Five men are responsible for changing Amy King’s perspective permanently.

These men, the first five employees of her husband’s construction company, all had a “pretty significant criminal history” and had spent time in prison. King admits she had been sheltered her entire life, but learning the backgrounds and journeys of these men opened her eyes.

“We started, very much by accident, employing people coming out of the justice system to help us build buildings,” King says. “The more I learned about them and their history, the more I realized we have to do more.”

Now, as the founder of Pallet, a Seattle company that builds temporary shelters for unhoused populations, King and her firm have made a point of hiring people from unconventional backgrounds. More than half the team have experienced homelessness, substance abuse or the criminal justice system.

Pallet’s shelters are meant to be stepping stones to help people get out of homelessness, or offer temporary shelter in the event of a disaster. These shelters include laundry rooms, bathrooms and dining facilities. The company has 125 communities in 86 cities across 25 states.

In addition to Pallet, King helped found Weld, a nonprofit dedicated to providing services for people exiting the justice system, including housing, employment, education, and health resources.

She adds that the public perception of these groups is often deeply misunderstood. And while regulation and policies can help implement programs to help these communities, the only thing that can change human bias is exposure to different perspectives.

“I have found in my work that the vast majority of people have a false perception about homelessness, addiction, the justice system,” she says. “That perspective comes from a lack of understanding because they haven’t ever walked that road, or they haven’t really known someone who has. We can create public policy all day to protect those populations, but it doesn’t change human perception, or misperception.”