CHRIS YOUNG is a consultant, author, and public speaker whose life and work speak to the power of choice, resilience, and the mind. Raised in Clarksville, Tennessee, he came of age in a community shaped by severe poverty, instability, and limited opportunity. At 22, he was sentenced to two life terms without parole under outdated federal drug laws and served more than a decade in prison. Determined not to let a life sentence confine his mind, he educated himself across disciplines from philosophy and history to economics, politics, and quantum physics, and taught himself to code without a computer. His case drew national attention after the federal judge who sentenced him resigned his lifetime appointment to the bench to fight for his freedom. In 2021, Young was granted executive clemency. Since his release, he has earned degrees in economics and public policy from Southern Methodist University and founded Coherence Consulting, a strategic advisory firm advising organizations on policy, technology, and societal impact. The Wound Is Where the Light Enters: A Memoir of Resilience (Little, Brown and Company) is Young’s debut book. He lives in Dallas.
