Nobody ever tells you how hard it is going to be with an adult criminal record. When I got out of prison, I was determined to get my life back on the right track. I applied for many jobs and went on many interviews. At many of the interviews, I was hired on the spot, only to come to find out later that the potential employer “went in another direction” after they were made aware of my criminal background.

To society, it doesn‘t seem to matter if you changed your life around. Once a criminal, always a criminal. But people change, I changed. I did not want to turn to illegal ways of making money like so many In my situation feel like they are forced to do, I wanted to do things the right way, and it seemed like the only thing to do is start my own business. So that‘s what I did. A grew up here, and I had a connection, I knew how to network. I was confident that I could get things moving pretty quickly. But over time I continued to run into roadblocks.
It seemed like the more I strived to get ahead. The more people were trying to hold me back. My own community seemed to be at odds with each other, likes crabs in a barrel, all bringing each other down so that they could get to the top. I decided to do my own thing, start from the bottom and build up, developing my own team, making my own moves. Yes it is hard, yes their days I feel like giving up, but I have people counting on me to succeed, I am relying on myself to succeed. My life decisions have put me in the position, and it seems like I’m the only one that can get myself out. I have a vision I have a plan, and with Gods help, we are going to make it to the top.

– ANONYMOUS