# Second Chance Studios

**Published by:** [The Slow Hunch by Nick Grossman](https://paragraph.com/@nickgrossman/)
**Published on:** 2020-07-02
**URL:** https://paragraph.com/@nickgrossman/second-chance-studios

## Content

Several years ago, I started volunteering at Defy Ventures, a program that helps formerly incarcerated individuals start their own businesses. Through Defy, I met an entrepreneur named Coss Marte, who beginning to build a personal fitness business called Coss Athletics. At first, it consisted of 1:1 and group sessions with Coss in parks, and has grown steadily since then. Now called ConBody, it features both a studio on the Lower East Side and a growing online business. Importantly, ConBody exclusively employs other formerly incarcerated individuals as trainers, and in addition to being a successful and growing business, the team members have a 0% recidivism rate. (As an aside, I can personally testify that the ConBody workout is legit. I literally threw up halfway through my first class. Though it's debatable whether that says something about the workout or my baseline fitness going in.) Today, Coss is launching a new initiative called Second Chance Studios. Second Chance Studios is a nonprofit video and audio production company that exclusively employs formerly incarcerated individuals in New York City. It will also serve as a job training and placement program focused on digital skills in audio and video production. Second Chance is currently fundraising for its launch on Kickstarter and as of now is about $36k towards its $50k goal. You can back it on Kickstarter here and learn more from the video below. I'm proud to be a backer and am excited to see the project launch.

## Publication Information

- [The Slow Hunch by Nick Grossman](https://paragraph.com/@nickgrossman/): Publication homepage
- [All Posts](https://paragraph.com/@nickgrossman/): More posts from this publication
- [RSS Feed](https://api.paragraph.com/blogs/rss/@nickgrossman): Subscribe to updates
- [Twitter](https://twitter.com/nickgrossman): Follow on Twitter

## Optional

- [Collect as NFT](https://paragraph.com/@nickgrossman/second-chance-studios): Support the author by collecting this post
- [View Collectors](https://paragraph.com/@nickgrossman/second-chance-studios/collectors): See who has collected this post