I learned to build where nothing was given.

I spent 21 years in California prisons. I went in as a young man who had caused real harm, and I came home a valedictorian, a coach, a co-founder, and a builder of programs that now run inside the same facilities that once held me.

Earned inside.

The harm was real, and the responsibility was mine. I decided the worst thing I ever did would not be the final word over my life, and I began to rebuild from the inside out through faith, recovery, education, leadership, and service. I earned my Associate degree with a 4.0 GPA and gave the valedictorian address in the Soledad visiting room, then earned a Bachelor of Science in Health Care Administration, cum laude.

Back through the gates.

I co-founded a California nonprofit serving incarcerated and returning citizens, and I went back into prisons as a coach and trainer, teaching men and women vision casting, personal leadership, and transformational coaching so they could coach their peers and help build a new culture from the inside.

Policy, in person.

I have testified at the California State Capitol seven times. Policy conversations change when people with lived experience are present in the room, not just discussed.

Mentora Institute.

Today I serve as Director of Coaching and Correctional Programs at Mentora Institute, founded at Columbia Business School by Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa. I lead the Inner Mastery, Outer Impact program inside California correctional facilities, beginning with Mentora's Prison Project at CSP Solano, and serve on the faculty of Mentora's leadership development program for incarcerated coaches.

Built From Within.

Built From Within exists because nothing durable is bolted on from the outside. Organizations, like people, are built from within. I work with nonprofit founders and Executive Directors, justice-impacted leaders, first-time founders still carrying the idea, and businesses that want it built right, helping them put in the infrastructure that separates funded, durable organizations from struggling ones.

Capacity building is the unglamorous work behind every strong mission: governance and boards, strategy, fundraising readiness, programs, and the systems that hold it all together. That work is organized around THE BUILD LIST™, the 28 things every fundable organization has.

Everything Built From Within helps leaders create, from clarity and structure to language, courage, and ownership, I first had to build in my own life, one choice at a time.

Coaching and speaking.

For 26 years I have taught, facilitated, coached, and spoken in rooms where the soul of the work matters as much as the strategy: inside prisons, in nonprofit spaces, leadership trainings, churches, boardrooms, colleges, the rooms of recovery, and community gatherings. I'm a Paradigm 360 Certified Coach, a John Maxwell EQUIP Associate Trainer, an ordained minister, and a former Toastmasters president, and I serve on the boards of The Heart Center and Initiate Justice.

Why this shelf

The same questions come up again and again in this work. What should I read before I recruit a board? What's a good tool for keeping up with meeting notes? What do I need to start a podcast? What should someone coming home buy to start job hunting? This site is my answer, organized by the jobs a founder actually does: Lead & Learn, Build the Org, Run the Work, Show Up Well, Back to Work, and Workspace.

Some links here are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That support helps keep Field Notes free. It never decides what goes on the shelf. Read how I recommend.

Work with me

If your mission deserves infrastructure as serious as your calling, start with a free 45-minute discovery call at richardmireles.com or write to richard.builtfromwithin@gmail.com.

Built like it matters.