SAMUAL NATHANIEL BROWN
Founder & Director
Speaker · Entrepreneur · Educator · Innovator · Author · Advocate · Poet · Artist
Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, Samual Nathaniel Brown is a born artist, educator, organizer, and the driving force behind the 10P Program — a rehabilitation and emotional‑literacy initiative born inside a maximum‑security yard and now working across prisons, conservation camps, universities, and community settings. Samual’s life and work are anchored in one core conviction: people are not defined by the worst decision they ever made. Given the right tools, support, and communities, survivors of trauma and incarceration can transform survival into sustained leadership.
A former lifer who turned lived experience into a global model for emotional literacy, family‑centered reentry, and measurable rehabilitation.
SPEAKER
Profound Speaker
Samual is a compelling public voice who blends lived experience, research, and poetic storytelling. He regularly delivers:
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Leadership workshops for correctional and community audiences;
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Parole‑readiness briefings that model how to present credible behavior proofs;
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Interactive trainings for athletes, coaches, and youth workers (drawing from ELA: Emotional Literacy for Athletes).
Invite Samual for keynotes, panels, or interactive sessions that move audiences from sympathy to practice.
Request Sam to speak on your Podcast or next event!
Or click to download Sam's One Sheet or Bio.
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ENTREPRENEUR
Founder of the 10P Program
Samual built 10P from inside a maximum‑security environment into a mission‑driven social enterprise. Launched in 2014, 10P has evolved into a program platform that trains peer facilitators, licenses curricula, and partners with correctional systems and academic institutions. Under Samual’s leadership the organization has:
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Developed a sustainable revenue model that blends program licensing, facilitator training, and workshop delivery;
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Built a pipeline of peer facilitators (many formerly incarcerated) who move from program participants to paid facilitators;
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Created service offerings that fund skills training, employment coaching, and reentry supports for participants.
Sam Brown Wine
Samual is also the founder of Sam Brown Wine (sambrownwine.com), the world’s first and only “2nd‑chance” wine brand built to fund and teach. Sam Brown Wine is designed as a social‑entrepreneur strategy that:
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Creates a sustainable income stream to underwrite facilitator training, job‑readiness workshops, and micro‑grants for returning citizens;
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Provides practical skills apprenticeships (vineyard and hospitality training, small‑business basics, inventory and sales tracking, customer service and public presentation) that translate directly into marketable work experience;
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Offers investors a blended return opportunity: social impact + brand growth tied to an authentic mission and direct program outcomes.
Investors and partners receive clear program metrics (training completions, facilitator placements, documented behavior proofs) and visibility into how profit supports tangible reentry services. Sam Brown Wine is built to scale program funding while teaching participants transferable business and vocational skills.
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EDUCATOR & INOVATOR
THE BRAIN Project & 10P ELA
Samual designs curricula that are classroom‑tested, trauma‑informed, and measurable. He leads THE BRAIN Project and ELA — Emotional Literacy for Athletes — a targeted curriculum that translates emotional‑literacy skills into high‑performance team and leadership settings (sports teams, coaching staffs, and community athletics). It is Co-designed and Co-facilitated by 2X Olympian and Olympic Bronze Medalist, Tasha Danvers-Brown. Key 10P education features:
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Behavior Proofs: repeatable, observable actions (daily check‑ins, values statements, boundary scripts) that demonstrate internalized change;
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Decision Protocols: values‑forward scripts used in high‑pressure moments;
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Family Integration: the BELT model (Bridging Emotional Literacy & Transition) brings loved ones into the learning circle so repair begins before release.
The B.E.L.T. Program — Bridging Emotional Literacy & Transition
BELT (Bridging Emotional Literacy & Transition) is currently operating at CSP Solano and Malibu Conservation Camp #13 (Women’s Fire Camp). BELT is unique worldwide: loved ones and community partners learn alongside incarcerated participants, shortening the loop between insight and behavior and creating social capital that survives reentry. Its the only kind of its nature in the country! Samual designed the BELT Program in 2024 and in 2025 CDCR approved the pilot. Today, we are once again evolving what rehabilitation looks like not only for the State of California, but for the whole of humanity as we continue to tighten the BELT and provide Basic Emotional Literacy Tools to not only the incarcerated, but the family and friends that we expect to be their positive support once released.
