I have very few early memories of my father free in society, able to come and go as he pleased. I do, however, have memories of visits, phone calls and letters going back and forth between my house and the prison. I grew up in the shadow of mass incarceration and spent 20 years without the physical presence of my father. My story is not unique. Over 2.7 million children in the United States currently have an incarcerated parent and millions more have experienced parental incarceration at some point during their lives. It is my goal to continue to be an active participant in a community focused on criminal justice reform and use my experience to advocate for other directly impacted people.