Episode Overview
When someone goes to prison, it doesn’t mean they are at the end of their options…it can be a new beginning. That’s the message our guest Michelle Cirocco and her company Televerde are trying to spread and the mission they live. Michelle should know, she lived it.
About 25 years ago, Michelle Cirocco, made some “misplaced entrepreneurial” choices that led to her own incarceration. Now she’s helping to educate, train and prepare female prisoners for life after release. It’s not easy. As we’ll learn, the pipeline between prison and the workforce is full of roadblocks and deadends.
Michelle will share what she’s doing to knock down those roadblocks and why this mission is so important.
About Today’s Guest
Michelle Cirocco is the Chief Social Responsibility Officer at Televerde. Michelle is a strong customer champion with a tireless commitment to demand generation excellence and best practices. Michelle is an avid TED fan and recently organized and hosted TEDxPerryvilleCorrectional, which looked behind the curtain of incarceration to show the potential that exists in giving second chances.
- Michelle Cirocco LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellecirocco/
- Michelle Cirocco Twitter: @mcirocco
- Televerde LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/televerde/
- Televerde Twitter: @Televerde
On today’s podcast…
1:34 – Rachel is drinking from the waterfall of knowledge
7:15 – Conscious Capitalism brings Michelle and Keith together
9:33 – How Michelle and Televerde are providing incarcerated women with a second chance
11:51 – Michelle gets the book thrown at her and her life changed forever
16:28 – The realities of incarceration in the United States
19:17 – Breaking the stigma of being incarcerated
25:37 – Why Michelle and Televerde decided to focus on female prisoners
30:49 – A key decision that saved Michelle during her incarceration and is helping to save others
35:24 – Your choices don’t end when you go to prison, they begin
40:32 – It’s our responsibility to own our outcomes
42:49 – Blocking the box: holding past crimes against job seekers
45:51 – Filling the prison to workforce pipeline
51:20 – Three lessons learned from prison that helped Michelle in business
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More about Gina
Gina Trimarco is CEO/Founder of Pivot10 Results (training and strategy company) and Carolina Improv Company (comedy club and school). She has 25+ years of experience in marketing, sales, operations and people training. Gina combines street smarts and improv comedy skills with her experience in the corporate and entrepreneurial worlds, which sets her apart from her competition. A true Chicago city girl, her much older father trained her in sales starting at the age of 10, working in flea markets.
More about Rachel
Rachel Pitts is a Mom, Realtor, Author, and Creator of The Closing Curve, a new real estate software focused on enhancing the buyer experience. With a background in show business, her motto is: Entertain. Inform. Inspire. Find Rachel on social media as RachelonRealEstate, at www.rachelonrealestate.com and www.theclosingcurve.com and pick up her book, The Gift of Wreckage on Amazon
More about Keith Walters
As Managing Principal of Walters Dev Group, LLC, Keith currently assists companies via board and advisory roles. Keith has spent more than 30 years using a strong entrepreneurial focus to lead, advise and grow very successful businesses. His focus on operational excellence brings stability into organizations he leads and guides. Through a unique management system focused on company growth and strong culture development Keith helps build businesses that are true talent magnets.
Women Your Mother Warned You About™ is part of the Sell or Die Podcast Network. Check out these other amazing SORD podcasts.
