Dr. Antoinette Glenn: From Crisis to Commitment in Education

Okay Nightmare Success lifters, we are back, and man am I excited about this guest. Dr. Antoinette Glenn is somebody I talked to after my buddy Charlie Grady connected us. Charlie was on the show, episode 118, and he’s got that interesting career as an FBI agent, movie star actor, and founder of Hangtime and Hall of Change. Antoinette is a Hall of Change recipient, which makes me proud because I’m a big fan of what they’re doing in Connecticut.

From Pediatrician Dreams to Prison Reality

Antoinette grew up wanting to be a pediatrician. She loved science, went to Virginia State University as a pre-med major. Life looked set. Then she met her ex-husband in Connecticut during what was supposed to be a summer break before moving to Maryland.

“I met my ex husband and I met him. And I was like, he’s a nice guy. I hang out with him for the summer or whatever. And then I go back to Maryland because my intentions were to move the Maryland. But I’m just going to go to Connecticut and hang out for the summer. I went to Connecticut hooked up with him and never left,” she told me.

She graduated college in 1991, got married in 1992, had her son by the end of that year. Then July 13, 1993, the feds came knocking. At five in the morning, with her seven-month-old son in the house.

“I was scared to death. And never in a million years that I thought that what he was doing what I’ve affected me. But it did,” Antoinette said.

The RICO Reality

Her husband was dealing drugs. She got swept up in a RICO conspiracy case. Close to 30 people across Waterbury got arrested that morning. Everyone except Antoinette, her ex-husband, and one other co-defendant took plea deals.

She went to trial. Her attorney kept pushing her to plead out, warning she faced over 20 years. She refused.

“I’m like no why would I plead guilty for something that I didn’t do I would not do it I’m going to trial,” she explained to me.

The trial lasted two weeks. Her husband had sold to undercover agents 11 times. When the feds raided, he had drugs in the house because he’d brought them home instead of taking them to his stash house across town. The jury found everyone guilty.

Antoinette got 97 months. Her husband got 30 years.

Finding Freedom Behind Bars

She spent over a year in county facilities before getting to federal prison in West Virginia. The distance was brutal. She didn’t see her son for over a year, only had maybe two visits total during her time away.

But something shifted for her inside. “I had to decide at that moment, was I going to do this time or was I going to let this time do me?” she said.

She went to the law library, researched her case, found precedents showing she’d been overcharged. Her attorney didn’t want to file an appeal, said she should be grateful for eight years instead of 20. She pushed anyway, filed a 2255 for ineffective counsel.

She won. Got re-sentenced to six years and six months instead of eight years and one month. Served five years, three months total.

“That was the first time that I realized that I’m never going to accept no for an answer,” she told me.

The Education Battle

When Antoinette got out, her federal probation officer told her flat out she could never work in education. Called her a “third party risk.” But when she relocated to Maryland with a sorority sister who worked in the school system, an HR person at the board of education saw it differently.

“She was like, you’re a biology major, you can still teach. I’m like, I was told that I couldn’t teach. She said, you definitely can still teach,” Antoinette said.

She filled out the application, disclosed everything, got fingerprinted. No charges came back. She got hired.

That was 2001. She’s been in education for 24 years now.

Building the Doctorate Dream

In 2007, she went back for her master’s at Coppin State University through a partnership with her district. Got it in two years. That qualified her to be an assistant principal.

But she wanted more. In 2015, she enrolled at the College of William and Mary for her doctorate in executive K-12 administration. Attended classes once a month, one week at a time, with two weeks over the summer. Four-year accelerated program.

“I want to be a doctor to begin with. There you go. Right. Right. So because I am not ex-filling, I don’t think they’re gonna let me be a medical doctor, but I am gonna get my doctorate,” she explained.

She walked in 2019 as Dr. Antoinette Glenn.

Hall of Change Recognition

In 2021, she was inducted into the Connecticut Hall of Change, the second class to receive this recognition. It’s Charlie Grady’s program honoring formerly incarcerated people who are making positive changes in their communities.

She’s not just working in schools. She’s going into prisons, speaking to new correctional officers. Going into communities, talking to at-risk youth. Living out that promise she made in the courtroom when she was sentenced.

“I knew that when I got out that I had to do something that was going to reach a whole magnitude of people that was going to help them in the same situation that was going to help all the broken women, all the broken kids because that’s what I was right. So now I found the purpose doing all of this. I found my purpose in prison,” she said.

She wrote that book she promised too. It’s called “Found Guilty: My 26 Year Journey to Redemption.” Available on Amazon.

Antoinette serves high-risk, economically disadvantaged children in the public school system now. Her goal is to leave the world better than she found it. She’s doing exactly what people said she couldn’t do.