New apartment keys. A new career with higher pay. And a growing commitment to giving back.
Since returning home after incarceration, Adisa has been building his new life one milestone at a time—putting the confidence, connections and skills he gained through Defy Ventures’ CEO of Your New Life program into action.
Adisa joined the program while incarcerated hoping to build his business knowledge. What he gained went much further.
“I’m really an introvert, but joining the class, the instructor made me feel comfortable and let me take things at my own pace,” he said. “The group was so diverse, but we all came together to support each other.”
The program also pushed him to confront his fear of public speaking. After successfully delivering a business pitch with support from his Defy facilitator, Adisa now regularly speaks to groups as an active member of his local Rotary Club.
“It was the right stepping stone to push through my public speaking fear,” he said.
He’s putting those connections to work in other ways, too. Last year, Adisa organized a warm clothing drive for families in his community. Through a relationship he built while giving back, he connected with the property manager who ultimately helped him find his new apartment.
Today, he’s also completing paid training for a manufacturing job that better matches his career goals—and pays more than his previous position.
Reentry hasn’t always been easy, but Adisa says Defy’s continued support has helped him keep moving forward.
“They let me know that reentry wouldn’t be easy, but that we wouldn’t be alone,” he said. “We would always have somebody to call, even through the hard times.”
Now, Adisa wants to extend that support to others.
“I really want to help the community and do as much as I can,” he said. “My confidence has been so boosted by having a community of support that helps me remember that I’m doing the right thing.”
For Adisa, a new life isn’t something that happened all at once. He’s building it—one opportunity, one relationship and one step forward at a time.
How to Help
Defy Ventures offers entrepreneurial programs to enable one of America’s largest forgotten communities — those who are incarcerated — to defy the odds. Defy equips them with new skills, new connections, and a new belief to match their new purpose and succeed in their new life of economic independence.
Contributions to Defy Illinois provide transformative programs for Defy Entrepreneurs in Training (EITs) to defy the odds of recidivism and transform their lives. Defy’s cost to deliver programs is approximately $2,000 ($167/month) for each EIT in our CEO of Your New Life (CEO YNL) program and $3,500 ($292/month) for each person served in our post-release programs. A donation of $300 provides a Chromebook and reentry support for an EIT returning home to access vital services and careers.
- $10/mo provides a set of program textbooks to an EIT in Defy’s in-prison program
- $25/mo provides a Chromebook and reentry support to an EIT coming home from prison to access vital resources, job opportunities, and ongoing career readiness tools
- $50/mo helps fund Defy’s transformative program events that support EITs and empower advocates for fair chances
- $100/mo provides training and supplies to one EIT in Defy’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp
Find in-prison events and ways to volunteer with Defy Illinois here.
Jane Bodmer is the digital marketing manager at Make It Better Foundation. She has built her career around leveraging storytelling to drive social change, covering community and gender-based violence, refugee and immigration reform, and mental health for organizations like Heartland Alliance, READI Chicago, and Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. Her favorite nonprofits to support are Open Books, Openlands, and PAWS Chicago.
