When Shawn walked into the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) Memphis office in 2024, the New Orleans native felt like that was his last chance. He’d tried everything to get a job. More importantly, he needed to get an apartment because he wanted to support his young daughter, but nothing was working out.
“I’d already been to two different reentry programs, and they were just dragging their feet, not helping me find a job at all,” Shawn said. “I had no time left. It was now or never.”
Shawn reiterated that from the moment he entered the CEO office, he knew things would be different than the other places he’d gone to. He was interviewed by CEO, attended an orientation, and within a couple of days, he went out with a transitional work crew, beautifying the highways around the city and left each day with a paycheck.
“I felt renewed,” Shawn explained. “It was like I could breathe again; I could finally focus on something besides trying to survive. CEO was a lifesaver, and they made me feel at home from the first day.”
At 27, Shawn had already lived through more challenges than most people face in a lifetime – having been raised in the projects, kicked out of high school, and turned 17 in youth detention – but now he’s turning that adversity into fuel for success.
Shawn was skeptical at first due to his prior experience with other reentry programs. “But CEO was different,” he says. “They had a plan for me to succeed and taught me about self-discipline. I had never had that before now.”
Once a week, Shawn’s job coach helped him build a resume, practice mock interviews, and stay motivated. “I still talk to my job coach every week. I call them, they call me. I can call anytime and get help even today.”
After a month of transitional work, Shawn was ready for something bigger. “I wanted to jump straight into the CDL training.”
His job coach administered an assessment test, and Shawn passed it faster than anyone had before. The CEO helped him enroll in trucking school, paid his tuition, and provided him with a weekly stipend during his training.
“I was in class Monday through Friday from early to late. It was the first time in my life I had real structure,” Shawn was excited to share. “CEO gave me financial assistance while I was in school. I couldn’t believe it, I’m very grateful for that.”
After 160 hours of classwork and hands-on training, Shawn passed his CDL test on the first try. Though driving violations meant starting with a lower-paying company, he didn’t let that stop him.
“In my first six months, I drove through 48 states. It was amazing exploring the country and seeing new things,” Shawn said. “All I knew was the hood, and it showed me how small I used to think.
Eventually, Shawn joined a higher-paying trucking company and thrived until a family emergency forced him to step away. But he learned invaluable lessons from his job while he was there.
“Things are tough right now, but I’ll never give up. I’ve been down and out before, and it didn’t break me,” Shawn stated.
Today, Shawn hopes to open his own fair chance trucking business so he can hire justice-impacted people who want to work but can’t.
“I want to give someone another chance, just like CEO gave me another chance. I want to pay it forward,” Shawn said. “I’d like to challenge the idea that we are unhirable.”
From the streets of New Orleans to the open roads of America, Shawn’s journey proves that transformation is possible. He didn’t just find a job at CEO – he found purpose. He found support and structure. And he found that if you do the right thing over and over, good things will happen someday.
Shawn’s message to someone thinking about joining CEO is simple: “Don’t give up. Stick with it, and something awesome will come. The harder you work, the more it pays off.”
