Sharon Richardson
Sharon Richardson walked down Jamaica Avenue in Queens with a pocketbook, a cell phone, a MetroCard, an umbrella, and a piece of paper with an address that no longer existed. Tears streamed down her face as she searched for a building that she would never find. Confused and lost, Richardson crouched down by a jewelry store and called a friend, hysterically crying, lost in her own space of emptiness.
This was Richardson’s first experience with reentry after leaving prison in 2010. She had been incarcerated since 1990 and served 20 years before her release. Now, 61-year-old Richardson lives on Long Island and runs two businesses: Reentry Rocks and Just Soul Catering.
Reentry Rocks is a nonprofit organization that works directly with formerly incarcerated women and helps them to confront and manage their trauma. Just Soul Catering acts as a sister organization, as Richardson only hires formerly incarcerated individuals to her team.
“When I realized that I had these two [businesses] together, and then I couldn't split myself in half, I had to make them sister entities,” Richardson said. “So Reentry Rocks, and Just Soul Catering work primarily together.”
Before starting these successful businesses, however, Richardson had to go through her own trauma and hardship. Still, she is thankful for the journey she has taken because it has led her to the career she pursues today,
“I'm just so happy to have had the experience. I know that may sound crazy, but I'm free and doing my thing right now. And if it wasn't for that story, this story, I wouldn't be here with you today,” Richardson said.
Part of the trauma Richardson faced when going to prison was leaving her two children. Richardson was incarcerated when her daughter was eight and her son was two, and this caused her mother to step in and raise her children. Richardson recognizes the toll this took on her mother, sharing how her mother had to start life over with young children, sacrificing her marriage to Richardson’s stepfather in the process.
“When you go to prison, you take your whole family, which a lot of people don't realize,” Richardson said. “Anyone that loves you, friends, loved ones, family members; you just drag everybody. That whole piece was difficult.”
Fortunately, Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, where Richardson served her time, had many programs for incarcerated people with children. Richardson was able to have “trailer visits” every three months for two and half days each time, where she was able to spend time with her children in a trailer set up nearby. Now, Richardson continues to nourish her relationships with her children in order to make up for lost time and work through their complex emotions that come from having an incarcerated parent.
After finally leaving prison in 2010, Richardson felt very lost. Reentry was extremely difficult to navigate, and Richardson knew she never wanted anyone else to experience the emptiness and loneliness she was feeling at that point.
“I believe that generated this fire under me to say ‘You have to pave the way so that no one else goes through what you just went through,’” Richardson said. “And so Reentry Rocks and Just Soul Catering come from that energy...and other pieces of my life that that co-created the idea of making it better for other women coming out so that they don't have to go through what I went through.”
The idea of Reentry Rocks came to Richardson while at her father’s house one day, watching a TV program called Black Girls Rock with her daughter. Some of her father’s friends were in the room, and as they were all talking about the program, Richardson mentioned the idea of something called Reentry Rocks. After hearing this name, a friend of Richardson told her that she should start a nonprofit organization. Richardson was reluctant at first, given that she had just left prison and was still trying to find her way again, but she held onto the idea. Around 2013, Richardson decided that she needed to get Reentry Rocks off the ground.
She was able to receive help and funding from Defy Ventures, an organization that helps formerly incarcerated people become entrepreneurs. By 2015, Richardson had developed Reentry Rocks and Just Soul Catering into fully incorporated sister organizations.
Richardson began getting the word out about her new programs through her volunteer work at various prisons. She made cold calls, created flyers, and sent emails to anyone she knew that could use reentry services. Richardson started organizing classes and support groups, allowing for Reentry Rocks to begin to build a client base, and once more and more people started coming, other organizations began reaching out in order to get involved. Now, Reentry Rocks is very well known and gets most of its clients by word of mouth.
Reentry Rocks coaches its clients through phases of reentry until they are situated in their new, free life. The programs help people to manage their baggage in order to be able to move forward on their journeys. However, Richardson prides herself on the fact that no matter what happens, once a person is a part of Reentry Rocks, they are a member of the Reentry Rocks family forever.
