Leveraging AI for Equity: How One Mother-Daughter Team is Changing the Future of Credit Scores | Women of Fire Fireside Chat Series

Did you know that potentially 1-in-3 Americans are living with an arrest and/or criminal conviction record?¹ This record follows people for the rest of their lives, impacting their access to jobs, banking services, education, and even housing.

This can happen to anyone. Mother-daughter team Teresa Hodge and Laurin Leonard know this all too well: Teresa’s federal prison sentence for a white-collar, non-violent, first-time offense introduced her to the justice system’s inequities.

Inspired to take action, Teresa and Laurin founded Mission: Launch and R3 Score to show that your worst day shouldn’t define who you are. Their solutions build a better economic future for people living with criminal records and their families through technology, inclusive entrepreneurship, and financial literacy.

In this inspiring Women of Fire Fireside Chat, we will explore how Teresa and Laurin’s perseverance and entrepreneurial spirit helps formerly incarcerated people reenter the workforce and gain access to opportunities.

Register here

About the Speakers

 

Teresa Hodge, President of Mission: Launch

Teresa’s passion for helping individuals with criminal histories is birthed out of her own lived experience with mass incarceration. After completing a 70-month federal prison sentence she co-founded Mission: Launch, Inc., with her daughter Laurin Leonard (Hodge). Mission: Launch focuses on inclusive entrepreneurship and unlocking capital for entrepreneurs with criminal histories. 

Teresa Hodge is the President & CEO and Co-Founder of R3 Score Technologies, Inc., (R3 Score), a tech solution tailored for the 1-in-3 American’s living with a criminal history. R3 Score offers the benefit of context to a criminal history thereby allowing those living with a criminal record to be met with success when seeking suitable work, banking, housing, and educational opportunities. The market-driven tech offers decision-makers the context they need to move beyond a criminal background check. 

Teresa is a proud member of various communities and is honored to have many forms of recognition. This includes Techstars Impact (2019), Harvard Kennedy School Carr Center Technology and Human Rights Fellow (2019), Echoing Green Fellow (2018), an inaugural Unlocked Futures Fellow (2017), an Open Society Soros Justice Fellow (2016) and an inaugural JustLeadershipUSA Leading with Conviction Fellow (2015). 

Teresa believes that without tech education and inclusion at the core of re-entering society after prison millions of Americans with criminal records will remain unplugged and locked out of sustainable opportunities. Her innovative approach to criminal justice advocacy has led to national recognition. She presented twice at SXSW (2016 and 2017) and is a 2017 Dewey Winburne SXSW Community Service Award recipient. Teresa’s TEDx talk “We’ve Made Coming Home Too Hard” highlights the impact of personal bias and social stigma on formerly incarcerated people. 

 

Laurin Leonard, CEO & President of R3 Score Technologies, Inc.

Laurin is R3 Score’s CEO. R3 Score is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business solution tailored for the 1-in-3 Americans living with a criminal history. R3 Score offers the benefit of context to a criminal history thereby allowing those living with a criminal record to be met with success when seeking suitable work, banking, housing, and educational opportunities.

Prior to joining R3 Score, Laurin was the Executive Director of Mission: Launch. Mission: Launch, Inc. is a not-for-profit 501(C)(3) with a mission to improve socio-economic outcomes for marginalized communities, with an immediate and urgent focus on returning citizens (the formerly incarcerated). We build software to uphold human rights and create opportunities to gain self-sufficiency through entrepreneurship.