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Contact: Polly King, Publicist
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CHICAGO, IL, January 20, 2022 – Thomas Vozzo left a lucrative career in corporate America disillusioned and convinced there had to be a better way to define success. Through a series of coincidental, fateful, and purposeful events, he was named CEO of Homeboy Industries, the most successful gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the country, founded by Jesuit priest Greg Boyle.
In Vozzo’s new book The Homeboy Way, he outlines how he went from generating billion-dollar revenues and making million-dollar profits in the service, retail, and distribution industries—his last corporate role was as CEO of the $1.8 billion ARAMARK Uniform and Career Apparel Group—to CEO of a nonprofit built on compassion, empathy, and social justice.
“What Homeboy has taught me is that we need to do business differently,” Vozzo says. “In order to truly help individuals and to help ourselves, we must not be so rule-bound. We need to bust up the system, swim upstream, avoid herd mentality.”
Leading with heart, authenticity and purpose, Vozzo’s new book, The Homeboy Way, provides a clear path to a new bottom line—including 55 rules to break—bringing the Homeboy Way to life as the perfect anecdote to the massive tidal currents of social injustice and inequities.
Under Vozzo’s direction, Homeboy has nearly tripled in size and impact. In 2020 Homeboy was awarded the prestigious Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize for its humanitarian impact, and earlier this year received a $20 million gift from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. Vozzo has also launched a $15 million Homeboy Ventures and Jobs Fund, which will enable likeminded people to invest in businesses that produce quality jobs that lead to real economic impact for our society. and community.
Each year, thousands of former gang members from across Los Angeles come through Homeboy Industries’ doors to make positive change. They are welcomed into a community of kinship, love, and exquisite mutuality, alongside access to a wide variety of services from tattoo removal and anger management to mental health services and parenting classes. The overarching goal is to see individuals heal from their trauma and see hope in their future, giving them the ability to contribute fully to their family and community.
Combining his personal experiences, hard-earned insights, and inspirational and sometimes heart-breaking stories of former gang members determined to break free, Thomas Vozzo presents the business—and life—lessons he has learned from Fr. Greg Boyle and the homies. He offers his wisdom for challenging the status quo and combatting social injustice, economic disparities, and racial inequities.
“The blind spot I had is typical for so many of us,” says Vozzo. “By just being in the mainstream of society, we stay isolated from those most unlike ourselves and outside our station in life.”
About Loyola Press
An apostolate of the USA Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus, Loyola Press embraces the Jesuit passion for helping people find God in all things. We continue the Jesuit tradition of excellence and service by providing inspiring faith-filled content for children and adults and by being people for others.
An apostolate of the USA Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus, Loyola Press embraces the Jesuit passion for helping people find God in all things. We continue the Jesuit tradition of excellence and service by providing inspiring faith-filled content for children and adults and by being people for others.
The Homeboy Way
Thomas Vozzo
February 22, 2022
Hardcover, $26.99
ISBN: 978-0-8294-5456-7
ISBN: 978-0-8294-5456-7
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