Aly Tamboura
Associate Program Lead
The Just Trust
San Diego, CA USA
“We have so many ways to recycle a plastic bottle, but we think of people as disposable. We have to shift the narrative...people are redeemable.”
Videos
By Roadtrip NationAly Tamboura
Milestones
My road in life has taken me all over.
Got married at a young age, dropped out of college, and decided to pursue my dream of entrepreneurship and start my own geotechnical company.
While my professional life was excelling, my personal life was headed for disaster—in 2005, I was convicted of assault and spent the next 12 years in state prison.
Early in my sentence, I got involved with the “lifer” community in prison and was so inspired by their optimism and self-awareness that I began taking classes and self-enrichment workshops.
I eventually applied and was accepted to a college program through San Quentin State Prison—I attended Patten University and graduated with my associate’s degree.
I helped relaunch the San Quentin News, an inmate-run newspaper that advocates for criminal justice reform and is distributed to every prison in California.
Took part in an intense coding program for inmates, which led to me working at the software development workshop within San Quentin—my work caught the attention of Mark Zuckerberg.
I was released from prison, began working as a full-stack software developer, and attended a coding bootcamp—this led to my position as a technical program manager for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
After a few years with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, I'm continuing my work in criminal justice reform with The Just Trust.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Career
Associate Program Lead
I'm working to reform the criminal justice system.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Technology
Non-Profit Organizations
Upholding a Cause and Belief
Day to Day
My daily work is dedicated to helping transform the practice of prosecution so that key decisions that are made quickly in the justice system, yet have long-lasting consequences, are enriched with insights from data analysis and are tied to outcomes like community health and safety. A lot of this is done through building relationships and allies in this fight.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for everyone
Prepare yourself and take advantage of every opportunity. Study hard and dive deep into yourself in order to find your true passion.
Hurdles
Challenges I Overcame
Formerly Incarcerated
Gangs / Violence
Mental Health Issues
