Have you ever wanted a safe space where you can just exist?

Where for a moment in time you can be you with all the intricacies and parts of you that people don't always understand.

Welcome to In The Deep, stories that shape us. I'm your host Zach Stafford and each

episode we create a space to be you, all of you, and all your messy and complicated glory.

Every story shares what it means to be a black and Latinx man living with different

hardships, whether it's the struggle of identity, discrimination, or health, and how they've managed to push forward despite the circumstance.

We hope to get closer, even if it's just a little, to a road of healing and understanding. Hi there, welcome back. Today I want to talk about something that I think we all have and that's confidence.

Those people we reach out to when we're down, the first name in your contacts that you

share good news with, the friends and family that are there for the ups and downs.

And I think we can all agree that sometimes these people come via communal spaces,

the stores or restaurants be frequent, a favorite sports bar, or even the barber shop.

These spaces tend to be the heartbeat of a neighborhood, allowing people to congregate in a place where they can freely be themselves.

Our guest today, Lorenzo Lewis, is a man that wears many hats.

He's an entrepreneur, mental health advocate, motivational speaker, author,

his resume is extensive and impressive.

He's best known for taking the idea of safe spaces one step further by turning the

quintessential barber shop into a place of healing through the Confess Project.

But before he thought of this creative way of bringing mental health to his community,

Lorenzo had to go through some tough times in his early years.

Young Lorenzo was someone who was really hurt and someone who was confused,

someone without parents, someone that realized that he was born in a prison,

someone that knew he had scars and that had a lot of issues, anger and impulsivity,

...