SECOND SHIFT · WEEKLY ROUNDUP
Week of Oct. 23–29, 2026. Another thin week for named outcomes: three stories, four people.
De'Ona Smith: from prison to managing a Skechers store. Coming home from prison, Smith went years without work and says she was turned down for interviews because of her record. The employer that finally hired her knew about it. "They didn't treat me any differently," she told WYSO producer Courtney Alspaugh, who has her own conviction and lost a plumbing job offer over it. Smith says she moved up twice within about 60 days, to assistant manager, and is now a manager at Skechers. WYSO's story does not say where the store is. "It feels good when somebody takes a chance on you and believes in you," she said.
Original reporting by Heidi Arnold and Courtney Alspaugh, WYSO (ReEntry Stories, Eichelberger Center for Community Voices), Oct. 27, 2026. Read the story →
Martín Vargas-Vega, Watsonville, Calif.: from the strawberry fields to software engineering. The son of farmworkers picked strawberries alongside his parents as a kid. He later served as student body president at Cabrillo College, was a founding member of Digital NEST and got into the Adobe Digital Academy in San Francisco, getting by on a small Adobe stipend and a GoFundMe for meals, Lookout Santa Cruz reports. He now works as a software engineer and tech career mentor. His path is the subject of the documentary "Las Mismas Manos," which had its West Coast premiere Oct. 24 at the San Francisco Latino Film Festival. Of Silicon Valley, he said, "There wasn't a community that I could really reside in because no one had done it."
Original reporting by Alia Yee Noll, Lookout Santa Cruz, Oct. 23, 2026. Read the story →
Carlos and Luis Ramos, North Carolina: from apprentices to the people training them. The brothers put in hundreds of hours to complete their electrical apprenticeship at Starr Electric Company, and in 2024 they placed second (Luis) and third (Carlos) in the ApprenticeshipNC electrical competition. They now work for the company where they apprenticed. At this year's competition at the N.C. State Fair in Raleigh, they cheered on three Starr apprentices, two of whom they had trained, EdNC reports. "At one point you were learning this stuff … so you can relate to what they're going through," Carlos Ramos said.
Original reporting by Sophia Luna, EdNC, Oct. 27, 2026. Read the story →
The pattern this week
All four now spend part of their working lives on the next person in line. The Ramos brothers train Starr's apprentices, Vargas-Vega mentors people trying to break into tech, and Smith used her interview to make the case to employers directly. Two of these paths started with an employer willing to go first: an electrical company that trains its own apprentices, and an employer that hired Smith knowing her record. As we see it, that first bet tends to pay out more than once, because the people who get through become the trainers and mentors for whoever comes after them. This is Location Decision's analysis; the facts are as reported by the credited outlets.
Second Shift tells the stories of people building what's next through new skills, new careers and second chances. From the Field items are curated from credited reporting, with Location Decision's perspective. Location Decision Originals are independently reported by our team.
This item was sourced and drafted with AI assistance and reviewed under Location Decision’s editorial standards. Second Shift tracks workforce outcomes to inform our broader editorial analysis. All reporting belongs to the credited journalists; read the original story for the full account.