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:

1. The Washington State Department of Corrections
2. The Orange County Department of Education
3. The Los Angeles Office of Education
4. Santa Clara County Jail

I began a speaking career during this timeframe, too, and found opportunities in the following forums:

1. University of California Berkeley
2. Stanford University
3. DePauw University
4. New York State University
5. Sacramento State University
6. University of Washington
7. TEDx Silicon Valley

National media sources covered my transition back into society. Some of those publications include:

1. San Francisco Chronicle Front Page Profile
2. PBS NewsHour
3. 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.