We were lucky to catch up with Sheba Williams recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sheba, thanks for joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

Frustration…. that was the overwhelming feeling after being convicted of a crime I didn”t do. I had worked hard to graduate from college and have a job I could be proud of and to be the best mother I could be. Every door was shut in my face, day after day. Here I was, 23 years old, single mom of 3 kids under the age of 5, living in a new city with no family and I had just been fired from a job because of a conviction. It didn’t matter that I had worked eleven 12 hour shifts back to back or never taken a vacation, even while my mom battled colon cancer. It didn’t matter that I trained everyone in 3 different departments on my floor and was on call at all hours of the day and night. I was expendable.

I had to think fast and figure out a way. I enrolled in a trade and became a licensed barber in less than 5 months. I had already had a significant background in cosmetology so the transition was easy. I became self-employed and started working in a barbershop. I took as much training as a could and became a natural hair care specialist and loctician. That was my niche. I taught myself marketing and created a program to give back to honor roll students. I attracted so many people from all walks of life and found that more people than I thought had one thing in common with. me… a felony conviction. Mass incarceration was a problem that no one talked about. I struggled for years with employment and education and housing. I couldn’t even chaperone my kids on their field trips. After 8 years of navigating life with a felony conviction, I had graduated from college and was a successful barber stylist. I left the comfort of my home and career and moved back home to be closer to family and to help my mother care for my ailing grandfather. It was like starting over but being 75% behind the curve.

After putting in over 1000 job applications and not receiving one single favorable call back, I decided to bet on myself. I needed to create something for people just like me who were struggling with the more than 44,000 collateral consequences that came after a conviction… more than a sentence; something like a scarlet letter F. I studied law and legality, built a network of resources, collaborated with others who lived with a felony conviction and finally, in 2016, started a nonprofit organization called Nolef Turns Inc. We were initially designed to be a resource hub for those seeking employment opportunities but quickly grew into an organization that fought for policy. and advocacy change for those living with felony convictions. Over a 7 year span, we could pride ourselves on operating with dignity, justice, forgiveness and redemption in mind. We provided direct service support for individuals leaving long term incarceration, restorative justice options for those facing convictions, fought for many policy changes like expungement, restoration of rights, probation reform, legalizing cannabis with a social equity centered approach, juvenile justice reform, tenant protections and many other policies that would improve quality of life for those who were justice-impacted. We took a bold step and sued our state’s Governor for changing the restoration of rights process for those who had lost their right to vote due to felony disenfranchisement. When no one would stand with us, we took the steps to walk alone.

No success comes without risk. No change comes without taking a step. We bet on the future and are thriving and making sure that others don’t go through the same things as I did when I first started this organization.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Sheba Williams was born and raised in Richmond, VA. She is a Norfolk State University alum with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management, she has professional licenses in Cosmetology and Barbering, and is a Master Instructor. In 2012, Sheba began working exclusively as a mobile barber stylist, traveling to clients anywhere from DC to North Carolina. Meeting so many people from different walks of life and being actively involved in so many community service projects, Sheba found that more people than she realized had at least one thing in common with her… a felony conviction. Her passion for helping others be more than a conviction led to her founding a nonprofit, Nolef Turns  (https://www.nolefturns.org/) in 2016. The organization was born to be a support system for those who were justice-impacted but quickly evolved into a day to day fight for removing the policies and stigmas around a past conviction.

What sets Nolef Turns apart from other organizations is their unmatched ability to center lived experience and to lead with love and dignity. Providing direct services was the core to being great at impacting policy in the state of Virginia. We. have successfully abolished the death penalty, passed a historic expungement bill, ended pretextual searches, legalized cannabis, helped create a model tenant policy for people with past convictions and we continue to fight for a Constitutional Amendment to remove the stigma of felony disenfranchisement, Second Look legislation, which addresses extreme sentencing, and removing barrier crimes and housing barriers. If it improves the quality of life of an individual who is justice-impacted, it also improves the quality of life of the family and community that the individual is a part of. We will continue to fight for all of those who are impacted by the problem that is mass incarceration.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Funding in the nonprofit sector can be a nightmare. There is creative control that funders want, reporting that has to be skewed to fit in certain categories and often times mission drift. When Nolef Turns was first started, our board and team was clear that we wanted to build a brand like no other and not get distracted by data points and exploiting the people we served.

As the founder, I worked 4 jobs – I was a mobile master barber stylist. I worked at a group home, as a housing tester and as a consultant. Every dollar I could set aside was poured into the nonprofit’s growth. Our board all contributed. We provided direct service and resource support. We got involved in a fight around felony disenfranchisement 5 months after our incorporation and took position as leaders in our field on many criminal legal systems issues. We self-funded for the first 3 years. The community supported our work through small dollar donations but when the pandemic unfolded and our Governor made the decision to release individuals from incarceration to avoid death sentences, we had to scale up and apply for our first grant. To provide temporary housing solutions for the close to 2,000 individuals who were eligible for early release in 2020 and 2021, we raised over a quarter million dollars and spent over a quarter million dollars. Doing this exhausting work to help with eviction support for individuals with past convictions and providing temporary housing support for individuals being released from incarceration, we realized that there were very few permanent housing solutions for individuals with past convictions and we needed to attack policy. Ironically, there was more funding available for policy work. Not many funders are willing to invest in people and their well-being but it has been the people and their lived experiences who have guided our principles and work for the past seven years. We were so active in our work that we were in a position to only accept funding from those who were aligned with our values and to protect the people that we serve. It was not easy but our model and dedication to the service of others is unmatched.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Even a guilty person deserves dignity…

Coming into the work, I had an idea that I only wanted to work with a particular population. I decided that some others were not worthy of my fighting for them. I was sitting in the office after hours and received a phone call from a relative. He needed me to talk to a young man who had been incarcerated for over 13 years for a crime he did not commit. It was documented. that he was innocent. The victim had written an affidavit on his behalf to state that he was not guilty of what he had been convicted of. On the other end of the phone was the most humble young man I would encounter. He spoke in almost a whisper and he shared his story. He said that he had seen me on the news fighting for people like him and he wanted to reach out – not to ask anything of me but to show his gratitude for me taking the time to show up for others. He asked if he could connect me with his mother and sister so that he could donate art to the organization.

I met his mom and sister and they were equally gracious. They never gave up on fighting to bring him home. I learned that his art kept him sane and busy while incarcerated and he drew a lot of the murals in the facilities that he was in. He worked hard and was waiting on a clemency request that had been submitted to the Governor for years. We built a rapport over time and often times, I would have to reach out to him in order to see how he was doing because he didn’t want to be a burden. Few smiles and joy come with this work. It is often heavy and lonely. This young man represented the worst of the worst in a system that was designed to teach us that people who are convicted of crimes are not worthy of grace, redemption and dignity. I learned that his story was like many others’ stories. He did not understand the law when he was convicted; he took a plea that he should not have and his life is withering away behind bars. I was taught that grace and redemption are for everyone. I was taught that there are gifts in every human being and most importantly, even a guilty person deserves dignity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nolefturns.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nolefturnsinc
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/NLTInc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nolefturnsinc
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/nolefturnsinc
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/c/NolefturnsincOrg 
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/nolef-turns-inc-richmond