Ask HN: I am a felon who went from homeless to millionaire. How to tell my story

1 points by felonthrowaway1 ↗ HN
I am a felon convicted of a violent crime who has had substantial success following my release from prison, such as:

- I've made a million dollars on three separate initiatives.

- I've bootstrapped a startup worth > $1M

- I was a very early employee of a company that had an IPO

- I've gone through Techstars, immigrated away from my home country, and was recently pardoned of my violent crime all those years ago.

I've gone from homeless convict that owed $20k+ in debts to being financially independent and so, so thankful that I was given a second chance.

I want to tell my story in a way that has maximum impact. How should I go about this?

Proposal: Write a series of blogs that lead to a release of a book. Follow the book with speaking engagements in prisons through the help of an NPO (thelastmile.org).

Is this thinking big enough? Should I do a traditional publisher or just self publish?

Lastly, not everyone knows that I am a felon. I've never spoken about it publicly. While I am fearful that people will view me in a different light, I'm determined to tell this story because I feel like it will benefit many of those out there who are in a dark time in their life. Can you think of any reason why I shouldn't tell this story?

2 comments

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If you do, stay anonymous.
I don't see how I can. I can see the benefits of staying anonymous (simply living my life as is), but staying anonymous wouldn't be as impactful.