Embraced:Fully Interview Series – Embraced:Fully https://embracedfully.org Success for Returning Citizens Fri, 01 May 2026 20:37:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://i0.wp.com/embracedfully.org/files/2021/08/cropped-Embraced_Fully_square_logo.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Embraced:Fully Interview Series – Embraced:Fully https://embracedfully.org 32 32 185773216 Sentenced to 26 Years to Life: Michael James on Faith, Reentry, and Purpose https://embracedfully.org/michael-james-interview-may-2026/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=michael-james-interview-may-2026 Fri, 01 May 2026 20:37:17 +0000 https://embracedfully.org/?p=2524 What does real transformation look like after a life sentence? Join us on Thursday, May 7, 2026 at 6:00 pm Pacific for our next Embraced:Fully Interview. We’ll be recording the conversation in case you can’t join live.

Michael James

Michael James was sentenced to 26 years to life in state prison. Today he is rebuilding a life shaped by faith, discipline, service, and purpose.

Christian Science played a defining role in that transformation. Michael is now pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting at California State University, Los Angeles, working with Caltrans as a Back-Up Driver, building his car hauling business Catch a Ride Service, teaching financial literacy through Trap House Trading Academy, and developing the Community Chess Blueprint to help keep resources circulating within the community.

This conversation will focus on what transformation actually looks like in real life — not as an abstract idea, but in faith, accountability, reentry, work, entrepreneurship, and building something that lasts.

All are welcome to attend.

Join our mailing list to receive the Zoom invite for our meetings.

What We’ll Explore

  • What changed inside prison and how Michael rebuilt his mindset over time.
  • How Christian Science reshaped his thinking and strengthened his spiritual foundation.
  • What reentry required in practice — school, work, discipline, and support.
  • Why financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and service matter to lasting change.
  • What it means to build opportunity and legacy after prison.

Video Replays

Catch up on past interviews and inspiring stories at Embraced:Fully Videos.

Our Mission

In partnership with others, Embraced:Fully supports incarcerated and returning citizens in their moral and spiritual journey toward successful reentry. Through Angel Team members, we help connect individuals with community, faith, housing, employment, transportation, friendship, and mentorship, building bridges of hope and belonging.

]]> 2524 Can I Really Change? — From Prison to 11 Houses and 3 Coffee Shops – Rhonda Bear Interview [Video] https://embracedfully.org/interview-with-rhonda-bear/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interview-with-rhonda-bear Wed, 25 Mar 2026 20:10:10 +0000 https://embracedfully.org/?p=2477

Rhonda Bear shares how addiction, incarceration, faith, and community became the foundation for She Brews Coffee & Transition Program, a growing network of transitional homes, and reform work across Oklahoma.

About Our Guest: Rhonda Bear

Rhonda Bear

A mother, wife, daughter, sister, and former inmate 377488, Rhonda Bear has dedicated her life to restoration and breaking generational cycles. As a social worker, founder of She Brews Coffee & Transition Program, and Program Director for Stand in the Gap Ministries, she helps formerly incarcerated women rebuild their lives with dignity, structure, and purpose.

Since 2008, Rhonda has opened transitional housing for people leaving incarceration, beginning with a single women's house and growing into a network that now includes housing for men, women, mothers with children, and families. In Oklahoma, she has also become a leading advocate for reform, serving on the Board of Directors for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections as the first formerly incarcerated person in the United States appointed to that role.

Rhonda's work is rooted in the conviction that when a life is restored, entire families and future generations can be changed. Through highly structured programming, practical life training, faith, accountability, and community, she continues to help women move from survival to lasting transformation.

In This Interview:

  • Turning herself in – Rhonda explains the road that led to prison and why surrender became the beginning of change.
  • Hope inside prison – She describes the role of Kairos, prison ministry, and the small sparks that help women believe they can change.
  • Building She Brews – She walks through how coffee shops and transitional housing grew into a practical reentry system.
  • Structured reentry support – Rhonda explains why dignity, accountability, safe housing, and community all matter after release.
  • Reforming Oklahoma – She reflects on advocacy, policy change, and what actually helps women stay out of prison.
Join our mailing list to be notified about upcoming interviews and events.

 

More Video Replays

Catch up on past interviews and inspiring stories:

Embraced:Fully Videos

Our Mission

In partnership with others, Embraced:Fully supports incarcerated and returning citizens in their moral and spiritual journey toward successful reentry. Through Angel Team members, we help connect individuals with community, faith, housing, employment, transportation, friendship, and mentorship – building bridges of hope and belonging.

