The Power of Her Next Move
Strategy, Second Chances, and Building Beyond the Past for Women
I did not learn resilience in a classroom. I learned it across a chessboard. Chess captured me years ago, not because it was elegant, but because it was unforgiving. It does not reward emotion. It does not excuse impulse. Every move carries a consequence. Every position reflects prior decisions. And yet, even after a mistake, the game continues, if you remain disciplined.
That lesson became the foundation of my work as a business consultant, author, and advocate for second chances. In advising entrepreneurs, I consistently saw a pattern: ambition without structure. Passion without positioning. Many women had extraordinary ideas, but they were operating in reaction mode. They were moving quickly, often out of necessity, but not strategically.
Then I began working more closely with justice-impacted individuals, including women rebuilding their lives after incarceration. What I encountered changed the trajectory of my mission.
I met women who were intelligent, creative, and deeply resilient. Women who had survived trauma, instability, poverty, addiction, or abusive environments. Women who had made mistakes, but were determined not to be defined by them.
The issue was never capability. The issue was strategy. When someone has lived in survival mode, decision-making becomes immediate. You respond to what is urgent. You protect yourself. You move fast because life has required you to. But entrepreneurship, and sustainable independence, requires something different.
It requires thinking ahead. That realization became the heartbeat of my book, Checkmate for the Inmate: From Bars to Business. I wrote it to reframe how we view reentry, entrepreneurship, and personal responsibility. The book is not about sympathy. It is about structure.
Chess became my teaching tool. On a chessboard you cannot blame the opponent for your exposed king. You cannot win by moving without intention. You cannot rush advancement without protecting your position. And perhaps most importantly, no piece is insignificant.
Justice-impacted women often feel like pawns in systems that have already judged them. Employment barriers, limited access to capital, fractured support systems, these are real obstacles. But a pawn, when disciplined and patient, has the potential to become the most powerful piece on the board - the Queen. The difference is positioning.
In Checkmate for the Inmate, I emphasize that economic empowerment is not optional. It is foundational. Employment is important, but ownership changes your identity. Learning how to build, structure, and sustain a business, transforms how you see yourself, and how the world engages with you.
However, entrepreneurship is not a quick solution. It demands financial literacy, credit awareness, compliance knowledge, risk assessment, and accountability. It requires separating emotion from execution.
One of the most difficult lessons I teach is this: do not move because you feel behind. Many justice-impacted women feel pressure to “catch up” after release. That urgency can lead to rushed partnerships, unstable business decisions, or financial commitments that are not sustainable. Strategic growth may feel slower, but it is stronger.
Reentry is not only about freedom from confinement. It is about freedom from reactive thinking. The chessboard reminds us that a single mistake does not end the game, unless you abandon strategy. You can recover from poor positioning. You can rebuild from disadvantage. But only if you pause long enough to assess the board.
In my work through Business Beyond Bars and in the pages of Checkmate for the Inmate, I challenge women to ask different questions:
- What is my long-term objective?
- What risks am I overlooking?
- Who belongs on my team, and who does not?
- What skills must I strengthen before I scale?
These are not abstract ideas. They are practical survival tools for building stability. I have watched women walk into classrooms uncertain and guarded, carrying the weight of their past decisions. And I have watched them leave with structured plans, measurable goals, and a renewed sense of identity. Not because someone rescued them, but because they learned to think strategically.
That is the transformation. Influence is not about visibility. It is about disciplined positioning. It is about building wealth ethically, rebuilding identity intentionally, and understanding that your next move must serve your long-term vision, not your temporary emotion.
If you are justice-impacted, hear this clearly: You are not disqualified. You are repositioning. Your record may document your past, but it does not dictate your strategy. Ownership, whether through entrepreneurship, education, or skilled employment, reclaims your power. Think beyond the immediate opportunity. Protect your structure. Strengthen your knowledge. Calculate your risks. Then move!
Chess taught me that power is rarely loud. It is patient. It is deliberate. It is constructed through disciplined decisions repeated over time. The most important move in your life will not be the one that impresses others. It will be the one that secures your future. And that move begins with strategy.
