Jimmy Wu is the Executive Director at InsideOUT Writers (IOW), a nonprofit organization that teaches nearly 40 weekly creative writing classes inside the Los Angeles County juvenile halls and 5 adult state prisons. Over twenty years ago, when he was just 16 years old, Jimmy made a horrible decision to commit a crime which resulted in 13 ½ years of incarceration. It was during his time in a juvenile detention facility in Los Angeles that he was introduced to IOW and became one of the organization’s first creative writing students. His firsthand experiences of growing up in our California detention facilities has resulted in him being an advocate for juvenile justice reform and his work at IOW allows him to assist with providing direct reentry services and support to young men and women returning to society while also overseeing administrative responsibilities and actively fundraising on behalf of IOW. It is his hope that the young people IOW works with will learn from his mistakes and not walk down the wrong path as he once did. In the past 6 years of being on staff at IOW, Jimmy has embraced his previous roles as IOW’s Case Manager and Alumni Advocacy Director, followed by Interim Executive Director and now Executive Director.