Ismael Diaz Jr.
Running just one business takes an immense level of effort, commitment, and passion. Running two businesses takes an even greater level of innovation. And running three businesses is what happens when a person is not just committed, passionate, and innovative but also naturally driven and naturally talented.
Ismael Diaz Jr. from Long Island has three different business endeavors to which he devotes his time. Diaz owns his own laundry services, Free Time Laundry, runs Brklynz Empanadas, and he also works with aquaponic farming. 50 year old Diaz only returned from prison in 2016, and he is already working hard to move forward with his life.
Before going to prison, Diaz was running a multi-million dollar business. He was in the nightclub industry, and this business background has helped to inform Diaz’s later business endeavors.
While in prison, Diaz committed himself to pursuing higher education, knowing that he was going to want to climb even higher in the workforce when he returned home.
A few years into his prison sentence, Diaz, through no fault of his own, was a part of a physical altercation, which resulted in his being transferred to another prison. He was able to request where he wanted to go, and all he asked for was to be moved to a place where he would be able to pursue education. Diaz was transferred to Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York, where he was able to enroll in college courses. He first took the test to get his GED, scoring over 3000 points and achieving a 790 out of 800 on the reading section. Due to his incredibly high scores, Diaz was allowed to take the entrance exam to Mercy College. He was accepted, and therefore left Sing Sing with a complete bachelor’s degree.
Though Diaz accomplished a lot while in prison, he still experienced discrimination when trying to find work after his release. After returning home in 2016, Diaz remained mainly unemployed until 2018, due to it being so difficult to find work. Jobs would do extensive background checks and then refuse to hire Diaz based on his record. Diaz, who like most formerly incarcerated people, came home with no money, struggled greatly during his reentry.
“I don't know how you might even save money inside,” Diaz said. “I think anybody who didn't have anything before they went in, you're not coming home with anything, let alone a place to stay. So it's very stressful.”
Diaz was eventually able to get help and start his own business through Defy Ventures, an entrepreneurial program that provides networks and resources for formerly incarcerated individuals.
With their help and his own ingenuity, Diaz was able to start his own laundry service. Diaz, who had experience running laundry services from before his incarceration, borrowed money from his parents to start his business. Due to a deal he made with the building owner, Diaz had no overhead costs, like rent or gas, for which he needed to pay. He was able to use the money in order to advertise and market his business.
Diaz charges $2.00 for a pound of laundry, and makes a profit of $1.25. With his business experience, Diaz is an expert at calculating prices and profit on the spot, and he knows exactly how much he needs to charge in order to keep his business running.
Diaz’s service is called Free Time Laundry for two reasons. The first is that the name emphasizes his own freedom and represents the fact that he is no longer incarcerated. The second is that he frees up his customers’ time by doing their laundry for them.
“So like, what is your time worth? You give me $40 to wash your clothes, or you spend...three hours of your time, standing there in the summertime. And then you want to fold your clothes, go home, and hang it up because they're gonna stay wrinkled. Or would you rather that I fold it, and you can take it right out the bag and wear it,” Diaz said.
Though the COVID-19 pandemic took out many businesses, Diaz was able to keep his laundry service going even though he lost most of his regular customers. Diaz has a friend who runs an organization for homeless, mentally challenged people. The organization owns three buildings in Manhattan where they house homeless people and help them rehabilitate. During the pandemic, Diaz was given the contract to do all of the laundry for this organization, keeping a steady income at a time when everything was unstable.
At the time that the friend called Diaz to set up the contract, Diaz’s car had no breaks, his motorcycle wouldn’t start, and his rent was behind. Due to the connection with this friend however, Diaz went from making no money a week to making around $2000 a week. He used the money to rent a van in order to make picking up laundry even easier.
Though now, since the pandemic restrictions have lightened, the organization no longer sends their laundry to Diaz since they use laundry as therapy and take the residents to the laundromat in order to teach them a skill, Diaz still gets work from this group. He now has the linen contract for the organization, and just signed a three year agreement with them. Networking allowed for Diaz to get help, and having valuable contacts can be of the utmost importance to formerly incarcerated business owners.
