#31: Kenyatta Leal - Surviving San Quentin Prison By Walking The Last Mile into a Job in Tech
Breaking Into Startups8 Maalis 2017

#31: Kenyatta Leal - Surviving San Quentin Prison By Walking The Last Mile into a Job in Tech

One thing Kenyatta Leal knows is that while there’s no manual for surviving a life sentence, tapping into the power of visualization can definitely get you far (in fact, as far as getting out of prison and now working as a Manager of Campus Services at RocketSpace, a tech campus for startups.) Kenyatta believes that the greatest challenges present the greatest opportunities. A former resident at San Quentin State Prison, Kenyatta owned up for the bad choices he had made in the past and corrected his course. He eventually became the founding member of The Last Mile, a startup accelerator and entrepreneurial program, where they help incarcerated individuals develop tech skills in order to prepare them for successful re-entry.

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#20: Nick DeWilde - Program Director at Tradecraft which teaches Biz dev, Product Design and Growth

#20: Nick DeWilde - Program Director at Tradecraft which teaches Biz dev, Product Design and Growth

A San Francisco-native, Nick deWilde was so certain he wanted to make movies but he ended up taking on a different path that impacts people’s lives. Nick is now the Program Director at Tradecraft, an ...

28 Tammi 201749min

#19: Matthew Dean Brooks - An Artist who became a Software Engineer

#19: Matthew Dean Brooks - An Artist who became a Software Engineer

Transitioning from arts to engineering was not a smooth ride for Matt Brooks, but he never allowed obstacles to get in the way because he was willing to embrace failures. Matt started out as a fine ...

25 Tammi 201731min

#18: Preethi Kasireddy - How Investment Banker & a VC quit her job to became a Software Engineer

#18: Preethi Kasireddy - How Investment Banker & a VC quit her job to became a Software Engineer

After excelling at Goldman Sachs and top venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Preethi Kasireddy decided she wanted to leave “the best job in the world” to become a software engineer. In her blo...

23 Tammi 201743min

#17: Ina Herlihy - How a young journalist hustled her way into Growth Marketing

#17: Ina Herlihy - How a young journalist hustled her way into Growth Marketing

Ina Herlihy is a San Francisco local who knows what’s it like to hustle your way to get the thing that you want right at a very early age. She is passionate about journalism and was an editor-in-chief...

18 Tammi 201731min

#16: Edgar Pabon - Army Captain who became an Engineer at Amazon Music

#16: Edgar Pabon - Army Captain who became an Engineer at Amazon Music

Edgar Pabon is a New York-native who, prior to his current position as a software engineer at Amazon Music, was a rapper, a communications degree graduate, and an active duty military. He knew that ...

16 Tammi 201738min

#15: Kush Patel - Founder of App Academy

#15: Kush Patel - Founder of App Academy

Kush Patel is the Founder of App Academy, which is considered to be the MIT of coding bootcamps. Prior to breaking into startup, Kush previously worked at hedge funds until he finally decided to pursu...

11 Tammi 201745min

#14: Chia Lin - From a Pastry Chef at a Michelin Star Restaurant to a Product Designer at a Startup

#14: Chia Lin - From a Pastry Chef at a Michelin Star Restaurant to a Product Designer at a Startup

Born and raised in Taiwan, Chia Lin has traveled far and wide. She came to Tennessee when she was 11, moved to California in high school and college, and lived in Tokyo for a year. Her love of food an...

9 Tammi 201743min

#13: Elaina Koros - Content Strategist who hustled her way into Facebook

#13: Elaina Koros - Content Strategist who hustled her way into Facebook

With a huge appreciation for writing and journalism, Elaina Koros majored in Government and English Studies while attending Georgetown University. Today, Elaina works as a Content Strategist at Facebo...

3 Tammi 201737min