We believe your past does not have to decide your future.

Jesse DeMers

Co-Founder & Executive Director

Jesse DeMers is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Second Chance Collective, bringing lived experience, entrepreneurship, mentorship, and a deeply personal commitment to helping people build lives of stability, purpose, and possibility.

Jesse entered prison at 19 and spent the next 13 years incarcerated. During those years, fitness became an important part of changing the direction of his own life, teaching him the discipline, consistency, and structure that would eventually shape both his career and his approach to helping others. He returned home determined not only to build a different life for himself, but to help others believe a different life was possible for them, too.

That determination led Jesse to found Bamboo Athletics, which grew from outdoor bootcamps into a thriving fitness and coaching community. Now voted Best Gym in Volusia County three years in a row, Bamboo reflects much of what Jesse believes about transformation: see the potential in people, meet them where they are, and provide the encouragement, structure, and accountability that allow that potential to emerge.

Jesse carries that commitment throughout the community. He volunteers at Tomoka Correctional Institution, helps facilitate the F.A.C.E. I.T. Program for the Volusia County Probation Office, works with youth through D.A.R.E., and serves on the advisory boards of Volusia Recovery Alliance and SMA Healthcare. He is also a stakeholder with Daytona State College and speaks nationally on reentry, entrepreneurship, rehabilitation, and the power of lived experience.

At Second Chance Collective, Jesse understands firsthand that starting over requires far more than a place to live. It takes employment, healthy relationships, practical life skills, accountability, confidence, purpose, and people willing to walk alongside you. His work is grounded in the belief that people should be accountable for their choices, but should never be permanently defined by the worst chapter of their lives.

Dr. Kideste Mariam Yusef

Co-Founder & Board Chair

Dr. Kideste Mariam Yusef is Co-Founder and Board Chair of Second Chance Collective, bringing more than two decades of scholarship, teaching, research, and community leadership to her lifelong commitment to create more just and effective pathways for people impacted by the legal system.

Dr. Yusef is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Bethune-Cookman University, where she also directs the Center for Law & Social Justice. Over the course of her career, she has worked at the intersection of research and real-world change, partnering with law enforcement, government agencies, community organizations, students, and system-impacted individuals to strengthen communities and expand pathways to opportunity.

Her work has earned national recognition. Dr. Yusef was the first Police Accountability Fellow at the Center for Race, Crime, and Justice at John Jay College and an Emerging Scholar with UCLA's Consortium for Police Leadership in Equity. She has received the Presidential Volunteer Service Award from the White House, the Presidential Award from the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice, and the Orlando Magic Social Justice Game Changer Award.

Dr. Yusef has led research, training, and community initiatives focused on reentry, mentoring, youth diversion, police-community relations, social justice, and criminal justice reform. She has presented nationally and facilitated trainings and community forums for government agencies, law enforcement organizations, schools, nonprofits, and community partners across the country and internationally.

At Second Chance Collective, Dr. Yusef helps ensure that compassion is matched by evidence, accountability, and effective practice. Her work is grounded in the belief that successful reentry requires more than good intentions, it requires removing barriers and building systems that recognize both the dignity and potential of every person.

For Dr. Yusef, Second Chance Collective is where advocacy and human possibility come together to create pathways for successful reentry and independence.

Sara Truhlar

Director & Board Treasurer

Sara Truhlar is a Director and Board Treasurer of Second Chance Collective, bringing nearly three decades of business and entrepreneurial leadership together with a longstanding commitment to community service.

Sara is a co-founder and former owner of TrueCore Insulated Panels, a manufacturing company she helped build before its acquisition by Nucor Corporation in 2019. She continues to serve as a consultant to Nucor across ten manufacturing facilities. Since 1997, she has also owned Southeast Insulators Supply, Inc., a manufacturer's representative organization serving the industrial and cold storage construction industries throughout the eastern United States.

Sara holds a Master's Certificate in Theology & Pastoral Ministry from Loyola University New Orleans and has spent many years in leadership and community outreach at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Daytona Beach, including serving on the pastoral leadership and outreach team, serving as president of the finance council, and leading a ministry supporting vulnerable children and families in crisis.

At Second Chance Collective, Sara focuses on building the partnerships, resources, and organizational infrastructure needed to sustain the organization, but some of the work she values most happens one person at a time. She is passionate about spending time with participants, listening to their goals, and helping them develop the practical skills and confidence to build the lives they want — whether that means learning to manage money, preparing for employment, navigating everyday responsibilities, or simply talking through the next step.

Sara believes meaningful change is built through relationships, consistency, and time. She is committed to walking alongside SCC's participants for the long haul — celebrating their progress, helping them work through setbacks, and doing everything she can to connect them with the knowledge, opportunities, and support they need to achieve their goals and build stable, independent lives.