This contract isn’t the only way Diaz was able to make the best of the pandemic. Diaz also used the pandemic to start his empanada company, Brklynz Empanadas. Before COVID-19 hit, Diaz was working in construction as well as laundry services. When everything shut down, he and his friends lost their construction jobs. They would instead hang out in one another’s backyards, waiting for business opportunities. Diaz, who felt uncomfortable letting the hosts buy him food, decided to start cooking for his friends. His friends loved the food and began spreading the word about Diaz’s amazing empanadas from friend to friend. Since then, Diaz has even had to incorporate a shipping component to his business since he has friends as far as Virginia and North Caroline wanting to order his food.
Diaz has always had a passion for food, and he says this love for cooking was actually very useful while he was in prison. Diaz learned to cook outside of prison, and says that cooking for himself and others allowed him to be a little more comfortable while incarcerated.
“They say, if you not the chef up north, you get left up north. So I definitely was very popular,” Diaz said.
There is no microwave available for use in prison, so Diaz had to cook using the heating coils from inside hot pots, which is a plastic, electric container that can be used to boil water. Incarcerated people get to go to the store every two weeks, and must spend $20.00 if they want to buy a hot pot. Once they do, they can take out the heating element, which is incredibly dangerous, but it is the only way to cook in one’s cell. Diaz would have to hide what he was doing, as it was not allowed to remove this heating element.
This would not stop Diaz from sharing his food with fellow incarcerated people. The Thanksgiving before Diaz was released, he was able to feed 40 people a real Thanksgiving turkey.
“I borrowed everybody's boiling pot. So I actually had four pots, four coils, and a fan trying to blow the smell out the window,” Diaz said. “I just can't cook small...I used to feed a lot of people in there.”
Diaz would also cook his empanadas while in prison. He and his friends would set up an assembly line when they could, in order to make as much as possible.
“We would sell like two empanadas, a bag of potato chips, and a soda for a pack of Newport cigarettes. So I had a lot of cigarettes,” Diaz said.
Now that Diaz gets to make empanadas for anyone he wants, he is looking to expand his business even more. He now rents a commercial kitchen, and he is even looking into starting his own restaurant. Since many diners closed due to the pandemic, he is looking into purchasing one of these locations, as the restaurant infrastructure is already there.
No matter what, Diaz’s passion for food will continue to drive him towards a future in the food industry.
“I like to eat, so I like the food to taste good,” Diaz said. “When you go to a restaurant making...imported spaghetti, and the spaghetti sauce [tastes] right out the can, it doesn't taste right. I’d rather cook it myself and know that it tastes good.”
Diaz’s last business venture is more unique and further demonstrates his innovative skills and entrepreneurial prowess. In 2008, Diaz read an article on aquaponic farming, and since then, he’s been studying the practice and the way it holds an incredibly promising economic future. Aquaponic farming involves a special tank and using the nutrients from fish in order to grow vegetables.
“You feed the fish, the water from the fish gives all the plants the nutrients, and that's it,” Diaz said. “You don't spend any more money. You just feed the fish...and I bought 10 fish...And every six weeks, it grows five pounds of romaine lettuce.”
Most people use tilapia fish in the tank. Once the fish get old enough or the tanks grow enough food, Diaz can even sell the fish for profit as well. According to Diaz, every indoor acre of aquaponic farming is equivalent to 30 outdoor acres.
Though Diaz has this separate venture going for him, he has no intention of leaving his other businesses. He loves his laundry business because it is a skill he knows he is good at as well as a skill he knows will always be needed. Diaz also loves his empanada business because he not only loves to cook and eat, but he also gets to be his own boss and make his own schedule.
Now, Diaz is excited to put his businesses on “The Map”, Witness’s network of formerly incarcerated businesses. He thinks that being a part of this network of other formerly incarcerated people will be extremely useful.
“I really think by putting everybody together, we can do a lot together,” Diaz said.
Diaz is also really looking forward to attending Witness’s July 18th, Suitcase Sunday event. He can’t wait to cook for everyone in attendance.
“When I cook and give it to somebody, I like to see reactions. It’s like people’s faces...it doesn't lie. Like when they really take the first bite, and you video it, like even if they want to lie, their facial expressions don't,” Diaz said. “I just like to see people's faces when they eat my food.”
Abby Stern