Friends with Andre Norman since the age of 12, Dominic also spent a considerable amount of time in prison. Upon his release, Andre was Dominic’s mentor and helped him build a new life on the outside. Dominic is now the Regional Director of the Academy of Hope and speaks to incarcerated individuals across the country about how they can start preparing for a successful re-entry on Day One.

“Change your mindset. Your family needs you to come home.”

Brent started his career in corrections 27 years ago as a college intern in a probation program. For the last eight years, he’s been the director of the Worth Center, a short-term correctional/treatment facility in Ohio. He runs the facility like a school. Among many other courses, new incarcerates attend “Thinking for a Change,” a course that explores anger issues and builds strong skills to overcome them.

“The worst thing in corrections is idle time. Learn as much as you can while you’re there.”

From Day One in the penal system, Giant’s driving force was finding a way to get back home. During his incarceration, he fell in love with reading again and read everything he could get his hands on. When he got out of prison, he became a self-described “human repair agency” and founded Bartendaz, a personal development company. He spends his days traveling to prisons to teach incarcerated individuals the “power of you.”

“Your attitude is whatever you’re thinking about; focus on what you can control.”