I would never tell someone they need prison to find purpose.
There are consequences, losses, and years that cannot be returned. There are people who have been hurt, relationships affected, and moments I can never go back and change.
But after spending nearly two decades incarcerated, I can say something I once would not have understood:
Prison forced me to decide what I was going to do with the life I still had.
That decision changed me.
It eventually led to books, music, mentorship, programs, community outreach, Crookd Crown Clothier, Crookd Crown Publishing, and a purpose that has become much bigger than myself.
Turning Time Into Purpose
For years, it would have been easy to define my life by what brought me to prison.
Eventually, I began asking a different question:
What am I going to do while I'm here that matters?
The answer didn't come all at once.
It came through education, accountability, relationships, mentoring other men, examining my own behavior, writing, and learning how much purpose can come from helping someone else.
Writing became one of the ways I could turn those lessons into something tangible.
My first book, Hustle Reimagined: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Beating the Odds, was about resourcefulness, resilience, entrepreneurship, and refusing to let circumstances determine what you are capable of becoming.
Then came The 8 Laws of Hustle: The New Psychology of Self-Made Success, which went deeper into mindset, discipline, psychology, and accountability.
Those books allowed me to share what I was learning.
But eventually I realized purpose isn't only about telling my story.
It is also about creating opportunities for other people.
When Purpose Became Service
That realization helped lead to It Just Works: Real Stories & Behavioral Science From the Earned Living Unit.
It Just Works was different.
The book wasn't created simply to tell people about us. It became a vehicle for documenting the experiences of men living inside the Earned Living Unit at MCF-Stillwater and connecting their lived experiences with behavioral science.
For me, that represented another stage of redemption:
Moving from finding my own voice to helping carry the voices of others.
Crookd Crown Publishing gave us a way to take experiences that could have remained behind prison walls and put them into the hands of people outside them.
That includes community leaders, educators, corrections professionals, policymakers, families, and people interested in what rehabilitation can actually look like.
I may not be able to physically enter every room where these conversations happen.
But the work can.
Living What I Write
I don't want my books to say one thing while my life demonstrates another.
That's why some of the work I value most doesn't have my name printed across a cover.
I've spent years involved in peer mentorship and leadership inside correctional environments. I've worked with men dealing with conflict, difficult emotions, personal decisions, and the challenges that come with trying to become something different from who you once were.
That same commitment helped lead to the creation of RESET™ — Rebuilding Emotional Skills Through Effective Thinking, a peer-led program inside the Earned Living Unit.
RESET gives men a place to work on communication, emotional regulation, conflict resolution, accountability, relationships, identity, and healthier decision-making.
To me, that's where words such as growth, rehabilitation, and redemption become real.
You have to live them.
Why Youth Matter So Much to Me
The more I have grown, the more motivated I have become to reach young people before they have to learn certain lessons the way I did.
I can't change my past.
But perhaps something created from it can help change someone else's future.
That is one reason giving back has become part of the mission of Crookd Crown Publishing.
Net proceeds from Hustle Reimagined and The 8 Laws of Hustle are pledged to Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Net proceeds from It Just Works are divided between supporting Boys & Girls Clubs and initiatives within the Earned Living Unit.
But giving back isn't only about money.
It is about example.
I want young people facing difficult circumstances to understand that their environment may influence them, but it does not have to become their identity.
I want them to understand the power of choices before those choices cost them years of their lives.
And I want them to see that even when you have made serious mistakes, accountability does not require abandoning your potential.
You can acknowledge what you've done, accept the consequences, grow from it, and spend your life trying to create something useful from what you've learned.
Redemption Is Something You Practice
I've come to see redemption differently.
It isn't a word you give yourself.
It isn't an accomplishment you check off a list.
For me, it is something practiced repeatedly through how I choose to live, what I create, who I help, and what I give back.
Every book, every class, every mentoring conversation, and every opportunity to reach beyond these walls gives me another reason to keep doing the work.
That's what invigorates me.
That's what motivates me.
And that's what I want Crookd Crown Publishing to represent.
Not pretending the past didn't happen.
Not allowing it to be the final chapter either.
If the lessons from my worst decisions can become books, programs, mentorship, opportunities for other incarcerated voices, and resources that help uplift young people, then I have a responsibility to keep building.
I cannot rewrite where my story began.
But every day, I get another opportunity to decide what the rest of it will be used for.
And I choose purpose.
I choose service.
I choose to build.
Crookd Crown Publishing — Books With Purpose.