Prior to the opening of Chrysalis’ Orange County center in November 2018, Carrie Nocella participated in a tour of Chrysalis’ Downtown Los Angeles center and walked through the neighboring Skid Row area. After seeing Chrysalis’ work firsthand, she was sold on getting involved. “I’m a firm believer that you have to see it, you have to experience it, you have to touch it before you understand it. And once you do those things, you’re hooked. Chrysalis is a pretty special place.”
As Director of External Affairs at the Disneyland Resort, Carrie has played an instrumental role in establishing an exciting new relationship between the largest employer in Orange County and Chrysalis. Last year, the Disneyland Resort donated $600,000 to Chrysalis to help the nonprofit launch an Orange County center in Anaheim–and Carrie’s involvement doesn’t end there. Just as the partnership between Disneyland Resort and Chrysalis is a natural fit, so is Carrie’s volunteer role at Chrysalis.
Before returning to her hometown of Anaheim to work at Disneyland Resort in 2007, Carrie was a defense attorney in Sacramento, where she gained valuable experience that she shares via Convictions & the Job Search, a job-readiness class at Chrysalis specifically designed to equip clients with a history in the criminal justice system to conduct a successful job search. “I find a lot of what I did in my previous professional life has really helped in providing insight and, more importantly, support for a lot of the clients at Chrysalis,” she explains.
Fifty-nine percent of Chrysalis clients have some level of involvement with the criminal justice system, which can be a significant barrier to obtaining employment. As a volunteer, Carrie leads a class that confronts this issue head-on, sharing best practices with clients on talking about their backgrounds honestly with potential employers as well as providing the space to recognize the skills they bring to the table.
“You are not your conviction,” is the theme of Carrie’s class. She encourages clients to take ownership of their past actions without letting those past actions take ownership of them. Over the course of an hour and a half each week, Carrie has seen tension dissolve and walls fall as clients begin to open up with one another. “It happens organically, and people leave happy and confident. It’s a really special transition in such a short amount of time.”
Though, at times, the task of facilitating the class is challenging, Carrie believes the experience has helped her learn how to be humble and even more supportive of clients. “Trying to find employment with a significant criminal history is not easy. So I ask myself, how do I become a source of knowledge for them and at the same time, how do I become a cheerleader for them? It’s a delicate balance but a constant lesson.”
One Friday morning, as Carrie moved into the curriculum’s section on expungement, she noticed a client perk up. “A lot of clients don’t understand what that does for their rap sheet,” she says. Depending on the offense, an expungement can allow an individual to say they were never convicted or that their case had been dismissed, essentially removing it from their record. “I really stressed to the client that this was something that would change their life.”
A couple of weeks later, after pursuing additional legal aid resources with support from Chrysalis, that individual was successful in getting the misdemeanor expunged. This was quickly followed by the news that they had landed a full-time job! Today, a photo of Carrie with the client’s Employment Specialist sits framed in her Disneyland Resort office — a daily reminder of the lives she changes each week as a volunteer.