formerly incarcerated people, hosted by Determination, Incorporated. The Rise Up, Get Started Entrepreneurship Celebration, is free and open to the public, get your tickets now: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rise-up-get-started-entrepreneurship-celebration-tickets-59699862897

Johnny Waller is exactly what this podcast is all about. After years of gang banging and time in prison, Johnny left the street life to pursue his education and stumbled into running a successful business. Today, he helps with violence reduction campaigns in Kansas City, Missouri and shares his story to inspire others to lead their best lives.

Sonja Skvarla is the founder of A Social Ignition, a prison entrepreneurship program in Portland, Oregon. www.asocialignition.com   A Social Ignition workshops focus on business feasibility and values-based decision making, while using entrepreneurship to bridge social networks. Business professionals come into the prisons to mentor, and often leave with their eyes opened as well.

Josh Munoz is the reentry manager with the Prison Entrepreneurship Program in Austin, Texas. Prison Entrepreneurship program, or PEP, is widely considered the gold standard in entrepreneurship programs for currently and formerly incarcerated people. https://www.pep.org/ Since 2004, PEP graduates have started 361 businesses and have a recidivism rate of just 7%. Josh is a graduate of the program, and joined the staff after leaving prison. His story is powerful, and the success of PEP will teach and inspire you to harness the power of formerly incarcerated people to adopt the entrepreneurial mindset and make the world a better, more prosperous place. Report on PEP: http://icic.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/ICIC_PEP-Impact-Analysis_final_post.pdf

Carl Brown is the program manager with The Fountain Fund in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Fountain Fund helps formerly incarcerated people by providing them with low interest loans that they can use to repay fees incurred during their involvement with the criminal justice system. https://www.fountainfund.org/ By helping them out with their immediate needs, The Fountain Fund can ensure that their clients have the necessary support from partner organizations and instill in them the entrepreneurial mindset so they can find their way to economic independence.

Bobby Clark is the founder and president of Sustainable Business Ventures in Lexington, Kentucky. Bobby helps people who are having a hard time getting a job find their way through entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on folks in rural communities and the formerly incarcerated. http://www.sbventures.org/

Amy Barch is the founder of Turning Leaf Project, a nonprofit in South Carolina that helps formerly incarcerated people change their attitudes, thinking and behavior using a cognitive behavioral intervention, a research-backed, evidence-based solution to helping people stay out of prison. https://www.turningleafproject.com/

Christine McDonald is the author of “Cry Purple”, her memoir, and “The Same Kind of Human” a book about “seeing the marginalized and exploited through the eyes of grace.” http://www.christinesvision.org/ The wisdom and insight Christine shares in “The Same Kind of Human” is hard-earned; she spent 17 years homeless and on the streets, where she was sex trafficked, addicted to drugs, and arrested more than 100 times alongside 7 stints in prison. When Christine decided to get clean, educated, and out of danger, it was not an easy journey. Today, she has dedicated her life to helping others break down the barriers imposed on them by themselves and society, and helps people harness the power of their entrepreneurial mindset and their story to make the world better and more just for all of us.

Emily Hunt Turner is the founder of All Square Restaurant and Institute, a social enterprise in Minneapolis, Minnesota that sells grilled cheese and empowers formerly incarcerated people by teaching them how to take charge of their own destinies through entrepreneurship and the study of law. https://www.allsquarempls.com/ Emily worked for the federal government in the Department of Housing and Urban Development before starting All Square. This conversation takes a deep dive into the obstacles facing people returning home from incarceration as they look for a place to live and opportunities to rebuild their lives and do good in the world.

A.J. Ware is the co-chairman of Inmates to Entrepreneurs, a North Carolina-based program whose mission is perfectly encapsulated in its name. Inmates to entrepreneurs introduces currently and formerly incarcerated people to the opportunities and obstacles of starting your own business, and helps people make and execute a business plan both pre- and post-release from incarceration. Inmates to Entrepreneurs has been refining their model since 2007 and is now gearing up for national expansion. http://inmatestoentrepreneurs.org/

Joyce Klein is the director of FIELD at the Aspen Institute, which advances microenterprise business ownership as an economic opportunity strategy. In 2016 she published a paper called Prison to Proprietor: Entrepreneurship as a Re-Entry Strategy: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/prison-proprietor-entrepreneurship-re-entry-strategy/ The paper looks at multiple programs for supporting currently and formerly incarcerated people through entrepreneurship and explores best practices for advancing the field. This conversation is an excellent primer for the philanthropic community, government departments and anyone interested in starting a entrepreneurship program to help folks stay out of prison.

