black woman launches amazing project supporting other imprisoned and formerly incarcerated black women

While attending Johnson C. Smith University, Tiawana Brown was arrested and spent four years in federal prison for fraud while pregnant with her youngest daughter, Tijema.

Also a survivor of domestic violence and a woman of faith, Tiawana has turned her past experiences into a life of empowering others, especially girls and women. As the social entrepreneur behind Beauty After the Bars, Brown is committed to changing the world and how society views ex-convicts and formerly incarcerated people.

The program is geared towards women who are still incarcerated, and Black women specifically. “Beauty After the Bars is my way of being a voice for so many that don’t have a voice,” she told Nicole Rogers in an interview on Medium. “My organization strategically educates, informs, and bring awareness of what goes on inside prison doors to the society at large. We inform everyone of he rising cost of incarcerations and the increased populations of women and girls. We provide mentoring, education, support, and advocacy for women and girls both in and out of prison. We support inmates (through our adopt an inmate program) communicating with them throughout their incarcerations.”

Learn more about the program in the full interview in which Brown also highlights the shocking realities of abuse in women’s prisons and the school-to-prison pipeline here!)

Follow the organization on Instagram @Iambeautyafterthebars