]]> 2477 “You Can’t Aspire to Be What You Don’t See” — Sentenced at 18, Freed at 33 – Bryson McCalley Interview [Video] https://embracedfully.org/interview-with-bryson-mccalley/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interview-with-bryson-mccalley Thu, 26 Feb 2026 17:54:11 +0000 https://embracedfully.org/?p=2454

Bryson McCalley was sentenced to 30 years in state prison at just 18 years old for gang violence. Inside, he found mentors, shed his old identity, and discovered his purpose: impacting lives through storytelling. Now free, he’s the founder of Last of a Dyng Seed, a platform that uses film analysis to decode the stories that shape our lives.

Subscribe to Bryson’s YouTube channel here.

About Our Guest: Bryson McCalley

Bryson McCalley

After being sentenced to 30 years in prison as a young man, Bryson made a radical decision: he would not allow his circumstances to define his future. During incarceration, he committed himself to education, discipline, and study — ultimately developing a framework he calls MQ—Movie Intelligence, centered on rewriting one’s internal story through the lens of film to reclaim power and purpose.

Today, Bryson is the author of the Pearls of IZM series, and speaks at the intersection of resilience, responsibility, narrative identity, and cultural awareness. His message challenges audiences to confront the story they’re living — and to decide whether they are the author of it.

In This Interview:

  • From 30-year sentence to freedom — Growing up in a gang-affiliated family and the path to prison at 18
  • The aha moment — How a single book sparked a complete transformation behind bars
  • MQ—Movie Intelligence — Using film to decode and rewrite the stories that define us
  • Last of a Dyng Seed — Building a platform for narrative-driven healing and community
  • Vulnerability as strength — Why shedding the tough exterior was the hardest and most important step
Join our mailing list to be notified about upcoming interviews and events.

 

More Video Replays

Catch up on past interviews and inspiring stories:

Embraced:Fully Videos

Our Mission

In partnership with others, Embraced:Fully supports incarcerated and returning citizens in their moral and spiritual journey toward successful reentry. Through Angel Team members, we help connect individuals with community, faith, housing, employment, transportation, friendship, and mentorship—building bridges of hope and belonging.

]]> 2454 “How Did You Escape?” — Sentenced at 16, Free at 54 – Ruben Davis Interview [Video] https://embracedfully.org/interview-with-ruben-davis/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interview-with-ruben-davis https://embracedfully.org/interview-with-ruben-davis/#respond Tue, 27 Jan 2026 23:00:37 +0000 https://embracedfully.org/?p=2437

Ruben Davis shares his incredible transformation from a 16-year-old sentenced to life in prison to a man who found freedom through faith and now helps others reenter society. A powerful story of surrender, redemption, and second chances.

About Our Guest: Ruben Davis

Ruben Davis

Ruben Davis was sentenced to 27 years to life at the age of 16 and spent nearly three decades in California prisons, where he ultimately chose a radically different path—leaving behind addiction, gang culture, and violence to pursue recovery, education, and spiritual renewal.

Through sustained self-examination, faith, and action, Ruben rebuilt his life from the inside out. After earning his release, he dedicated himself to helping others successfully reenter society. Today, Ruben serves as a Senior Retention Specialist, supporting probationers and parolees with employment, recovery, and long-term reintegration.

Drawing from lived experience, he is a powerful voice on identity, redemption, and what real transformation requires—both inside prison walls and beyond them.

In This Interview:

  • 🔄 The turning point — What sparked the decision to change?
  • 🙏 Faith and recovery — How spiritual renewal shaped his journey
  • 📚 Education behind bars — Pursuing growth in the hardest conditions
  • 💼 Supporting reentry today — His work helping others avoid re-incarceration
  • 🔑 What real transformation requires — Insights for individuals and communities
Join our mailing list to be notified about upcoming interviews and events.

 

🎥 More Video Replays

Catch up on past interviews and inspiring stories:

Embraced:Fully Videos

🌍 Our Mission

In partnership with others, Embraced:Fully supports incarcerated and returning citizens in their moral and spiritual journey toward successful reentry. Through Angel Team members, we help connect individuals with community, faith, housing, employment, transportation, friendship, and mentorship—building bridges of hope and belonging.

