Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kardell Sims. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kardell, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The story behind my mission as a Re-Entry Consultant and running my own program “On The Inside Re-Entry Academy” inside of Correctional Institutions, helping incarcerated individuals create a vision for their life after incarceration along with making a mindset shift and transformation to be able to manifest their vision, is personal to me. I’m formerly incarcerated and from the age of 15 to 40 I’ve been in juvenile detention center, foster homes, county jails, state prison and federal prison. I grew up in an impoverished neighborhood and always felt I was a product of my environment in which that mindset let me in and out of Correctional Institutions for half of my life.

Kardell, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I got in the industry that I’m in because of me being formerly incarcerated. I got into the reentry field because of the hardships that I faced coming out of prison and the reasons that kept causing me to go back and forth. I teach personal development inside of prisons and help other businesses create a second chance employee hiring program, so that those coming out of prison and go right into the workforce. The problems that I solve for my clients is reducing their chance at recidivism through various ways such as providing employment, mentorship, and a network of resources for returning citizens. What sets me apart from others is my virtual aspect of my academy and business, which allows me to make connections and impact across the world. I am my brand and I have a vast network and outreach in the corrections and reentry field. The 1st person to host a reentry tour where successful formerly incarcerated educators going inside of Correctional Institutions across the country to host a full day workshop on various subjects such as goal setting, vision board, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, mental health and wellness, life and soft skills, and reentry resources. I also host a podcast called The Re-Entry Journey Podcast which highlights the journey of successful formerly incarcerated individuals. I have reentry workbooks and I’m an author of 6 books who accomplished all of this within 6 years after being released from Federal Prison.

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

The lesson I learned is that I wasn’t a product of my environment. While sitting in prison for the 5th time I was speaking on the phone with someone who was telling me about these two girls I graduated high school with and that was from the same neighborhood and who had parents that was on drugs just like I did and they never took the criminal way in life. One owned a beauty salon and the other one owns her own law firm. That’s when it hit me that I wasn’t a product of my environment and that mindset was what was causing me to go back and forth to prisons. That lie I was telling myself. Those two women was responsible for me breaking that mindset

Have you ever had to pivot?

Covid was the time I had to make a pivot in my business. My company was originally named Vision Hustler and I was a life coach assisting people on how to manifest their vision and being the boss of their mission. During covid my mentor challenged me to write a book about my life. When I did that it put me in the reentry field and then I decided to change the name of my company to Kardell Sims Enterprises because I am my brand, my story is my brand. Once I did that my business started going uphill. It was the biggest decision I made for my business.     

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kardellsims.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/iamkardellsims
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/iamkardellsims
• Linkedin: Kardell Sims
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/Kardell_Sims_
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/iamkardellsims