Quan Huynh
Biography
Quan Huynh has been described as a mighty warrior, a magician, and a mountain of goodness. He is the bestselling author of Sparrow in the Razor Wire: Finding Freedom from Within While Serving a Life Sentence. His book was written for men that are doing long or life term sentences, and in it, he shares how he found his freedom years before he was even paroled.
He works as the Executive Director for Defy Ventures, a non profit whose mission is to shift mindsets, to give people with criminal histories their best shot at a second chance. After spending twenty-two years in and out of correctional institutions, Quan was paroled from a life sentence in 2015 and created his first company six months later. The following year, he received the Peace Fellowship Award for his work with the Alternatives to Violence Project.
Quan has given talks at Tedx, Talks at Google, and been featured in Entrepreneur, PBS Newshour, and numerous other publications and podcasts.
Books
In 1999, Quan Huynh shot and killed another man in a gang-related incident in Hollywood, California. He received a prison sentence of fifteen years to life in a state that, at the time, did not parole prisoners with life sentences. Behind bars, Quan continued his downward spiral.
This could have been the end of the story for Quan, as it is for many prisoners. But somewhere along the way, he discovered a new path—one that prompted him to commit to self-reflection, truth, and personal responsibility.
Sparrow in the Razor Wire is Quan’s story of transformation inside a place many see as the end of the road. In his book, he shares the journey of redemption and discovery that led to his ultimate freedom. He found that, no matter the prison, the key to unlocking the door is in each one of us.