🔥 In this episode of Lex Lumina, Sam Castor sits down with Missy Young, a former tech executive known as the “Tech Tigress,” and now the founder of Grit & Mercy, a nonprofit built to bring healing, restoration, and real second chances into the prison system.

This conversation is raw, powerful, and deeply human. Missy shares what most people never see: behind the mugshots, the charges, and the labels are often traumatized people who were never given a real starting line.

After surviving cancer and walking through an unimaginable family tragedy, Missy’s heart was reshaped, and she felt called into the darkest places to help others rediscover dignity, identity, and hope. What follows is not a political debate. It’s a story about faith, trauma, truth, and what it actually takes for someone to heal from the inside out.

🎯 Episode Summary Missy explains why the prison system often produces more brokenness instead of transformation, and how healing begins when someone finally hears the words: you are more than the worst thing you’ve ever done.

Together, Sam and Missy explore:

• Why trauma so often becomes addiction, violence, and self-destruction

• The difference between guilt (“I did something wrong”) and shame (“I am wrong”) • What it looks like to rebuild the nervous system after chaos

• Why people need community, therapy, and purpose: not just punishment

• How faith becomes an anchor when life collapses

• The real reason Missy believes the Church can’t ignore prison ministry Missy also breaks down the vision behind Grit & Mercy; a model that combines education, weekly therapy, neurofeedback, accountability, and job placement so inmates can reenter society stronger, healthier, and truly equipped to stay free.

This episode is about hope that doesn’t pretend life is easy. It’s about hope that walks straight into suffering, and brings light anyway.

👤 About Missy Young Missy Young is a former C-suite leader in the tech world and the founder of Grit & Mercy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to helping incarcerated men and women heal through therapy, education, mentorship, and spiritual restoration.

💼 About Sam Castor Sam Castor is an attorney, entrepreneur, and host of Lex Lumina: a space for long-form conversations on healing, leadership, faith, and responsibility.

💡 About Lex Lumina Lex Lumina is where real conversations live, stories of transformation, hard truths, and the deeper work of becoming whole. No performance. No hype. Just light.

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