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- SUPPORT ME :) Like this video? Please give it a thumbs up below and/or leave a comment - Thank you!!! Help me caption & translate this video! Carmichael/ “ Hi Evan. Thank you for your email welcoming me to Believers. I was a successful criminal defense and real estate conveyance lawyer, then was sent to federal prison for two years when the real estate market crashed. It was a devastating personal and professional life experience. I also became completely broke. I wrote a book while I was in prison about my experience titled Upper Bunkies Unite; started a criminal justice reform organization, Families for Justice as Healing, , that advacates for community-based wellness alternatives to incarceration. We focus on raising awareness of the 800% increase in the incarceration rate of women in this country, due primarily to a war on drugs, and the impact this has had on poor children and communities across this country. I now travel around the country speaking about my book and on the issue of women and incarceration. Not only are criminal justice reform organizations talking about this but also now Wall Street. We incarcerate more people in this country than ALL other countries combined. That takes a huge chunk out of someone's consumer base. I also started, Career Roadmap for Girls, , an on-line career encyclopedia for middle and high school age girls, and daughters of incarcerated women, to help them with a roadmap for achieving their goals and believing that they can reach far beyond what they see in their everyday lives. Boston University School of Web Design selected Career Roadmap for Girls as a web practicum partner and built us a beautiful cutting edge website that we are in the process of uploading information into. I dream that it will someday soon be a site full of financial literacy, entrepreneur, career and educational information and a place of motivation for girls that usually do not receive access to this. As passionate as I am about our mission at Families for Justice as Healing, I was still broke and as much attention as my organization has started to receive we are still struggling financially. A friend told me about the 5Linx opportunity and I kept ignoring them until one day I had a conversation with a man in the company named Stan Richards. He is a double platinum senior vice president. He grew up poor on the streets of D.C. He told me that all my social justice endeavors are great but that “our people need money“. I decided to stop saying “no“ and to start saying “yes“. I just joined 5linx with my husband and I stumbled upon your website as I have started reading everything motivational and instructional I can find. I have jumped into 5Linx with both feet. I am still broke, but everyday I can't wait to get up and work on Families for Justice as Healing, and my other projects that now include 5linx. I have started speaking to many formerly incarcerated women who are good, decent people, struggling to start over, to introduce them to 5linx. I want to win so they will win. I have one question so far for you. Although I have websites for my projects, I do not have a personal website. I intend on creating one asap. Do you recommend that on my personal site I have links to my other websites for my book, Families for Justice as Healing, Career Roadmap, and 5links, or should I not link them together from my personal website? I don't want to create something that will be overwhelming to folks but I also want to provide them with information on my personal site about what I am involved. Where's that balance? Thank you again for the opporunity to ask a question. I look forward to all you have to share. In gratitude, Andrea James“
