Gilian Villatoro is my conversation partner today. He was born into a family that migrated to the US from Central America before he was even born. His educated father left behind privilege and family in order to start out fresh on his own in The North. They settled in LA where Ian now works as the National Operations Manager for Defy Ventures. He has an intimate understanding of the prison system as he also spent 12 years incarcerated. Not only did he better himself, earning 5 college degrees while in prison, he also had a hand in changing the entire educational system at the maximum security facility where he resided - all because somebody believed in him. We have a very compelling discussion about the importance of education inside the walls of prison, emotional literacy, and the hands-on, life-changing work of Defy Ventures.