Tahlia Isaac

You know?

I've owned all of it.

Yeah.

And I give context to it too.

Like, it's not like I'm like, this is, you know, all the bad stuff I've ever done.

It's like, this is the context behind it.

Like, why can't we sit in the complexity of what this looks like to be human and messy and...

make mistakes and take accountability and grow and learn and change.

And that's the point of justice.

That's what justice looks like.

So when I wrote the book, I knew that my story wasn't the only story that mattered, but often I'm the only one that gets asked about it to do talk to media or do all the things or share it.

And I wanted to show that, actually, I'm not the exception, that there's lots of us that have done this exact same thing as me, that have gone, we're going to dig in and make some changes, and we are not going to let our circumstances define who we are.

And I wanted to platform them and show those stories.

I wanted to show women in prison that those stories exist because there's no representation inside those walls.

And so how can we make sure there's like a lasting legacy of that representation?

And the book was it.

I think the thought process is like whenever I look at any of the women that we work with in prison, I'm like, you're me.

That's me.

She is me.

And if we look to each other in the community as women, even as human beings, like part of you is part of me.