The construction boss who built a new life after three years in prison

The construction boss who built a new life after three years in prisonJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleTraci QuinnTraci Quinn is the founder and boss of Chicago-based construction firm Pink HatsIt is often said that the US is "the land of second chances". One Chicago-based woman has embraced hers, becoming the boss of a successful all-female construction company after three years in prison.Traci Quinn, a mother and grandmother, spent two decades as a nurse.It was while working in hospitals that she witnessed how cannabis helped some patients, such as those suffering from seizures. It inspired her to set up a company selling medical cannabis.However, back in 2016 she was arrested after transporting 50lb (23kg) of the drug into Tennessee, which has some of the strictest cannabis laws in the US. Despite Traci having legally purchased the cannabis in California she was tried and convicted for trafficking.She says the resulting prison sentence was traumatising. "I bawled, I cried, and asked God why. I'd taken care of people my whole life. God told me he didn't have me there as punishment, but on purpose."It was while behind bars that Traci says she felt a calling to set up a construction company on her release. She wanted to specialise in redevelopment work in Chicago's poorest communities.Her home city is one of the most racially and economically segregated in the US, with significant areas of poverty, particularly in its southern neighbourhoods.Despite having no construction experience, Traci set up her business, Pink Hats, in 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, shortly after being freed.Initially she used sub-contractors to undertake her projects, but she soon realised she was being taken advantage of."I relied on people who told me they could do the work; I learned the hard way that they couldn't," she says. "I had garages leaning to one side, everything looked torn up and ugly because I was usin...