We recently connected with Dr. Charles Atkins and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Dr. Charles thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

My career status changed on Monday, March 15, when New Jersey started the temporary shutdown of governmental agencies and the confinement of citizens in their homes in reaction to the global Covid19 pandemic. As a supervisor of prison chaplaincy I saw my 20+ years of work in personal development and spiritual enrichment come to a sudden halt. Since there was no vaccine available at the time, and since prisons were not built for social distancing I decided to retire early from the New Jersey Department of Corrections.

At the time of my retirement, I had 12 years before I could touch my pension. Consequently, I decided to put to use my PhD and my book that was published in 2020 to expand a small business I had incorporated in 2018. XL Endeavors, LLC (XtraLenz.com) went from being an organization focused on inspiring disadvantaged youth through the arts to a thought leadership company that expanded its scope to include the creation of, the coordination or consultations with programs and projects that inspire and empower people to overcome those personal and social constructs that keep them from flourishing in society. Since I was free of the restrictions that accompany working in the department of corrections, I could focus on people returning to society from prison.

I used my connections to people interested in the challenges of returning citizens—connections that were made during my career in corrections. Through those connections I started working as a consultant for a workforce development program serving formerly incarcerated people or people on probation and for an international recycling company that hired people who resided in a halfway house. Then I was able to secure a grant to create a program that led to the creation of a “Career Success Matrix for Returning Citizens”. This program will soon be integrated into the programming of various organizations concerned with successful re-entry and lowering of recidivism for justice-impacted individuals.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

-Workforce development programs (private and governmental).

-Educational institutions

-network of formerly incarcerated people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://XtraLenz.com
• Instagram: @XtraLenz
• Linkedin: Charles Atkins, Jr., PhD