What Justice Looks Like When You Start With People feat. Bianca Van Heydoorn

Bianca Van Heydoorn is the Executive Director of the Youth Sentencing and Reentry Project in Philadelphia. In this episode, Bianca shares how criminal sociology, reentry work, and lived experience shaped her leadership, and why meaningful justice work starts with proximity, dignity, and seeing young people as children first.

Lawyer Side Hustles and Parallel Work

While Bianca is not a lawyer, her work runs parallel to legal advocacy. She leads an organization committed to holistic legal support, positive youth development, and adolescent brain science, while also building sustainable infrastructure so the work can continue long term.

“We should not be living to work but work should be an adjunct to our life,” Bianca Van Heydoorn expresses in Episode 229 of You Are a Lawyer.

Bianca is also deeply intentional about leadership succession. She is actively working to prepare YSRP for a future executive director with lived experience of incarceration, reflecting her commitment to stewardship, shared power, and building institutions that last beyond any one leader.

This episode is produced by Skip the Boring Stuff, a podcast strategy company for business owners and creatives.