“Reentry Rocks gives people the opportunity, but also the challenge, of doing it for themselves with the support of a very loving, articulate staff who has lived experience to share with them,” Richardson said. “I think that's the most important bond that people have. It's a place of acceptance.”
Part of the phases of reentry include training formerly incarcerated individuals to work certain jobs. This allows many clients to be funneled into the welcoming work environment of Just Soul Catering. When clients “graduate” the Reentry Rocks phases, they earn their food handlers certificate and can begin work full time with Just Soul Catering.
Just Soul Catering serves Caribbean food, inspired by Richardson’s Caribbean background, as well as southern food inspired by the neighborhood in which Richardson grew up. Family and community is a huge part of why Richardson loves food, and she loves being able to use her food to bring people together.
Just Soul Catering was partially inspired by Richardson’s experience with losing her mother while in prison. Richardson’s mother suffered a stroke, and Richardson was allowed to leave prison, though still shackled and handcuffed, in order to say goodbye. When Richardson returned to prison, she was shocked to find that the other women had received permission to cook a feast in honor of Richardson’s mother.
“We sat around and cried and laughed and joked and told stories, and they asked me about Mommy, because they knew her from the visiting room. You know, everyone knew Mommy,” Richardson said. “And that's my food story. You know, food has a way of just healing. It has a way of just carrying everything that you could possibly think of, good or bad.”
Just Soul Catering is built off of that love and that experience of incarcerated women coming together to cook for one another.
“Just Soul Catering is built on a foundation of healing. Because that's what food does,” Richardson said. “I love people. I love food. And that's what Just Soul Catering is.”
Since COVID began, Just Soul Catering opened a GoFundMe page and raised $19,000 in order to feed people at Mount Sinai Presbyterian Hospital. The company has also cooked for homeless shelters, most recently feeding the homeless on Mother’s Day.
COVID has been immensely hard for many formerly incarcerated individuals, as it has amplified their struggles and mental health issues. After spending so long imprisoned, it has been incredibly challenging for many formerly incarcerated individuals to stop their organizations, appointments, activities, and daily human interactions. Richardson has seen how this lack of human contact has taken a toll on many of her clients.
Richardson tries to remain as a support system in these challenging times. She acknowledges how different her story would be if she hadn’t had a good support system after coming home herself. Richardson was able to pursue higher education while in prison, come home to two children with whom she still had relationships, and work toward a new career path. But this is not everybody’s story.
“If I didn't have those things, I might not be having this conversation. Because it's a snap of a finger to go bonkers, to just have a breakdown, a meltdown. Because it's too much. And the longer that you've been inside, the harder it is,” Richardson said.
Richardson still faced her own immense struggles, for example losing her home after her father passed away two years after leaving prison. She could not find a place to live and struggled to keep her job. Richardson greatly identified with her clients at that point, and understands that had just a few things been different, it would have been so easy to give up. Still, Richardson kept pushing, eventually ending up with her two flourishing businesses that allow her to pursue her passions.
“My story is my story. It's not everybody's story, but I'm a homeowner, my son was able to purchase a house three years ago, and my grandson lives here, and everything seems fine,” Richardson said. “But let us tell the world our story. And they will then understand that this is grace. This is grace that I'm living under. Because this is not everyone's story.”
Richardson’s work improves the lives of hundreds of formerly incarcerated individuals, and she continues to give tireless effort to make life better for so many other people. Deborah Katznelson, a board member of Reentry Rocks, praises Richardson for the way she has committed herself to making people’s lives better.
“Once you talk to Sharon...you will [be] even more impressed with how capable and honest and to the point she is. She's a force of nature,” Richardson said. “You want to be beside her. You don't want to be in front of her. Because if you object to anything she's doing, she's gonna go right over you because she knows the way to...help and...she's not gonna let you stop her.”
Richardson is more than happy to engage in this work, and she sleeps well at night knowing that she is helping people and that her heart is sincere.
“I love this work, I'm going to die in this work,” Richardson said. “I love the outcomes. I love the tears. I love the laughter. And I love those that are in a dark space, in a dark room, with a closed curtain and blinds, that will come and allow us to put the sun over them. And all the light comes out.”
Abby Stern