10-for-10 Program Participants

10-for-10 Prize: Celebrating Changemakers

Meet the inspiring leaders driving impact in their communities. The 10-for-10 Prize honors bold visionaries tackling today’s most pressing challenges. Explore the stories, photos, and bios of our current and past cohort members—trailblazers transforming justice, building equity, and creating opportunity.

Support Our Work
10 for 10 particpant ecentrically presenting to group

2026 Participants

green underline
leon benson

Leon Benson

He/Him

Linkedin
Read Bio
brinton reed

Brinton Reed

He/Him

Linkedin
Read Bio
heather canuel

Heather Canuel

She/Her

Linkedin
Read Bio
shanta ford

Shanta Ford

She/Her

Linkedin
Read Bio
eric anderson

Eric Anderson

He/Him

Linkedin
Read Bio
shimere shanklin

Shimere Shanklin

She/Her

Linkedin
Read Bio
la meik taylor

La-Meik Taylor

He/Him

Linkedin
Read Bio
ava kamdem

Ava Kamdem

She/Her

Linkedin
Read Bio
john lam

John Lam

He/Him

Linkedin
Read Bio
felix rosado

Felix Rosado

He/Him

Linkedin
Read Bio

Past Particpants

green underline
marlon bacote edi

Marlon BaCote

He/Him

Linkedin
la nesha baldwin edits

La'Nesha Baldwin

She/Her

Linkedin
david carrillo edit

David Carrillo

He/Him

Linkedin
kiki dunston edit

Kiki Dunston

She/Her

Linkedin
antoniese gant edit

Antoniese Gant

He/Him

Linkedin
emiliano lopez edit

Emiliano López

He/Him

Linkedin
fatima monteiro edit

Fatima Monteiro

She/Her

Linkedin
rosemary rivera edited.jpg.

Rosemary Rivera

She/Her

Linkedin
ml smith edit

ML Smith

She/Her

Linkedin
andy williams jr. edit

Andy Williams Jr.

He/Him

Linkedin
adrian allen

Adrian Allen

She/Her

john bae

John Bae

He/Him

Linkedin
marsha king

Marsha King

She/Her

Linkedin
paul rothschild (1)

Paul Rothschild

He/Him

Linkedin
brigette simpson

Bridgette Simpson

She/Her

Linkedin
richard

Richard Smith

He/Him

Linkedin
mario f wright

Mario F. Wright

He/Him

Linkedin
becky brasfield

Becky Brasfield

She/Her

Linkedin
michael cox

Michael Cox

He/Him

Linkedin
khalil cumberbatch

Khalil Cumberbatch

He/Him

Linkedin
emile deweaver

Emile DeWeaver

He/Him

Linkedin
belen enriquez

Belen Enriquez

She/Her

Linkedin
vidal guzman

Vidal Guzman

He/Him

Linkedin
crushion stubbs

Crushion Stubbs

He/Him

Linkedin
christain bolden

Christian Bolden

He/HIm

Linkedin
chandra bolzeko

Chandra Bozelko

She/Her

Linkedin
marlon chamberlain

Marlon Chamberlain

He/Him

Linkedin
keeda haynes

Keeda Haynes

He/Him

Linkedin
chas moore

Chas Moore

He/Him

Linkedin
patrick rodriguez

Patrick Rodriguez

He/Him

Linkedin
leon teodoro

Leon Theodore

He/Him

Linkedin
Scroll to Top
leon benson

Leon Benson

Leon Benson, known artistically as EL BENTLY 448, is a community leader, author, and trauma-informed reentry specialist based in Detroit, Michigan. Since his legal exoneration on March 9, 2023, he has built a career in human rights, carceral reform, and systemic equity, turning lived experience into measurable institutional change. He serves as Founder and Executive Director of the Solitary Justice Project, an initiative focused on advocacy and legislative reform, while pursuing a Social Work degree at Wayne State University. His credentials include certifications in Leadership Development, Logistics, and Mental Health First Aid, along with Peer Specialist and Peer Recovery Mentor designations. As the architect of 448 Productions, Leon integrates arts-based advocacy through hip-hop and urban philosophy as tools for public education, healing, and youth mentorship. He combines strategic program development with certified peer support to design scalable solutions for public health, safety, and community empowerment.
Linkedin
brinton reed

Brinton Reed

Brinton Reed is a formerly incarcerated leader, first-generation college graduate, and graduate student studying sustainability, government, and policy at California State University, Northridge. His work connects climate resilience, urban agriculture, youth development, education access, and environmental justice. Drawing from his experiences in foster care and incarceration, he helps communities understand and challenge the systems shaping their neighborhoods. He leads Cool & Grow Zone, a community initiative, and its youth program, Sprout Seekers, which uses agriculture, science, and policy education to help young people and families imagine healthier, greener, and more equitable communities.
Linkedin
heather canuel

