In the late 2000s, Kari Ferrell become infamous online when she was dubbed the “Hipster Grifter” in the media for scamming men out of money in Brooklyn. While the sensationalized version of her life grabbed headlines, behind the scenes, a lot more was going on. Ferrell’s memoir, You’ll Never Believe Me: A Life of Lies, Second Tries, and Things I Should Only Tell My Therapist, explores what led up to her illegal exploits, from her upbringing as a Korean adoptee in a Mormon family in Utah, with few Asian American peers, to mental health struggles, embracing her queerness, and exploring her multi-faceted identity.
Eventually, Ferrell’s exploits caught up with her, and she wound up on Utah’s most wanted list. Ferrell documents what her jail stint was really like, from prison riots and relationships to how she and her fellow inmates used what was available to them to decorate their jail cells, and themselves, turning towels into swans, using candy wrappers to make bouquets, and improvising makeshift makeup. She writes honestly and humorously about this time: “We made do with what we had to in order to make things feel a little more like home. I was like a law-breaking Martha Stewart. Oh, wait.”
In this episode of Finder and Keepers, Ferrell goes in-depth about having to part with her suitcase of possessions, how she adapted to the strict rules about which items (and how many of them) were allowed and which were restricted, the creativity fostered by that mandated minimalist environment, and how her relationship with her belongings changed once she was done serving her sentence.
Ferrell also discusses the reasons behind the often draconian rules about belongings behind bars, where even books are closely monitored, the dehumanizing intent of these restrictions, her prison reform activism, and the items she is now most grateful to have access to.
About our guest:
Kari Ferrell is a producer, writer, speaker, activist, and creator. Her work is centered around incarceration and the justice system, mental health, human rights, adoption, and other issues. Kari’s memoir, You’ll Never Believe Me, received a rave review from the New York Times, a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and was named a Goodreads Readers’ Most Anticipated Book of 2025. She is developing a scripted television program with Warner Brothers Discovery and Mindy Kaling’s Kaling International, and is the co-host of the Asian culture podcast Disoriental alongside Youngmi Mayer and Henry Bae.
Instagram: @hotdoghandjobs
Memoir You’ll Never Believe Me
Finders and Keepers is hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel and is a production of Open Secrets Magazine. Thank you to Sound Off Network and Dan Schroeder for audio production support. If you like the podcast, we’d greatly appreciate if you’d leave a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts and tell your friends about it to help us reach new listeners. Want to share your own stuff story, tell us who we should interview next, or share your own most treasured possession? Contact us at findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers
For more about our attachments to our belongings, read the personal essays in the Object-ives and Stuff-ed sections of Open Secrets Magazine at opensecretsmagazine.com, where you can also submit your own essays.
