It was snowing the day Shawn Barksdale was released from prison in January of 2016. He remembers that day well: the feeling of his clothes, the smell of the air, the hugs from his mom and daughter.
“… [W]e say the air smells different on this side of the fence, but it does. It really smells different on this side of the fence,” said Shawn. “I remember my daughter and my mother just crying. I hadn’t seen my mother cry like that, probably ever.”
Shawn had been incarcerated for so long – 14 years – that he had to take nausea medicine after the car ride home to help him with motion sickness. His body was no longer used to being in a moving vehicle.
While incarcerated, Shawn earned his GED, received a variety of trade certificates, and enrolled in college courses.
After being released, Shawn had one goal: to do good.
“That’s all I really wanted to do, was just do good, get a job, which I did. I ended up working at Burger King. I tell people I worked at Burger King like it was a five-star restaurant because I just wanted to prove myself. I wanted to prove to the community that I had changed, but more so – I’m an only child – I wanted to prove to my mother that I had changed,” he said.
Later, Shawn began working at a print shop in his hometown, and one day, his supervisor allowed him to take home an old screen-printing machine.
With this machine, he began his own screen-printing business, Press 4 Time Tees.
“I knew nothing about business. I knew nothing about LLCs and what the IRS requires from you to start a business. But I was determined. I knew that anything I set my mind to, I could do,” he said.
Shawn has grown as an entrepreneur since then. He created and hosts a podcast, Ten Minutes of Truth, where his guests range from returned citizens and their loved ones to lawmakers and attorneys.
“… I wanted to give a voice to the voiceless…” Shawn said. “I didn’t know how, but I knew this podcast was the future.”
He also founded Boots on the Ground, an initiative that works to close the gap between youth, the community, and law enforcement.
“We [Boots on the Ground] just want to provide options. We just provide information. And we want to be the biggest information portal that we can be so that our youth and our parents and elders in the community can understand that you do have options,” said Shawn. “One of the main reasons we work with the children is because I didn’t have anyone to communicate with [when I was young], and a lot of the time, [young people] feel they don’t have anyone that understands them. … [i]t’s very important that we bridge the gap of communication for them.”
Through all of Shawn’s endeavors, he works to give others the second chance he received.
“I believe that anybody can change because I changed. Not only are we coming home and staying out of trouble, we’re actually running the community,” said Shawn. “With my second chance, I’ve been able to help others along the way.”