Jaime’s journey from incarceration to freedom has been a transformative experience–one that continues to inspire her to pursue her goals and dreams as she adapts to her new reality. About five years ago, as she struggled to maintain her mental health, Jaime had a wake-up call inside prison that led her to reflect on the mental blocks that were preventing her from leading a positive lifestyle. In 2022, Jaime joined and graduated from Defy NorCal’s in-prison program CEO of Your New Life (CEO YNNL) program at Central California Women's Facility. Jaime explains that her transformation took her from the “gangster mindset,” when she felt she had to fit a certain mold, to a more optimistic and confident perspective. Jaime believes programs “like Defy helped me embrace positive change and the confidence in believing in myself.”
Learning to Plan for Success
From Defy’s CEO YNL, Jaime found valuable lessons and skills that helped her prepare for the challenges for reentry. Defy helped Jaime explore and dig deep on skills like goal setting, parole planning, and mental health wellness. “We all set goals but I didn’t really understand what the power of [measurable and specific goals] were until I learned it through Defy. Then, there’s parole planning, right,” she says, which was “being able to interconnect what we need as formerly incarcerated individuals for a career outside of here so we can be successful. That really opened my eyes to the possible stressors that I was going to face outside of prison.” Being part of the program also gave Jaime a connection to the outside world after missing one for so long. She explains, “Sometimes, we’re stuck in the prison mentality. I was able to envision something better, or to take myself out of prison while still in prison. When you give us an opportunity to place ourselves outside, we see what we’re capable of doing, then it gives us hope. And, there’s not many programs that do that.”
Leadership and Life After Prison
While life in-prison for Jaime was obstructed by personal challenges, she discovered her identity as a leader for herself and others and she gained the confidence to embrace this newfound role. Through Defy’s program, Jaime learned how to be a leader for herself, applying her entrepreneurial lessons to foster positivity, be proactive, and advocate for herself. No longer was she just striving to survive, but she was hopeful to find something meaningful once outside of prison.
In September 2024, Jaime reenter society and used her plan to further her role as a leader and active community member. With the help of Career Readiness & Reentry Manager Salena Sewell, Jaime was introduced to Creating Restorative Opportunities and Programs (CROP), which provides career reentry opportunities and development for digital sales and design. Jaime is currently undertaking an intensive training program here to help her set up a career path in the tech industry and combine her love for storytelling and writing. “I love to speak,” she reveals, especially when it comes to sharing her own story and challenges to help others. “I envision more so being part of a company that embraces using [one’s] voice to change lives or something inspiring.”
In the short amount of time since Jaime’s return to the community, Jaime has been motivated and excited, to not only find job and housing security, but also a community she can truly feel a part of. Jaime shares “I have no children and my parents passed away, so for me, it’s building community and building a family. Of course, I want a career to be successful on my own, and it’s also just simple—I want to enjoy life and just be happy.” In her vision of community, Jaime envisions being “able to support other incarcerated individuals in my endeavors and emotionally show them that it can be possible as a lifer to get out and be successful.” This emotional connection is an experience that resonated from her days in the Defy program, calling it “the most beautiful thing she discovered.”
Jaime’s advice to other fellow Entrepreneurs in Training is:
“Don't do it for anybody else but for yourself. You have to come first. If you don't put yourself first in any endeavor that you do, then you're always gonna fall short. It's most important to believe in yourself and put your best foot forward.”