A self-described Empowering Influencer, “Joseph Jason” Gonzales delivers his powerful purpose and vision to the world with inspirational and masterful storytelling. He captivates and ignites passion in others through perspective and his poignant story of hope and survival from the ashes of tragedy to triumph.

As a teenager, Joseph struggled to find an identity and his place in society. His choices and actions eventually reflected a criminal lifestyle and this bleak outlook put him on a downward spiral of a destructive path culminating with a 30-year prison sentence.

Upon entering the system, it was behind these walls that Joseph had his first conscious awakening. One, continue to live his life the way he had been living it that ultimately brought him to prison, or forge a commitment to change. Making this adaptation wouldn’t be easy. The process would require a transformation in one of the most brutal, impossible, and violent environments imaginable. However, Joseph knew if he could succeed behind those walls, there was nothing beyond those same walls he could not do. That day he made one of the most crucial decisions of his life. He chose the road less traveled.

Being removed from society and placed in a tiny concrete cell, of a closed environment, behind the walls of a penitentiary, allowed Joseph to look at the world from the outside in. His perspective was completely different than those around him. He conceptualized his personal growth as a process through perspective and worked tirelessly to further develop and refine a series of core practices, principles, and concepts that he could continue to apply to his everyday life. He was determined to break the cycle and rebuild his life from the ground up. For Joseph, his confinement was a time of enlightenment, inspiration, and evolution.

Granted an early release in 2012, after 5,379 days of incarceration, and with only $200 and the clothes on his back to his name, he hit the ground running. Joseph knew applying his theories in prison was one thing, but he was intent to prove their validity and effectiveness in the everyday world. With entrepreneurial aspirations, he worked multiple jobs and launched his first business of many in less than a year of stepping out of prison, while also building relationships with people from all walks of life. Even the Deputy District Attorney who prosecuted him is now one of his closest friends and strongest supporters.

Emboldened by this knowledge, Joseph knew this could go way beyond him wanting to make a positive impact in the world. The ideas and their true purposes are within each and everyone of us. He sought to inspire and influence others with the core principles and practices he was able to develop, test, and implement through the fire of adversity and in the real world, year after year after year. He also refused to be held hostage by a restrictive narrative and was determined to break free of the societal stigma associated with being incarcerated, while empowering others to break through their mental barriers.

Now in a position to give back, Joseph helps others to overcome adversity, develop a foundation for growth, and maximize their potential for success.

He is currently authoring his memoirs and book on empowering through perspective.