]]> https://embracedfully.org/interview-with-ruben-davis/feed/ 0 2437 Arrested at 14, Free at 43: Charles Jones’s Fight for Justice – [Video] https://embracedfully.org/interview-with-charles-jones/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interview-with-charles-jones Tue, 06 Jan 2026 03:27:56 +0000 https://embracedfully.org/?p=2411 Watch the replay of our interview Charles Jones:

About our guest

Charles Jones was arrested at 14 and incarcerated at 16 for a murder he didn’t commit. The real killer? The detective who arrested him.

After 27 years maintaining his innocence, Charles is finally free. During those decades behind bars, he earned his GED, Associate’s degree, and studied law—using that knowledge to advocate for himself and fellow inmates. Now 43, he’s preparing to have his record vacated as Kansas faces a lawsuit over his wrongful imprisonment.

Join us to hear Charles’s remarkable story of resilience, self-education, and unwavering hope.

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service
Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Monthly Donation
One Time Donation
Embraced Fully Fund
Embraced Fully Fund

↗ Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

View additional donation options here

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

]]> 2411 Healing and Hope Through Music – a special music gathering with Matthew Hammond, Laura Lapointe, family & friends [video] https://embracedfully.org/healing-and-hope-through-music/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=healing-and-hope-through-music Sat, 29 Nov 2025 10:15:34 +0000 https://embracedfully.org/?p=2356 Watch the replay of this very special musical gathering featuring Matthew Hammond, Laura Lapointe, family and friends!

 

Matthew Hammond and Laura Lapointe

Matthew Hammond and Laura Lapointe

Special Guest Alert! Mathew Hammond of Love Only Grows Music Ministry along with Laura Lapointe, his family and friends will be performing live at our next Embraced:Fully Zoom Meeting, December 4th at 6PM (Pacific Time). You will definitely want to attend. For what better way could there to celebrate the joy and spirit of the Christ spirit than with the healing and transformative music and abundant goodwill that emanates from Matthew’s deeply effecting voice and sweet guitar work? He, along with his wife Liz, family and friends look forward to sharing some of their original songs and Christmas carols with you, your church and friends. This promises to be a truly special evening of uplifting spiritual music that brings healing and transformation…. and oh did we mention joy?! There will be plenty of that.

Laura is a Christian Science practitioner with a background in education and the arts. Prior to entering the full-time practice, Laura worked in a prison in Boston as a literacy teacher and with a re-entry program. Laura loves to worship through song, particularly in gospel choirs over many years, and learns much through dialogue with fellow Christians and those of other faiths. She believes in being honest about her struggles as a way of encouraging and showing solidarity with everyone who is on this journey of striving to love God and our neighbors more each day. 

Links:

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service
Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Monthly Donation
One Time Donation
Embraced Fully Fund
Embraced Fully Fund

↗ Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

View additional donation options here

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

]]> 2356 Interview with Carlos Vasquez – “Coming out of Prison With a Purpose” [video] https://embracedfully.org/interview-with-carlos-vasquez/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interview-with-carlos-vasquez Wed, 22 Oct 2025 18:37:49 +0000 https://embracedfully.org/?p=2349 Watch the replay:

 

Our 2nd interview with Carlos Vasquez, author, speaker, and CEO of How to Battle and co-founder of the Pathway to Purpose Project.

We discussed how to come out of prison with a true purpose in life. Carlos served 17 years and experienced true moral character transformation. Today, his inspiring podcast reaches thousands of listeners.

Carlos Vasquez

About our guest

Carlos Vasquez is a speaker, author, and the Founder and CEO of HTB Consulting. After overcoming homelessness, addiction, and a 17-year prison sentence, Carlos transformed his life through faith, education, and personal development. He walked out of prison with just $200 in gate money and rebuilt his life from scratch.

Carlos is also the co-founder of the Pathway to Purpose Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to mentoring at-risk youth, including those in foster care and juvenile detention. Through his work and podcast platform, Carlos strives to inspire individuals to embrace resilience, overcome fear, unlock their potential, and create lasting change in their lives and communities.