Tamra Thetford is the Chief Program Officer at Justine Petersen, a St Louis-based nonprofit that helps people build their credit so they can reach their goals. The organization started by helping folks work toward home ownership, and eventually expanded its services to include a path to entrepreneurship. Tamra is here to tell us about Justine Petersen’s business program for formerly incarcerated people, Aspire Entrepreneurship Initiative. She also shares lots of information about credit building, an incredibly important process for many people who are home from incarceration and looking to start a business. http://www.justinepetersen.org/small_business/aspire

Jason Cleveland is a returning citizen and the founder and CEO of Obodo, a software for small human services organizations. He was recently selected as a member of the first cohort of Unlocking Futures, an accelerator run by New Profit and John Legend’s organization, Free America. Jason is a dynamic guy and also runs an entrepreneurial workshop in a prison in St. Louis, MO. He has a beautiful vision for activating natural born entrepreneurs who are currently locked behind bars. But more importantly, actionable ideas on how to get there. https://www.facebook.com/obodo.is/

Adam Martin was in and out of prison for years and had a hard time staying sober until he realized the power of transparency, hope and community. Now he helps others achieve all three through housing and employment with F5 Project in Fargo, North Dakota: https://www.f5project.org/

Bob Pelshaw was a very successful real estate developer in the midwest before spending 10 months in prison on a felony charge for misspending federal loans. While in prison, he was struck by the untapped entrepreneurial potential amongst the community of incarcerated people he served time with. Through working with people one on one in prison, he came to believe very strongly that the entrepreneurial mindset and business acumen he saw in his incarcerated brethren was just waiting to be activated. He wrote a book, “Illegal to Legal: Business Success for the Formerly Incarcerated” to help people see the path of entrepreneurship and is now dedicated to helping formerly incarcerated people learn and achieve success in both business and life. http://pelshaw.com/

Tracey Syphax is the author of “From the Block to the Boardroom.” It is a memoir detailing his youth in Trenton, New Jersey, his time on the streets as a drug dealer, his stint in prison, and his twenty plus years experience since as a successful entrepreneur.   Today, Tracey is a strong advocate for reentry reform and helps returning citizens like him through coaching, entrepreneurial training, and much more. http://www.ftb2tb.com/

Cerise Hall is a business consultant specializing in startups and young businesses. She has a particular passion for working with returning citizens in black communities, helping them create wealth and build businesses that they can pass onto their children. Cerise’s consultancy is called Business Speaks and her style is dynamic and engaging. Many people in her family have been in and out of prison so she knows first hand the struggles they face. She believes wholeheartedly that through entrepreneurship returning citizens can solve the problem of recidivism and make the world a better place. https://www.facebook.com/Businesspeaks/

The Aspire to Entrepreneurship program started in Washington DC in 2016. The 6 month program teaches folks coming home from incarceration business skills and helps them launch their ventures. 35 returning citizens have completed Aspire. Out of those 35 graduates: 10 are holding down jobs, 10 are working while pursuing their businesses, and 15 are running businesses that employ 39 people. And to top it all off, no Aspire graduate has returned to prison. That’s right, a 0% recidivism rate. For all of us who wish to harness the power of entrepreneurship to support returning citizens, we have a lot to learn from today’s guest, Kate Mereand: https://dslbd.dc.gov/service/aspire-entrepreneurship

Zach Sloan is the COO of InnerCity Weightlifting, which reduces youth violence by connecting proven-risk young people with new networks and opportunities, including meaningful career tracks in and beyond personal training. They use the gym to replace segregation and isolation with economic mobility and social inclusion, disrupting the system that leads to urban street violence. https://www.innercityweightlifting.org

Many reentry programs feature job readiness training. It is standard in the practice, while teaching entrepreneurship is not. My guest today runs a successful job readiness training program in Kansas City, Missouri . Natasha Kirsch is the founder and executive director of the Grooming Project, a nonprofit that teaches women in need how to groom dogs so they can get a job with a livable wage. She is currently exploring how to layer entrepreneurship into her program. Stick around til the end of the conversation to learn how. http://thegroomingproject.org/

Defy Ventures is a character development, job readiness and entrepreneurial training program. I dont know of any program that believes more wholeheartedly than Defy that entrepreneurship is a useful tool to reduce recidivism. That’s why I am so excited to bring to you today my conversation with Jeremy Bouman, the executive director of Defy Ventures Nebraska: http://defyventures.org/ Defy has created a path to entrepreneurial success, starting when folks are incarcerated and ramping up once they’re released. But more importantly, Defy has helped hundreds of incarcerated people gain confidence in their ability to make the world a better place. And helped anyone who has seen their success believe in the power for good that is too often locked up behind bars, and inside of each of us.

August C Ghilarducci, or Augie for short, lives in Chicago with his wife. Being together to start 2018 is very sweet, because Augie just recently wrapped up 12 years in federal prison for a white collar crime. He used his time behind bars to better himself and his community in many ways, including through business and goal-setting classes. Learn more about Augie's work:http://www.osgglobal.com/resources/news/employer-resources/

Andy Davey works with incarcerated and recently released people and their families to promote distraction free living and long term success with Gracious Promise Ministries. Andrew served 10 months in federal prison in Pekin, IL, for wire fraud and founded AR15 Ministries to teach about living Above Reproach in business and personal lives. Before incarceration, Andrew worked as director and vice president for companies such as Sprint and American General. Andrew has a bachelor’s in Human Resources and Business Management, is a certified executive coach, and has 11 US patents in technology and business processes. Andrew lives in Overland Park, KS, with his wife Kenna and three children. 

Can entrepreneurship help to reduce recidivism? AKA, can starting a business stop someone from going back to prison?