Justice Champion Spotlight: Vincent Bragg, CEO & Co-Founder of ConCreates, Inc.

ConCreates, Inc. is a creative agency powered by currently and formerly incarcerated individuals. The company focuses on hiring a range of justice-impacted individuals and offers them training on how to transfer their existing skills into careers in marketing and communications — ensuring that talented minds have the opportunity to thrive.  

In the process, they work to shatter the stigma surrounding the one out of three adults in the U.S. with a criminal record, provide people with a second chance to be valuable members of society, and help reduce recidivism. We heard from CEO & Co-Founder Vincent Bragg about the power of storytelling, his personal experience with the justice system, and why more businesses should consider Second Chance Hiring. 

Read on to discover Vincent’s insights.

How did your personal experience with the justice system inspire you to found ConCreates?  

Two reasons. One, I saw how much creative potential was going to waste by sitting in prison for so much time. Two, the wages that we were getting paid to work in federal prison had to somehow change. Once I saw the success of our campaign with MeUndies, it pushed me to see the inner workings of the creative marketing industry. 

Tell us about ConCreates. How does the company's business model create second chances for people with criminal records?  

Our business model literally takes the skillset that a person used to get themself into prison and transfers it into something that will set them free creatively and financially. We give people the chance to travel outside of what they know and experience the world in a different light. 

ConCreates CEO & Co-Founder Vincent Bragg

ConCreates emphasizes the value of "transferable skills" in hiring. What are transferable skills, and how can businesses focus on them to better meet their hiring needs?  

My hope and goal is that businesses will start to look at incarceration experience as an asset and not a deficit. What you see on paper is not a total reflection of all that someone is and what their potential has to offer. It’s all a matter of perspective. My advantage is I am able to see the talent in other people with non-traditional backgrounds and help them see that talent in themselves.  

Tell us more about your work with Indeed to develop a “Transferable Skills Career Guide” — how does this resource help justice-impacted talent and other overlooked workers?  

Indeed’s purpose is to get people jobs, and they recognized that despite making up one third of the population, justice-impacted people are excluded from the workforce. This insight led to the CEO of Indeed, Chris Hyams, finding ConCreates and interviewing me on his podcast. This led to Indeed hiring us to create the Transferable Skills Career Guide, which helps people identify blind spots that recruiters or employers might not ask for directly. It teaches people how to tap into and leverage their hidden talents.  

Are there other projects, resources, or efforts companies should know about that can help them tap into the vast potential of justice-impacted talent?  

The Grow with Google Justice-Impacted initiative is a notable effort that equipped over 100,000 justice-impacted individuals with career readiness and digital skills. And organizations like RBIJ and Aramark are vital because they’re actually on the ground doing the work. The people and organizations whose day to day are spent serving this community are the ones we need to be looking toward.  

Has ConCreates encountered stigma around hiring people with criminal records?  

We’ve encountered stigma as far as our incarceration experience, which has excluded us from working with certain brands. The assumption that all crimes are created equal sometimes stands in the way of great potential for collaboration. 

What strategies have been most effective in breaking down those stereotypes and changing the narrative around Second Chance Hiring?  

The storytelling — being featured on stages, podcasts, platforms and publications. Being able to tell our story and show people our creativity and mindset has the biggest impact. Also, being on the ground with industry leaders at events and conferences and being able to show them who we are face to face and allow them to get to know us. To know us is to love us.  

Is there any advice you would give to justice-impacted individuals interested in pursuing a career in marketing and communications?  

Your biggest advantage is embracing who you are and owning your experience. A lot of the things that you may think are negative in terms of how people will perceive you, actually creates the opportunity for you to bring a fresh perspective to an old problem.  

Are you interested in Second Chance Hiring but don’t know where to start? Connect with RBIJ by submitting an inquiry form or download our free Second Chance Hiring Roadmap for employers to start your journey today.