Shawntelle Fisher: A Journey from Felon to Advocate for Children

From Bad Checks to Building Futures

When I talked with Shantelle Fisher, I wasn’t prepared for how quickly her story would shift from teenage mistakes to building something that changes kids’ lives every day. Shantelle walked out of federal prison for the last time on her birthday, November 3rd, 2011. By then, she’d already decided her next chapter would be about helping children whose parents were caught in the same cycle she’d broken.

Shantelle’s trouble started at 17 when she moved out on her own with a young daughter. “What I didn’t know is that if you wrote a check and didn’t have money in the bank, it was a felony,” she told me. “It was insufficient funds. I didn’t know that. I’m 17.” By the time they caught up with her, she had cases in nine different municipalities. Her parents, who had never dealt with the criminal justice system, trusted their attorney when he said she could plead guilty and go home on probation that same day. What he didn’t mention was the life sentence that comes with being a felon.

“What he neglected to tell them was that she’ll be a felon. For the rest of her life, right, which is a life sentence,” Shantelle explained. The stamp changed everything. She couldn’t work at the bank anymore. Doors slammed everywhere she went.

Prison as Classroom

Shantelle served time in both state and federal facilities, and the difference was stark. “You get a lot more stuff at the state. Like you can have your own TV, your own radio,” she said about state prison. “It’s not rocking like that” in federal prison, where you had to fight over who controlled the one TV in the common room.

At FCI Waseca, trying to avoid food service work, Shantelle ended up in the education department. What started as a simple request to teach algebra turned into something bigger. She built an entire GED program from scratch, creating algebra one, two, and three classes, plus basic math. Students going through her ACE program graduated at five times the rate of those in the traditional GED classes.

“People that were going through the ACE program were graduated getting a GED at race like five times the rate of the people that were in the traditional GED class,” she said. Looking back, she realizes God was preparing her for what came next. “If I hadn’t done it in prison, I don’t think I would be doing that today.”

The Question That Changed Everything

The shift happened before her final release, but crystallized when her case manager asked a simple question: what do you want to do with your life? “It was the first time anybody had asked me that question,” Shantelle remembered. She’d surrendered her life to Christ back in 2006 on the day she was arrested, and knew she wouldn’t be coming back to prison.

Within six months of her release, she founded SoulFisher Ministries. But first, she had to get educated. A professor named Steve Bay at St. Louis Community College took her call from prison, despite the automated message warning about accepting calls from an inmate. His response changed her trajectory: “Well, Shantelle, I’m less concerned about where you’ve been and I’m more concerned about where you’re going.”

Shantelle completed a two-year degree program in one year, earned a Phi Theta Kappa nomination, and won an All Missouri Academic Scholarship that gave her a full ride to the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She finished two bachelor’s degrees in two years instead of four, then moved on to Washington University and Eden Theological Seminary with full fellowships. She graduated with a 4.0 all the way through.

Building SoulFisher Ministries

SoulFisher Ministries operates in the Riverview Gardens School District across four sites during the school year and two summer sites. The mission is simple: respond to the needs of youth with incarcerated parents and promote restorative justice. Their Educate Now to Achieve Later program provides free after-school tutoring in math, reading, and ELA, plus enrichment activities like robotics, chess, circus arts, and leadership groups.

“The school’s know better than we do,” Shantelle explained about how kids find the program. “And so they recommend. And the great thing about our program is that we have them longitudinally. So we have sibling groups. Like once you get in soul fisher, it’s like a family thing.”

The program serves kids whose parents are incarcerated, but also those performing two to three grade levels below expectations. Research shows these kids are on the trajectory to enter the criminal justice system themselves. Shantelle’s program interrupts that cycle.

The System’s Contradiction

Despite being approved to run programs serving hundreds of children, Shantelle was denied when she applied to become a parent through the system. The state rejected her application twice, citing a 27-year-old assault charge from a mutual fight with a boyfriend that resulted in suspended sentences for both parties.

“The full facts of the case say that me and my boyfriend had a fight 27 years ago. We both got an assault charge against each other. The judge said, you stay away from each other and stay away from me for two years and it won’t be on your record,” she explained. But it stayed on her record anyway.

The contradiction is stark. Shantelle can direct programs for hundreds of kids but can’t bring one home. “I can understand it if you get in trouble. Then being able to access it. But I wasn’t getting in trouble. I was trying to offer my home to a kid.”

Opening Doors for Others

Shantelle’s fight isn’t just personal. “When I fight these fights, I’m not just doing it for me. I’m doing it for those that come behind me,” she said. She’s already paved the way for formerly incarcerated people to become licensed clinical social workers and certified drug and alcohol counselors.

Her work extends to employers too. SoulFisher maintains a portfolio of companies willing to hire formerly incarcerated people and runs successful second chance employer panels. Their newest program offers 90-day paid internships where employers can try out potential employees at no cost, with the promise of full-time employment with benefits if it’s a match.

“I often speak to employers because I try to bridge that gap to and open the doors,” Shantelle said. “And one of the first questions I ask them after I do my spiel and they learn all my credentials is like, who would hire me? And almost every hand goes up.”

Moving Forward

Shantelle’s advice cuts through the noise: “Don’t get caught up on where you’ve been, like stay focused on where you are and where you’re going.” She teaches this in SoulFisher’s reentry program, helping women identify their purpose and set goals aligned with reaching it.

“Don’t worry about the past. Like there’s nothing that you can do to change it. Like it’s yours for keeps,” she said. “You cannot undo it. So why trip off of it? Carry it along with you and still be committed to having a great life.”

SoulFisher Ministries is expanding nationally, backed by influential supporters who see what Shantelle has built. And she’ll become a parent through the system eventually. The system that denied her will have to catch up to what she’s already proven: that people can change, and that sometimes the best help comes from someone who’s walked the same path.