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    Canadian ex-inmate strives to end stigma through popcorn business

    After Emily O'Brien was released from an Ontario prison in 2018, where she spent four years for a conviction related to drug trade, she decided to start a company to help people with criminal records find regular work.

    The idea came while O'Brien, 35, was serving the prison term and inmates told her about the struggles of finding a job due to the stigma attached to prison, as a majority of employers avoid former prisoners.

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    I Launched a Company While Serving Time for Coke Smuggling

    In St. Lucia, I got into a car—we were on our way to a house that stores narcotics. I was with “Noah,” I’ll call him, and some of his friends. We were there so we could take cocaine back to Canada.

    I got my measurements taken by a woman in the house, and we then all headed to the mall. We were there to get a dress for me that would conceal the drugs. “I’m going to shop, but I’m shopping for you.”

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    4 million Canadians have a criminal record. Companies not hiring them are missing out, say advocates

    During her time in prison, Emily O'Brien came to the conclusion that it would be difficult to find a job after her release, so she developed an idea for starting her own business. 

    Now as chief executive of her company, Comeback Snacks, O'Brien makes a point of hiring people with criminal records.

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    “I started my popcorn business from behind bars. It gave me a second chance at life”

    I grew up in Westdale, a middle-class neighbourhood in Hamilton, as the second of three daughters. My father worked for the Catholic church, and my mom was a homemaker. We were frugal, wearing second-hand clothes and hosting DIY birthday parties with homemade cakes and games. I never had cool snacks or flashy outfits at school—I was a tomboy who played sports.

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