We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Terrall Tillman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

TERRALL, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

My parents instilled spirituality, respect and independence in me. I was raised to respect others, have faith and manners wherever I travel in life. The qualities, ethics and morals my parents instilled in me are still with me to this day and have been very instrumental in my personal development.
As I grew older, I learned how to utilize those attributes that were instilled in me. Having the strongest faith ever, continuing to be independent, having my own housing, transportation and multiple businesses along with being a selfless community advocate and loving parent and family member.
By balancing these qualities that were instilled in me by my parents in my childhood along with new ideations and components as an adult and entrepreneur; in 2024 by the grace of THA CREATOR I have been able to hone these qualities and accumulate other skills sets to utilize as best practices in my everyday life personally, socially and professionally.
So, as I collaborate with other people and entities while servicing these communities providing reentry education, public safety, community violence intervention, anger management and referral supportive services to thousands of people; it is because of the core values that my parents did right by teaching me as a child.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am Terrall E Tillman from Los Angeles, Ca. I am a published author, business owner, executive director of a nonprofit organization, reentry educator, anger management instructor, violence community interventionist (PCITI/BUILD Program), toastmasters international company communicator, certified creative writer Mt. Marty University, FEMA certified, Residential Abuse Drug Technician, a proud Father of five beautiful children and six grandchildren.
I came from a loving and broken family raise in South Central Los Angeles, Inglewood, Watts, Compton and Long Beach. Before I was 10 years old, I had witnessed and been exposed to a countless number of traumatic experiences that tainted my young mind and created a confused, angry, delinquent and damaged kid destined for destruction.
After a few juvenile stints (totaling 1 1/2 yrs.) and two federal bids (12 yrs. 7 mons & 10 yrs. mandatory Min. sentences) and being government property for 28 years of my adult life from 18 thru 51 is a lot for me to bear. But fortunately, I have great faith, and THA CREATOR has given me the ability to persevere through all of my heart aches, pain, suffering and strenuous travels.
Now as an entrepreneur living the reentry life on a daily basis and being able to articulate all of the emotional, physical, financial, psychological and spiritual challenges that I have been through over the course of my life: I can definitely say ‘GOD IS GREAT’!
Around 2007 I got involved with the non-profit and intervention world. I was certified by professional community intervention training institute and co-founded Advocates for Peace and Urban Unity (APUU) a nonprofit organization in South Los Angeles.
After returning to federal prison for the second time I then composed a reentry book for the masses ‘Formula For $ucce$$ Reentry-030’; along with several poems and other commentary relating to domestic violence, self-care and emotional intelligence. I also composed a reentry curriculum called ‘Lessons Learned. Helping to facilitate 3 reentry programs while individually educating men who were soon to be released was my starting and practice ground inside the federal system (FBOP).
Presently I work as a Reentry Manager, and I continuously strive to be self-sustained and build up my own entities for financial security and build a legacy to pass on to my children and grandchildren. I aim to be the Michael Jordan of reentry education. In addition to founding a 501(c)3 organization ‘LESSONZ LEARNED’ I also have 3 other llc’s including two Clothing Brands ‘TILLMAN A CRAIG’ & ‘LESSONZ LEARNED’ Brand
My reentry book Formula For $ucce$$ Reentry-030 and Lessons Learned my reentry curriculum are two of my business products, but I also have a multitude of services and referrals that I provide from: parent & child mediation, financial & entrepreneurism consulting, anger management, public safety, community violence intervention, crisis management, parenting, staff training, substance abuse treatment, housing, vocational training, employment and supportive services. for more info go to my website @ lessonzlearned.com.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I came home from prison the first time after 11 years, everyone was telling me that I could not do some of the things I planned on doing. There were little to no resources for reentry people back in 2002 and “reentry” didn’t even exist as it does today in 2024. However, with faith, persistence and self-discipline I continued on my path of grinding and working in warehouses and other odd jobs, then after 5 years getting off of supervised release, being shot at and losing a sibling to death, I was still able to accomplish mostly all of the goals I set out to do. I bought a car, lived in my own apartment, had a decent career, I was being a good father, and I started a business and co-founded two nonprofit organizations. Being a true believer in my abilities to stay focused and move forward no matter what obstacles I faced. I actually composed a reentry book and reentry curriculum to show other people what can be achieved once you set your mind to accomplish whatever goal you choose for yourself in life regardless of your circumstances.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

For me or anyone else to succeed in the field of reentry and/or Community Violence Intervention: is to be authentic, relatable, have great patience, self-control/self-discipline and diverse communication skills. Code switching & LTO’s (License to Operate) is imperative. Knowing how to code switch is essential in this field. Having established relationships and open lines of communication to navigate in a territory is also essential to be successful in this profession. Once you have developed the skill set to assess, adjust and address situations then you can assist people in diverse circumstances and bring solutions and information to the equations. These components will contribute to success in this field. Another jewel is to: continue up-grading your knowledge by learning more and expanding the information and resource pools that are in development for these two new professional fields. That’s my insight and feedback that will assist anyone to be successful in the reentry or intervention industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lessonzlearned.com
• Instagram: lessonz_learned1
• Facebook: TERRALL GENO TILLMAN
• Linkedin: TERRALL E. TILLMAN
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@terralltillmansr8548

Image Credits

TERRALL E. TILLMAN