Our Story
Welcome to Light After Life, where we believe in a movement beyond bars. Discover our journey, our mission, and what makes us different. We are based in Florida, United States, and dedicated to reform and rehabilitation that heals.
Meet Tara, Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer
Tara is a justice advocate and the Chief Operations Officer and Co-Founder of Light After Life, where her work focuses on strengthening the connection between community voices and organized advocacy to address the long-term impacts of incarceration.
Her advocacy is shaped by lived experience. After losing her best friend Billy to suicide and navigating barriers connected to incarceration, Tara became committed to addressing gaps in reentry, accountability, and support that leave individuals and families carrying lasting harm. That experience ultimately led her to pursue work within the correctional system.
In her role at Light After Life, Tara works closely with families and community partners to support reentry, healing, and accountability after harm.
Her perspective is also shaped by supporting her husband through his incarceration and the legal challenges connected to his case, which has further deepened her commitment to addressing extreme sentencing and the long-term impact incarceration has on families.
In addition to her work with Light After Life, Tara provides non-legal advocacy support, systems navigation, and writing for individuals and families impacted by incarceration through Ipomoea Purpurea LLC. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Florida Justice Institute and writes on accountability, harm, and restoration through lived experience, including in her book When Mercy Met Me.
Tara’s work focuses on:
Reentry & Family Impact, Restorative Justice, Emerging Adult Sentencing & Life Without Parole (LWOP), Extreme Sentencing Reform, Faith-Based Advocacy, Psychology & Law, and Systems Reform.
Our Vision
Light After Life aims to create a world where, together, we amplify the voices of families, survivors, and advocates to foster accountability that heals and justice that restores.
Change begins when we believe redemption is possible.
Meet Christina, Co-Founder and Head of Policy & Public Affairs
Drawing on her background in criminal law advocacy, Christina works to advance public safety by addressing the root causes of crime and creating stronger, more effective correctional policies in Florida. Her focus is on ensuring accountability, reducing repeat offenses, and building legislative solutions that protect communities while supporting long-term rehabilitation.
As a U.S. Military Veteran and survivor of dating violence, Christina turned her life-altering experiences into a mission to improve the justice system, especially for justice-impacted veterans, whose service-related trauma, untreated mental health challenges, and lack of support often contribute to system involvement. She advocates for policies that prioritize victim safety, offender accountability, and evidence-based rehabilitation, because safer communities are built through correction, not cycles of repeated harm.
Christina has seen firsthand that policies driven solely by punishment and revenge often fail to reduce future crime. With 95% of incarcerated individuals eventually returning home, public safety depends on preparing them to reenter as productive, law-abiding citizens rather than releasing them worse than when they entered.
Christina's work focuses on:
- Justice-Impacted Veterans
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Public Safety Reform
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Criminal Law
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Correctional Reform & Recidivism Reduction
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Evidence-Based Strategic Legislative Solutions
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Restorative Justice.