Little Steps Lead to New Opportunities
Within weeks of concluding my sentence, I began teaching as an adjunct professor at San Francisco State University. Prior to the time I visited San Francisco State University, I’d never stepped foot on a university campus—all of my studies had been through correspondence while I served decades in prison. I created a course called The Architecture of Incarceration and taught about the build up to mass incarceration, and the influences it had on our society. Then I opened discussions on steps we could take to improve outcomes of the criminal justice system.
Through national media coverage that I coordinated, I opened national speaking opportunities in academia and business. Together with my business partner, Justin Paperny, I began selling courses that I created. Our initial clients included several government agencies:
- The Washington State Department of Corrections
- The Orange County Department of Education
- The Los Angeles Office of Education
- Santa Clara County Jail
I began a speaking career during this timeframe, too, and found opportunities in the following forums:
- University of California Berkeley
- Stanford University
- DePauw University
- New York State University
- Sacramento State University
- University of Washington
- TEDx Silicon Valley
National media sources covered my transition back into society. Some of those publications include:
- San Francisco Chronicle Front Page Profile
- PBS NewsHour
- NBC News
I began building a credit score. Together with Carole, I qualified for a mortgage of $460,000. With that mortgage, I was able to pay off the developer. We leased our initial property to a nice family so that Carole and I could pursue opportunities in Southern California.
In May of 2014, I made a transition from the San Francisco Bay area to Southern California. Carole and I lived in Newport Beach when we first moved to Orange County.