LaWanda Hollister is a Nation Outside Engagement Specialist. She was incarcerated for 34 years. At 17 she went from living in her parent’s home, to prison. At 51, from living in prison to living on her own. LaWanda owns "The Chow Hall", a pop up food business, which at just a year old, has already been to events all over Michigan. She is also one of the first participants to be selected for the EMU Returning Citizens Fellow Program, and an advocate featured in various virtual and in-person events such as Day of Empathy, From the Numbers, and Legislating Freedom: The Importance of a Second Look. Additionally, LaWanda works with Avalon Housing in Ann Arbor to end homelessness in the community. 

"The only way for us to go forward, is to go together!"