Shenandoah Chefalo

After spending nearly twenty years as a law office administrator, Shenandoah Chefalo became unsettled by the ever-revolving door of the criminal justice system, and set out to find a way to change it. She attended Coach U and became a certified life coach. Working through that program, Shenandoah began to understand her childhood in a way she never had before. She began researching, and learned that there are nearly 400,000 children in the foster care system each day in the United States. Out of those children, nearly sixty-one percent age out of the system without having a place to live; nearly fifty percent end up incarcerated within two years of aging out; and almost eighty percent of people on death row are former foster alumni. These (and other statistics) made Shenandoah realize that she had to do something.

She set out on a mission to tell her story and educate the general public about the grim realities of a life that she had always tried to hide. She believes that some of the grassroots solutions she offers in Garbage Bag Suitcase could change the lives of children and the landscape of the country.