Links:

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service
Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Monthly Donation
One Time Donation
Embraced Fully Fund
Embraced Fully Fund

↗ Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

View additional donation options here

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

]]> 2349 Interview with Rob Smith, San Diego County Director, Center for Employment Opportunities https://embracedfully.org/interview-with-rob-smith/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interview-with-rob-smith Wed, 24 Sep 2025 01:21:28 +0000 https://embracedfully.org/?p=2337 Watch the replay of our interview with Rob Smith, San Diego County Director, Center for Employment Opportunities:

 

About our guest

Rob Smith is the Site Director of the CEO San Diego office, overseeing all aspects of the Social Enterprise and our vocational services. Rob has 20 years experience as a nonprofit leader, specifically focused in underserved communities. He is also a lived experience expert in understanding the challenges of extreme poverty, domestic violence, sexual assault, drug addiction and incarceration from early childhood until his release from state prison in 2000 that was the existence of his life. Overseeing the CEO office in San Diego Robert has been able to combine the best of both his worlds; his relentless hustle and grind mentality has propelled San Diego’s office to the second largest site next to NYC; his deep understanding of and ability to partner/broker between justice involved communities and public systems has contributed to expanding San Diego CEO’s footprint across the local region.

About CEO

Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) offers individuals returning home from incarceration the ongoing support necessary to build career capital and financial stability. We believe that everyone, regardless of their past, deserves the chance to work toward a stronger future for themselves, their families, and their communities.

As the largest reentry employment provider in the country, CEO is using our scale, experience, and data – backed by our participants’ feedback on what works – to change the way government invests in criminal justice and workforce development.

Links:

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service
Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Monthly Donation
One Time Donation
Embraced Fully Fund
Embraced Fully Fund

↗ Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

View additional donation options here

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

]]> 2337 Interview with Libby Hoffman, President of of Catalyst for Peace https://embracedfully.org/interview-with-libby-hoffman/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interview-with-libby-hoffman Sat, 23 Aug 2025 17:16:13 +0000 https://embracedfully.org/?p=2329 Watch the replay of our interview with Libby Hoffman, President of of Catalyst for Peace:

 

Libby Hoffman

About our guest

Wise woman and practical visionary, Libby Hoffman has worked for more than 30 years at the nexus of international peacebuilding, organizational development, spirituality, and social transformation. She is the president of Catalyst for Peace, a private foundation she established in 2003 to grow a new architecture for peace — one that works from the inside out, where those most impacted by violence and war lead in building peace and restoring social wholeness.

For over 15 years, Libby has focused her work in Sierra Leone, as co-founder, funder, and ongoing program partner of Fambul Tok (Family Talk), a community-led post-war reconciliation program rooted in local culture and tradition. In response to the 2014 Ebola epidemic, she helped adapt the Fambul Tok approach into a groundbreaking national policy framework for people- and community-led planning and development. The framework has become a model for transformative partnerships between international donors, national governments, and civil society.

Libby produced the award-winning documentary film Fambul Tok and co-authored a companion book of the same name. A former political science professor at Principia College, she has degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Williams College. The mother of three grown children, she divides her time between southern Maine and Washington, DC.

Links:

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service
Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Monthly Donation
One Time Donation
Embraced Fully Fund
Embraced Fully Fund

↗ Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

View additional donation options here

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

]]> 2329 Interview with Eddie Ellis, Co-Director of Outreach & Member Services at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth [Video] https://embracedfully.org/interview-with-eddie-ellis/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interview-with-eddie-ellis Fri, 01 Aug 2025 16:58:36 +0000 https://embracedfully.org/?p=2316 Watch the replay of our interview with Eddie Ellis, Co-Director of Outreach & Member Services at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth and author of Change is Possible: I Never Gave Up, a personal memoir of his experiences:

 

Eddie Ellis

About our guest

Eddie Ellis joined the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth team in early 2018. He works with ICAN members across the country, connecting them to each other and with local resources. He also works with other directly impacted communities, including the family members of juvenile lifers.

Eddie, a native Washingtonian, was arrested and charged with murder at the age of 16 — he was later found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 22 years in prison. He served 15 years and finished the rest of his time on parole.

Eddie came home in 2006 and since that time he has worked on a variety of issues, including reentry, solitary confinement, and on behalf of people with disabilities who are in the system and coming home. He has served on the board of directors of a national legal organization, and helped with client center training for lawyers, probation officers and social workers. He is an advocate for those in the system, a mentor, and a motivational speaker. His lived experience as a formerly incarcerated person provides invaluable insight and depth into his work that allows him to connect with and engage the community he serves.

Change Is Possible: I Never Gave Up by Eddie Ellis

Links:

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service
Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Monthly Donation
One Time Donation
Embraced Fully Fund
Embraced Fully Fund

↗ Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

View additional donation options here

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

]]> 2316