Evelyn Lachapelle

Evelyn Lachapelle

Evelyn grew up in Oakland, CA  after graduating from high school in 2003 she moved to Los Angeles for college.  She completed the courses required to receive a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship from Loyola Marymount University. In 2009 she gave birth to a daughter and in 2012 decided to move back to Oakland to be closer to friends and family. In 2013 she was convicted on three charges related to her minor role in a marijuana distribution operation. She was sentenced to 87 months in prison. She had no prior record and, in fact, had no indicators that she was a repeat offender.

On February 1, 2019, she was released from federal custody and began her 4-year probation sentence. She immediately found employment in a prominent hotel as a sales and catering coordinator. She had held this position prior to being taken into custody and was very grateful to return to the work she enjoyed. After a co-worker searched her name and found her convictions she was fired. Since then, Evelyn has become the owner and operator of Fresh Out Car Wash, her own mobile car detailing business. She is dedicated to offering jobs to people who have recently been incarcerated. She understands what it's like to serve your time and still come home to an environment that would deny you employment because of your past.  

She has experienced the War on Drugs personally, her family has now experienced it, and her daughter was left without her mother because of it. The Second Chance Act has failed her and she has made it her goal to create a real second chance for men and women being released from prison.