my name is tracey syphax. i'm a 20 year entrepreneur. i wrote a book titled "from the block to the boardroom" on the basis of my chronicled life story and i'm here to share with you all this morning. i'm also a recent as recent as two weeks ago one of the white house champions of change for this year by president obama. i spend a lot of my time -- thank you. i spend a lot of my time speaking on mass incarceration and grand jury tools for offenders coming home. i will tell you a little bit about why did that. >> we may seem strange partners on the stage here. the thing that binds us as we have both written memoirs. for me it's my first memoir. i've written eight novels. some of you may know some of my titles. in between boundaries -- mike really am an academic. i have been teaching in the university for many years and currently at hunter college. this is my first memoir. the first question i want to ask tracey is a question that a lot of people ask me actually is how do you get the courage to put in print some true and hard things about y

my name is tracey syphax. i'm a 20-year entrepreneur. i wrote a book titled "from the block to the boardroom" that basically has chronicled my life story, and i'm just here to share with you all this morning. i am also just a recent, just as recent as two weeks ago, one of the white house champions of change for this year by president obama -- >> wow. [applause] >> and i spend a lot of my time, thank you, i spend a lot of my time speaking on mass incarceration and using proper reentry tools, and i'll tell you a little bit about why i do that later on. >> while we may seem strange partners on this stage here -- [laughter] the thing that binds us is that we have both written memoirs. and for me, it's my first memoir. i've written eight novels. some of you may know some of my titles, "in between boundary boundaryies," etc. i really am an academic. i have been teaching in the city university for many, many years and am currently at hunter college. and this is my first memoir, "not for everyday use." so the first question i want to ask tracey

my name is tracey syphax. i'm a 20 year entrepreneur. i wrote a book titled from a chronicle of my life story. i will need to share with you this morning i am also as recent as two weeks ago one of the white house champions of change for this year by president obama and i spent a lot of my time -- thank you. [applause] i spend a lot of my time speaking on ending mass incarceration and re-entry too tools. i will tell you about why i do that. >> we may seem strange partners on the stage here. the thing that binds us us is we have both in written memoirs and for me it's my first memoir. i've written eight novels. some of you may know some of my titles, in between boundaries. really i'm an academic. i have been teaching at the city university for many years and currently at hunter college. this is my first memoir. the first question i want to ask tracey is a question that a lot of people ask me actually is how do you get the courage to put in print some and the hard things about yourself because when i am writing a novel i can hide behind th

my name is tracey syphax. i'm a 20-year entrepreneur. wrote a book titled "from the block to the boardroom" that basically has chronicled my life story, and i'm just here to share with you all this morning. i am also just a recent, just as recent as two weeks ago, one of the white house champions of change for this year by president obama -- >> wow. [applause] >> and i spend a lot of my time, thank you, i spend a lot of my time speaking on mass incarceration and using proper reentry tools, and i'll tell you a little bit about why i do that later on. >> while we may seem strange partners on this stage here -- [laughter] the thing that binds us is that we have both written memoirs. and for me, it's my first memoir. i've written eight novels. some of you may know some of my titles, "in between boundary boundaryies," etc. i really am an academic. i have been teaching in the city university for many, many years and am currently at hunter college. and this is my first memoir, "not for everyday use." so the first question i want to ask tracey i