Our Mission
A brief overview of who we are:
Ariel Tomioka
Ariel Tomioka is a poet, author, motivational speaker and spiritual mentor. She spent 10 years as an arts-in-education consultant and curriculum writer for Hawaii Poets in the Schools and California Poets in the Schools. She has a Bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Hawaii and a Master’s degree in social work from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. Ariel has worked as a court-appointed mitigation specialist in criminal cases from 2001 to 2025. In this capacity she has traveled extensively across the country to interview and do background research for her clients. The social history investigation and analysis she has provided has been used as expert witness testimony in murder trials, death penalty appeals, parole hearings and youth offender cases. She has been married to Michael Thompson since 2014. Of her hopes and dreams she says, “My clients, their families and the communities from which they come have been my teachers. They have shown me that while all humans have worth, often those who have borne the heaviest burdens have the most strengths and the greatest potential for transformative leadership. I want to play a supporting role in moving our country away from the philosophy of ‘Might makes right’ to ‘Right makes might.’ The only way we can achieve this is through self-development and community solidarity.”
Michael L. Thompson
Michael (“Sky”) Thompson is a life coach and certified Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) counselor. Convicted of the 1973 murder of two drug dealers in Orange County, he spent 45 years in the California Dept. of Corrections. From 1977 to 1983 he was a member of then-secret prison gang, the Aryan Brotherhood (“the Brand”) before becoming “the highest ranking gang leader to drop out” of a prison gang. Illiterate and dyslexic as a youth, Michael taught himself to read and write in prison and over time earned college degrees. He holds a Ph.D. in biology and in business administration. Michael’s formative years were spent on Big Pine Reservation in the High Sierras and in the Cleveland National Forest on the Arabian horse ranch owned by his Native American Elder and adopted father, Jack Martin. Before coming to prison, Michael spent his younger years participating in native ceremonial gatherings, hunting, fishing, caring for livestock, participating in rodeos, making weapons and learning martial arts. Michael says, “My first motivation to become literate was to read articles about nature and outdoor life. I extended that interest into a study of biology. Eventually I realized that until we understand ourselves as human beings, we will always be an outsider on the Earth. That is why Live Learn and Prosper is so important to me. Nature is already Whole. We need to allow Nature to teach us to be whole as well.”
LLP Mission Statement
Live Learn and Prosper (LLP) offers continuing education for individuals and families in crisis from substance abuse, incarceration, re-entry after incarceration, loss from natural disaster (e.g. fire, flood), long-term unemployment or under-employment, and any other issue that creates a barrier to personal growth and economic progress. Issues such as these have holistically negative impacts on an individual’s life and extends to his family and entire community in feedback loops of dysfunction and limited socio-economic mobility. Such serious obstacles to health and wellbeing are not easily or quickly removed. To address the inherent challenge, our program (described in greater detail in another section) offers long-term, in-depth education and community involvement that takes seriously the meaning of the word “education”—educare, meaning “to draw out.” As educators and mentors, LLP counselors draw out the individual’s personal history, his family’s history, his genetic heritage as it impacts on his vulnerabilities and risks, the impact of trauma and adverse life events, and his unrealized ambitions and potential for fulfilling them.
LLP embraces the individual-family-community perspective out of necessity. Widespread dysfunction at the individual level signals family dysfunction and communities in crisis. The reverse is also true. Communities that do not adequately support families in their essential roles as protectors and nurturers of children, and families that do not serve the needs of youth in their developmental journey to adult maturity are also failing in their responsibilities. Live Learn and Prosper addresses the individual-family-community interface. We involve families as critical components of individual healing. We also create relationships with local organizations and businesses as a way of fostering individual and family connections with their community. LLP is not a not a short-term program of “treat and release.” Our mission is rather to create permanent and consistent healing systems that individuals and their families can rely upon through their diverse and evolving needs. These healing systems include one-on-one counseling, group sessions, family activities and volunteer opportunities. Our primary mentors and educators will be clients who have successfully engaged in the educational process, have empathy for individuals in crisis, and have the desire and natural facility to assist in others’ growth and healing.