Hearts Trump A.C.E.s
Sometimes love is found and relationships are formed in some of the ugliest places. However, we feel that Hearts Trump ACES. In other words, there is a love that has the ability to overpower and thrive in the midst of Adverse Childhood Experiences, generational, transgenerational, and personal trauma. In this workshop Sam and 2x Olympian and Olympic Bronze Medalist, Tasha Danvers-Brown don’t just teach theory — they rebuild relationships. This intensive, trauma‑informed experience is built for couples tired of seeing childhood hurt, generational patterns, and system‑impacts (incarceration, addiction, instability) quietly erode trust and connection. Through lived‑experience facilitation and the Hearts Trump ACES curriculum you’ll move past arguments about who’s “right” and practice concrete skills that change how you relate: mapping generational patterns, naming triggers, using step‑by‑step communication and repair scripts, building co‑regulation rituals, and completing a short, personalized Relationship Repair Plan you can use right away. With guided Heart‑Share and POSE practices plus small‑cohort, peer‑led coaching, this workshop turns ACEs awareness into doable relationship tools—because Hearts Trump ACES and love is a skill you practice together.
Boys 2 Men Workshop
Boys 2 Men is not just a workbook — it’s a full, invigorating workshop and proven program from the 10P Program that moves boys and young men out of survival mode and into emotionally literate, accountable adulthood. Boys 2 Men was developed by Samual Nathaniel Brown inside the California prison system and launched as a program in 2016 at California State Prison Lancaster, where we’ve graduated numerous cohorts. Built from Samual’s lived experience and trauma‑informed practice, the workshop blends short, activity‑based lessons, peer facilitation, restorative practice, and a workbook that also functions as an independent‑study tool aligned with THE BRAIN Project model and PSRM Exclusive to 10P. Though born in prisons, the curriculum is universal—designed for schools, community programs, families, reentry services, and anyone seeking clearer choices, stronger relationships, and practical tools for growth.
Key Topics Covered: Cell Phone Addiction: Addressing modern challenges for the incarcerated in an ever‑connected world; Prioritizing: Learning to focus on what truly matters; Setting Educational Goals: Empowering personal growth through education; Peer Pressure: Navigating social dynamics and making informed choices; Decision Making: Cultivating sound judgment and critical thinking; Emotional Literacy: Understanding and managing emotions effectively.
Support a cohort, purchase the program and workbook, or enroll a participant today to bring a tested, inspiring pathway to transformation into your community.
and more... See "Our Programs' for a more in depth look at the programs we offer or contact me at sambrown@10pprogram.org if you have an idea or an organization in need of a 10P Emotional Literacy System Program and aren't sure which one may be an exact fit. 10P is alive. We recognize that people need to get through where they are in order to get to where they want to be. In other words, we provide real world, real time, solutions and tools applicable to where you and your organization are today. Contact me!
AUTHOR
Visionary Author
Samual is the author of The Theory of Emotional Illiteracy‑Based Criminality and a contributing author in several anthologies and edited volumes that address justice, reentry, and narrative repair — including contributions with Dr. Tiffany Lim (The Ripple Effects of College Programs in Prisons), Dr. Kamran Afary and Elizabeth Malone (Drama and Narrative Therapy), and other collections that explore 13th Amendment issues and the human costs of LWOP (Life Without the Possibility of Parole). His curricula and books are classroom‑ready and have been translated and placed into international collections.
Notably, through partnerships with the West Coast Credible Messengers and initiatives with Ryan “Flaco” Rising, Samual secured placement of the Spanish edition of the Boys 2 Men Workshop into the Guadalajara national library system — expanding 10P’s reach into Spanish‑language audiences.
ADVOCATE
Advocate & Policy Builder
Samual translates frontline practice into policy. He is the author of ACA8 (addressing involuntary servitude) and is actively sponsoring two new legislative efforts:
Truth and Accountability in Paroles Act (TAP Act) — a policy framework to strengthen transparency, accountability, and rehabilitative standards in parole decision‑making;
Mandatory Appointment of Gang Experts for Juveniles in California — a procedural safeguard that would require independent, non‑law‑enforcement forensic experts for juveniles charged with gang‑related allegations.
Samual’s advocacy aims to align legal reform with evidence‑based rehabilitative practice and to protect developmentally appropriate approaches for youth.
POET & ARTIST
Poet, Artist & Cultural Bridge‑builder
Samual’s creative work—two‑time statewide spoken‑word champion (Louder Than a Bomb), recording artist, and poet—infuses 10P’s pedagogy with narrative power. Story, music, and spoken word give participants vocabulary for repair and a public platform to tell a credible transformation story. His art practice is a core method for teaching vulnerability, identity shift, and public accountability.
Listen to more from Sam here.
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YOUTUBE
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YOUTUBE
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