My road in life has been direct.
I grew up in North Birmingham, Alabama.
After high school, I went to community college, became a licensed practical nurse, and worked in healthcare for over 15 years.
When my son got into trouble and was incarcerated at 19 years old, I had no knowledge of the system in order to help.
I decided to get into law enforcement and spent nearly 10 years as a probation parole officer for the state of Florida.
As I learned more about the criminal justice system, I found myself wanting to become more involved with reentry.
I struggled to find a job in reentry until being accepted into the Open Society-U.S. Soros Justice Fellowships program—I was one of 16 people selected out of almost 2,000 applicants!
I started the Alabama Justice Initiative in 2018 with the mission of activating people directly impacted by the criminal justice system in order to end mass incarceration.
In addition to my work with Alabama Justice Initiative, I decided to run—and was elected—for Birmingham City Council because I wanted to have a greater impact on my community.
Keep following my journey