Essence Jones wanted to be a boxer since he was two years old.

“I ‘member telling my dad I wanted to box, I liked boxing. I’d say ‘Dad, take me to the gym so I can learn to box,” he said. “But he was all into drugs and alcohol so he never had the time to take me.”

Fifteen years later however Jones found the boxing lessons and opportunity he wanted - in a prison yard. An altercation involving a girlfriend, a friend and a gun brought him eight years of prison time. Time that could have made him crazy. Time that started with his fear as the bus drove up to the prison yard.

“I remember being on that bus coming into the yard and it was scary,” he admits. But he wasn’t scared for long.

“I looked out on the yard and there was men shooting dice, gambling, sitting around, and there was men running on the yard, men working out, doing push-ups, and shadow boxing. I looked past all the other activities to the boxing. And I asked someone ‘How do I do that? How do I get into boxing?”

He was introduced to a man who trained him. “I loved it. I learned real quick and I was naturally good at it.” People saw he was good and even brought in Gloria Peek and one of her boxers for a look at him.

“They saw I had potential and they loved me and they helped me,” he said.

For the next eight years Essence focused on one thing - boxing and improving his life.

“My drive in prison was so strong to want to change my life. I put my heart into it. I wanted to change so bad because I felt so bad. I couldn’t lay down,” he said. “I felt like if I laid down I’d never make it out of there. Working out was something I did to keep my mind off of what was going on out in the world and what was going on around me in prison. I couldn’t fight the judge. It wasn’t his fault. It was my fault. If I hadn’t gone to prison I’d never have learned to box. So I learned to box.”

Essence says he “went for hours and hours in the gym and eventually even trained others.” He didn’t know it, but he was learning a trade he would use when he got out of prison - training and coaching boxers.

For eight years he dealt with the anger and the fact it wasn’t the judge’s fault or anyone else’s fault he was in prison. It was his. Once he owned that anger and his actions, he started setting goals for himself, starting with the boxing.

When he left prison a year and a half ago, he went into a re-entry program designed to help him adjust to life outside of prison. That program propelled him into the next phase of his boxing dream. He met a succession of people who led him to connect with Gloria Peek again, to get the two jobs he holds now - one with the YMCA, the other with The Cheesecake Factory in Richmond, VA. He’s working on getting his life settled enough so he can pursue his other goals - working with Peek in Norfolk. He’s a far cry from where he was a decade ago and he’s glad.

“If I hadn’t gone into the re-entry program I’d be in the same place I was before I went into prison. But the re-entry program put me in touch with the people who helped me get to where I am now.”

“Looking back at it now I see it wasn’t the judge’s fault. It was my fault I was in prison, but it was a beautiful fault. If I never would have gone to prison, none of this would have happened.”

Prison was the cloud, boxing was the silver lining. But he still had to seize the opportunity to make it work. And the work isn’t over yet.

“I never feel like I’m good enough. Even when someone tells me I’m good I’m like, ‘Well, I’m alright.’ I never believe I’m good because when you start telling yourself you’re good you stop trying to get better. I stay hungry. I’m always trying to get better.”

Essence also wants to be known for “being real, being authentic.” And he wants to work with kids, to teach them to box, to teach them the life skills he didn’t have.

“You can come from the street and be positive too. You can come from having nothing and still be successful. You just can’t give up.”

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Tips Essence has for how he got through the bad times to where he is now:

1) Own your actions. Don’t blame anyone else for where you are or what’s happened to you. If you made bad decisions or stupid decisions, admit it and get past it.
2) Focus on a goal. His was getting in shape and learning how to box. Focusing on his passion kept him from being distracted by what was happening outside and inside prison.
3) Keep setting goals. When you reach one goal, set another.
4) Stay hungry. Don’t ever become complacent and think you’re so good you don’t need to keep getting better.
5) Keep it real. Be who you are and be proud of it. Be proud of what you’ve overcome.
6) Give back. Help someone else.