Jerome Debro
Jun 29, 20211 min
Marcus Bullock has taken the journey from prisoner to tech CEO to help families avoid the suffering he experienced firsthand.
In 2012, the entrepreneur and criminal justice reform advocate founded Flikshop, a tech company that offers an app that enables families to send personalized postcards to incarcerated loved ones. The photo-sharing platform aims to help combat recidivism, Bullock told Newsone.
“When I went to prison, I was forced to grow up fast,” he said of his eight-year sentence at 15-years-old for carjacking. “One of the things that got me through and allowed me to even be able to see the world and what the possibilities were before I came home was my mom and the letters that she would write me while I was in jail. In prison, getting mail is like hitting the lottery.”
Flikshop allows photos from your phone, Facebook, or Instagram to be delivered as postcards instantly for as low as $0.79 each.
In addition to the app, the Washington, D.C. native and TED Talk speaker is helping combat recidivism with two different programs. The Flikshop School of Business is a program that teaches returning citizens life skills and entrepreneurship. Then there’s the Flikshop Angels Program, where donations can be made to assist children of incarcerated parents to send postcards for free.
Read more via AfroTech https://bit.ly/3jmKUFb