I was gifted to inspire and motivate others in a lot of areas in my life. I love the game of basketball and played in high school and eventually coached at a Community College level in addition to coaching my sons and daughter. I was not the best player but I was always the one who would inspire and motivate others. The military taught me about espirit de corp, leadership and teamwork. I served 8 years active and 14 years Army Reserves. I reached the rank of Master Sergeant in my career and served as an ammunition clerk, instructor and drill sergeant. My first duty station was in Frankfurt, Germany. I remember on my first promotion board I scored a 199.8 our of 200. This was one of the highest achievement I had ever had in my life. A lot of the questions involved leadership and I studied the leadership manual FM 22-100 extensively. I suffered some pain in the military being impacted by a bombing in Frankfurt, Germany, November 25, 1985. The result of this tragic event resulted in my depression and PTSD. I lost one of my soldiers in a bombing on December 21, 2004 in Mosul, Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

After the military I found employment as a Correctional Officer in 1990, this was at a height where the Government, the Federal Bureau of Prisons were building prisons all over the country at an alarming rate which can be traced back to Black Codes, Jim Crow, Civil Rights, War on Crime, the Anti Drug Abuse Act of 1986 and the 1994 Crime Bill and so much more that affected the black community. I speak of the history of the this because of how it affected the black community. I was getting out of the military and was just trying to raise a family. Correction Officers was in high demand because of my military experience. During my tenure, I worked as a Correctional Officer, Warehouse Worker, Contracting Officer (Procurement) and collateral duties as an instructor teaching Diversity. I worked at one of the largest federal prisons in the country at Ft. Dix,, NJ. At one point, we had over 5,000 inmates incarcerated at the institution. My communication skills enhanced and my understanding of empathy was gained.

I retired out of the prison system in March, 2016 and I knew I wanted to give back to a marginalized community that I witnessed first hand. I received the servant mentality from God but from my mother who would help anyone. She took my brothers and sisters friends to live with us when they had nowhere else to go.

I made the decision to start my own non profit organization “Synergy Reform” to enlighten the public of the effects of prison from the inmates who served and the staff who were employed in the system. Well, I met a woman named, Sue Ellen Allen, at a Van Jones event at NYU on April 22, 2019. Sue Ellen Allen had been incarcerated in the Arizona State Prison, wrote a letter to President Obama on her expereince for him to visit a prison. (he did) and later she got an opportunity to join First Lady Obama, Michele Obama, in her box during the 2016 State of the Union Address. Sue Ellen Allen mentored me from a different perspective and said ” Being released from prison was liked being shot of a cannon naked”, this registered for me because one of my jobs inside the prison at the County and Federal level was processing inmates in and out of the prison. The reason why Sue Ellen adopted me as her son and told me I had a gift to share to the world because my gift was institutionalized in controlled environments. I was wounded emotionally as a black man, I was subject to discipline and order in the military. In the prison, I was part of a system to managed the freedom of others. While these lived experiences shaped and molded me, they taught me life lessons. I believe everything is a teachable moment. Well, I had been employee by the Government for over 30 years, it was time to deploy. I stepped out of faith, per her request and traveled to Tempe, Arizona. She was presenting for the 17th Annual Arizona Public Defenders Association with over 250 public defenders. I witnessed something that changed my life. The re-entry simulation she conducted raised awareness, outrage and empathy about the reentry process and makes obvious for the need of more creative solutions and compassion for those impacted. I traveled the country with Sue Ellen presenting reentry simulations around the country.