Heather Canuel

Heather Canuel is a justice strategist, nonprofit executive, and nationally recognized advocate whose lived experience informs legislative reform, healing-centered education, and systems-change work across Illinois and the nation. As Founder and Executive Director of Art from the Heart, she develops innovative approaches to healing, youth empowerment, and restorative justice for families impacted by incarceration. Her work has shaped public policy, advanced higher-education-in-prison initiatives, and contributed to curriculum development in the nation’s largest jail and many correctional settings. Across each effort, Heather builds pathways that transform trauma into healing, lived experience into expertise, and community wisdom into lasting systemic change.
Linkedin
shanta ford

Shanta Ford

Shanta Ford is a justice-impacted woman, entrepreneur, and community advocate committed to creating opportunities for people who are too often overlooked. Drawing from her own lived experience, she understands both the challenges of reentry and the importance of community support. Her work focuses on building practical pathways that connect people to resources, opportunities, and economic empowerment. Through initiatives like Don’t Eat Without Me, Shanta works to increase visibility and support for justice-impacted individuals and the businesses that invest in second chances.
Linkedin
eric anderson

Eric Anderson

Eric Anderson is a Michigan exoneree who transformed wrongful imprisonment into a mission for justice, accountability, and empowerment. After surviving years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, he emerged committed to advocating for truth, systemic reform, and meaningful support for others rebuilding their lives. Today, Eric serves as a leading voice within the Organization of Exonerees, where he champions policy reform, community reintegration, public awareness, and the dignity of people impacted by the criminal legal system. His lived experience fuels his commitment to ensuring exonerees are not only freed but fully restored with opportunity, resources, and respect. Known for his resilience, integrity, and leadership, Eric works to build a fairer, more accountable, and more compassionate justice system.
Linkedin
shimere shanklin

Shimere Shanklin

Shimere Shanklin is a justice-impacted advocate, organizer, and founder of Sisters by Love, a transitional housing program supporting women returning home from incarceration in Rockford, Illinois. Drawing from her lived experience, she addresses the barriers facing formerly incarcerated women through housing, community engagement, and systems-change efforts. She has organized alongside local, state, and national partners to elevate directly impacted voices and expand opportunities for people returning home. Through Canary Impact’s 10-for-10 Program, she is developing Women in Renewal: The Rise Leadership Lab, a pilot initiative focused on leadership development, systems awareness, and community participation for justice-impacted women.
Linkedin
la meik taylor

La-Meik Taylor

La-Meik Taylor is the founder of Taylor-Made Consulting Services LLC and a Bard Prison Initiative alumnus who discovered the power of his own voice through debate while incarcerated. He now serves as Senior Technical Assistance and Training Specialist at the NYS Youth Justice Institute, as a restorative justice peer with Urban Grief, and as an MBA in Sustainability candidate at Bard College. He built the VOICE Initiative to give system-impacted communities the same civic tools that Bard gave him: research, argumentation, and the confidence to challenge the systems that shaped their lives. His work is rooted in the belief that the people most harmed by broken systems are the most qualified to redesign them.
Linkedin
ava kamdem

Ava Kamdem

Ava Kamdem is a researcher, systems-change practitioner, and formerly incarcerated leader committed to transforming how reentry support is delivered. Drawing from lived experience navigating reentry and a background spanning nonprofit leadership, research, and cross-sector collaboration, Ava works to address the structural barriers that limit long-term stability for formerly incarcerated individuals. A graduate of Columbia University, Ava has published research on criminal justice and social networks and has led initiatives focused on systems coordination, survivor leadership, and community-driven change.
Linkedin
john lam

John Lam

John Lam is a first-generation Chinese American from Sacramento, California, who served 15 years of a life sentence before being commuted by Governor Brown in 2018. As co-founder of Cre8Innovations, he addresses housing challenges and advocates for marginalized students, including those who are formerly incarcerated or experiencing homelessness in higher education. Drawing from his own experience, John uses technology and policy to advance criminal justice reform. He earned a BA in Political Science from UC Berkeley in 2024 and began a Master’s in Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy in 2025.
Linkedin
felix rosado

Felix Rosado

Felix Rosado is co-founder and executive director of Let’s Circle Up, a restorative justice nonprofit, and author of Justice from the Inside Up (Living Justice Press, 2024). In 2022, Felix received clemency from the governor after 27 years inside. During that time, he co-founded the Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration and earned a bachelor’s degree from Villanova University. Since his homecoming, he has managed the Healing Futures youth diversion program and now teaches restorative justice at Chestnut Hill College and Community College of Philadelphia. Based in southwest Philadelphia, Felix works tirelessly to bring his people home and to build the cage-free world his daughter Jubilee and all children deserve.
Linkedin