The Transfer of Skills- From Drug Kingpin to Fitness Guru
There was a rap on the door of Café Henrie.
It was a young man waving at Coss Marte who is still a figure in his Lower East Side community, but a far cry from the drug kingpin he used to be. Now he’s the Founder and CEO of ConBody, a fitness and athletic company he developed during his four years in prison.
”I used to stash drugs in his diapers…now he’s all grown up,” he said in a tone of disbelief.
At the young age of 31, it seems as though Marte could’ve lived several lives. His mother immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic, when she was six months pregnant with him. His family settled into lower Manhattan, and his gym sits across the street from the apartment building he grew up in and a few blocks away from where he currently lives. According to Marte, the neighborhood wasn’t as safe as it is today, but it was more of a community.
“It wasn’t a pretty neighborhood back then. But it was a place where everybody knew each other and of you were from around the neighborhood you felt safe.”
Marte remembers times when his mother had to run errands, she would leave him in the park or hanging on the corner with guys from the neighborhood.
“That’s how I got into drugs, just watching the guys on the block just hustling. They had the money, and girls, the cars. I just looked up to them.”
Marte’s combined admiration and work ethic landed him a multi million dollar income as a drug dealer by the age of 19, but it also landed him with prison sentence of seven years. When he entered prison, doctors said he may not live through his full sentence. At 5’8” and 230 pounds, he was prone to serious health issues including a heart attack.
Marte didn’t want to die in prison, so he began working out in his cell. “I lost 70 pounds in six months,” Marte said. He kept track of his routines and developed a fitness plan. “I helped 20 inmates lose 1,000 pounds combined.”
After serving four years, he was released. Marte knew he didn’t want to go back to his street life, but needed an income.
“I went to knocking on the doors of hundreds of companies, but a lot of people shut it in my face because of my record.”
Sophie Whitin, of the New York State Council on Community Reentry and Reintegration and former employee of Exodus Transitional, says while New York upholds the Fair Chance Act. This act that makes it illegal for most employers to ask about the criminal record of an applicant before a job offer,
“When they get out, there are a lot of institutions they are excluded from they can feel like they are a subclass. A job is a way to get back into society,” she said.
Unfortunately, the Fair Chance Act wasn’t in place when Marte was looking for employment.
With this obstacle, Marte knew the best bet was on himself. He started his personal training business by getting clients working out at the park in his neighborhood and using the workouts he created while he was in prison.
His participation in reentry programs led him to gain the support Defy Ventures, an organization that gives a crash course in business development and funding to those who were formerly incarcerated. Marte said, “They feel that illegal entrepreneurs can become legal entrepreneurs, we have the same business skills we just need to transfer them over.”
ConBody has been in business for three years. With 16 employees, ten are trainers, including former inmates. They have had 10,000 people who completed the program through membership or single classes. Marte continues to look toward the future, but also wants to reach back to people who’ve been in his shoes.
“Now we’re going back into jails and prisons and speaking to inmates. We’re working on a training program, where we’re going to be training formerly incarcerated people to become fitness instructors.”
Marte was able to transfer his street hustling skills to build a successful business and stable lifestyle. Now he plans to help others with their own transition.
