Andrew Gibbs-Dabney: Owning His Story and Embracing the Future

Sometimes the most powerful stories come from people who decide to own their truth completely, regardless of the consequences.

I first heard about Andrew Gibbs-Dabney through my old fraternity brother Greg, who sent me a LinkedIn article about this guy who’d done something I rarely see: he voluntarily shared his prison story with the business world. Not because he had to, but because he was tired of living in fear of his past being used against him.

Andrew’s journey from a kid with severe foot deformities requiring constant surgeries to a successful outdoor apparel company founder isn’t your typical entrepreneurship story. It’s messier, more honest, and ultimately more inspiring than most business profiles you’ll read.

From Morphine in Childhood to Oxycontin in College

Andrew was born with feet so severely pigeon-toed they faced backwards. From two weeks old until age twelve, he endured regular surgeries, casted to his hips, spending significant time in hospitals in New Orleans and Little Rock. The kid was prescribed morphine and pain medications throughout his childhood - a detail that would become tragically relevant years later.

“Your brain works in certain ways and the more you do certain actions, consume certain chemicals, your brain becomes more efficient at those things,” Andrew told me. “I was prescribed morphine and was obviously in the hospital on pain medication for all these surgeries, all through childhood and I think it has something to do with later on in college when I became more explorative in my substance use, I found opiates and it was just kind of an immediate comfort with that substance.”

When he got to college, someone offered him Oxycontin. That familiar feeling led to a spiral that consumed his university years, eventually leading to his dismissal from the University of Arkansas.

The Liquor Store That Changed Everything

What happened next was what Andrew describes as occurring in “scenes from a movie” - his memories fragmented by the haze of drugs and Xanax. Owing money to dangerous people and desperate for his next fix, he made a decision that would define the next decade of his life.

He robbed a liquor store. Amateur hour - wearing a motorcycle helmet, browsing wine for fifteen minutes, asking (not demanding) for the register contents, then leaving on his bike. The next day, while camping, someone called to tell him his picture was in the newspaper.

“What I did the next day was bought some drugs, you know, and went camping,” he said. “That was kind of my default throughout all this. I’ve been an outdoor enthusiast so whether a drug addict or not, I was actually out in the woods.”

Taking Back Control of His Own Story

Fast forward through three days of cold turkey withdrawal in jail, ninety days in Austin rehab, a boot camp program, and years of rebuilding his life. Andrew earned his degree, started a family, and launched Livesly Designs, an outdoor apparel company born from his lifelong passion for the outdoors.

But then came the moment that inspired his viral LinkedIn post. A potential investor backed out after running a background check, discovering Andrew’s felony conviction.

Instead of accepting this as just another rejection, Andrew made a choice that took tremendous courage. He decided to control his own narrative.

“That’s it. I’m not gonna let them use that leverage against me anymore,” he said about his decision to go public. “I’m going out front with it.”

He spent a week staring at that LinkedIn draft before hitting publish. The response was overwhelming - new investors reached out specifically because of his honesty, media coverage followed, and suddenly Andrew wasn’t hiding from his past anymore.

He owned it completely.

As Andrew puts it: “My past is not my present, but it brought me here.” That perspective shift - from shame to ownership, from hiding to transparency - is what transformed a potential business liability into his greatest strength.

His story proves that sometimes the thing you’re most afraid of people discovering is exactly what they need to hear.