Marlon Peterson is the founder of Precedential Group Social Enterprises, an advisory and social enterprise firm, and the author of Bird Uncaged: An Abolitionist’s Freedom Song. He is a co-author of Abolition for the People (Kaepernick Publishing) and a contributor to works by Kiese Laymon and others. His essays and commentary have appeared in USA Today, The Nation, The Marshall Project, and Ebony, among other national outlets. Most recently, he served as executive director of College and Community Fellowship, an organization dedicated to helping women with criminal convictions earn college degrees and gain financial independence. He is an Aspen Global Leadership Network Civil Society Fellow, a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Racial Equity, and a 2015 recipient of the Soros Justice Fellowship. Named to Ebony magazine’s Power 100, he is also the creator and former host of the Decarcerated Podcast, which featured in-depth conversations with leaders and intellectuals who have experienced incarceration. He is a former TED Resident and Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar. His TED talk, “Am I Not Human? A Call for Criminal Justice Reform,” has over 1.2 million views.
Peterson was incarcerated in New York State prisons throughout his 20s following his involvement in a crime as a teenager. He did not wait for release to begin the work. While inside, he co-founded a correspondence mentorship program with middle school students that grew into H.O.L.L.A. (How Our Lives Link Altogether). Since his release in 2009, he has served as Director of Community Relations at The Fortune Society and Associate Director of the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center (renamed Neighbors in Action), among other roles. He holds a B.A. in organizational behavior and change from New York University, where he was inducted in the NYU SPS Hall of Fame in 2024.
