staceybooks

We keep talking about second chance hiring. It’s on conference stages. It’s in corporate ESG reports. It’s in LinkedIn posts with bold commitments and beautiful graphics. There are coalitions forming. Pledges being signed. Roundtables happening. Panels discussing “inclusive talent pipelines.” And yet… The offer letter disappears the moment the background check comes back. So what’s…

It all began at exactly 7:30 PM – the moment I said, “Okay boys, bedtime.” That was the trigger. The three-year-old immediately clutched his chest like I had shut off the oxygen supply. “Hassy…I thirsty.” Sir. You were perfectly hydrated at 7:29. The thirst appeared the moment pajamas entered the room. Beverage Negotiations I offered…

It’s 10:00 pm. The house is quiet. The dogs are asleep. The husband is apparently asleep because he hasn’t texted back. And my brain? My brain just scheduled a national expansion plan. Welcome to the nightly episode of “How Many Thoughts Can Stacey Have in 60 Seconds?” One minute I’m planning how to scale into…

Let’s say the quiet part out loud. Why NOT hire a Persevere graduate? Maybe it’s fear. What if they reoffend? What if my clients find out? What if this becomes a liability? What if I’m taking on risk? Those are real questions. But here’s what’s also real. Graduates of Persevere complete a structured, disciplined, technology-driven…

There is a very specific kind of confusion that only happens at 3:00 am. It is dark. It is quiet. The world is asleep. And yet my brain is clocking in for its most productive shift. So tell me, is 3:00 am early morning or late night? Because my ADHD brain cannot decide. If it’s…

Look at the Skills, Not the Label There is a moment in every interview when a résumé stops being paper and starts becoming a person. For justice impacted individuals, that moment often carries more weight than it should. Because before you see their certifications, their work ethic, or their grit, there is a silent label…

There is something no one explains about turning fifty. You do not suddenly feel settled. You do not suddenly feel finished. You do not suddenly feel like you have arrived. You feel reflective. You start lining up the decades and realizing how much they carried. At 20, I was building a family. At 30, I…

I went to bed with my back giving out. So naturally, my brain decided to build an entire dream around it. I woke up from a dream where my back just kept giving out. Not once. Not for dramatic effect. Over and over. In the dream, Persevere was building a new men’s transition home in…

There comes a moment when you realize a chapter has ended even if no one announced it. There is no ribbon cutting. No applause. Just a quiet understanding that what once fit no longer does. Sometimes closing a chapter looks dramatic. Other times it looks painfully ordinary. It is packing boxes and leaving a state…

Anyone else wake up at 3am after dreaming about a series you’ve been watching – where the finale leaves you hanging so hard your brain decides to finish it for you in your sleep? Yeah. Hi. That’s me. 🙋‍♀️ Prodigal Son on Netflix did that to me. Full-on cinematic dream continuation. No credits. No closure.…