Rochester native Marcus Hill was a model of success: a high school graduate, an Army veteran. But, some bad decisions led to a 17 year prison sentence for possession of marijuana. After five and a half years, he made parole and moved to a unit that had something called the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (P.E.P.). That’s when, Hill says, “the lights came on.”
Hill dedicated himself to the program, which led to him launch his own apparel business. Now, he visits 65 prisons around Texas, recruiting others for P.E.P. His success story is one of many fostered by the program and the benefits of entrepreneurial skills.
Hill is a featured speaker at an international entrepreneurship conference held in Rochester Thursday through Saturday. We preview that conference, and we talk about supporting unconventional entrepreneurs. Our guests:
- Marcus Hill, prison recruiter for the Prison Entrepreneurship Program and founder of Chosen Apparel and Design
- Dr. Duncan Moore, professor of optical engineering and vice provost for the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Rochester
- Dr. Richard DeMartino, director of the Simone Center for Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and professor and chair for innovation and entrepreneurship at RIT
