In the Booth with Ruth – Rachel Moran, Author and Survivor of Prostitution
Human Trafficking Awareness
Chong Kim, a Survivor of Sex Trafficking, Talks About Eden, The Newly Released Film Based On Her Life
In the Booth with Ruth – Linda Sullivan, Executive Director/President of B.E.S.T. & Master Certified Coach for Victims of Human Trafficking
I have been working in this field since I was a young volunteer myself, for over 25 years. I have been an advocate for at risk populations over my lifetime and became passionate about the subject of human trafficking when I first assisted a victim. I studied social sciences in Manhattan at the New School University and became well-versed in cross cultural human rights issues. My studies at the New School University opened the doors for studies in comparative religions and anthropology and tribal studies. My work, studies and volunteer efforts kept me drawn to human rights and human trafficking issues.
In the Booth with Ruth – Aashika N. Damodar, Anti-Human Trafficking Activist, Advocate and Non-Profit Founder
So many events in my life have culminated to this point: a life dedicated to combating sexual violence and trafficking. When I entered university, I learned about a trafficking case that took place right across from my dormitory at UC Berkeley. Lakireddy, a Berkeley landlord and restaurant owner, came under investigation when a young woman died in one of his apartment buildings. He was convicted for both sex and labor trafficking...
In the Booth with Ruth – David Zimmerman, Child Trafficking Survivor & Advocate
My involvement began as I was receiving EMDR trauma therapy to recover from lifelong posttraumatic stress disorder. I was overwhelmed by flashbacks, night terrors, anxiety and depression that were triggered by the passing of my father, who began grooming and sexually assaulting me at the age of three, and then trafficked me on a regular basis, mostly in...
In the Booth with Ruth – Rachel Lloyd, Founder and CEO of Girls Educational & Mentoring Services (GEMS)
We get a lot of people who want to go ‘rescue’ girls on the street – (a) we’re about empowering girls and young women, not rescuing or ‘saving’ them and (b) places like Big Brother Big Sister are always in need of healthy, consistent adult mentors, and long term, the impact you could have in a little girl or boy’s life will make a true difference in actually preventing children and youth from being vulnerable in the first place...
In the Booth with Ruth – The Sophie Hayes Foundation (Anti-Human Trafficking)
The Sophie Hayes Foundation became involved in the combat against sex trafficking and exploitation when a survivor from the UK named Sophie Hayes wanted to make a difference after her horrific experience of being forced into the sex industry. Like many, Sophie had a very normal life, good education, stable job, and wonderful people surrounding her...
In the Booth with Ruth – Founding Member of The NO Project (Anti-Human Trafficking)
About twelve years ago, I happened to read an article in a Sunday paper, which described a young woman, eighteen years old, who had hung herself in a toilet using her own stockings. She was a young foreign woman – a girl really - being used for commercial sexual exploitation in a city in northern Greece. That article pretty much changed my life - kudos to...
In the Booth with Ruth – Anne Bissell, Sex Trafficking Survivor, Author, Executive Director Voices for Justice/Silver Braid
When my book, Memoirs of a Sex Industry Survivor, came out in 2004, I found myself on the frontline regarding issues of child sex trafficking and the commercialized sexual exploitation of children. Towards this end, I have worked for many years to create a strategy, which I call Operation Silver Braid...
In the Booth with Ruth – Dedee Lhamon, Anti-Human Trafficking Advocate and Non-Profit Founder
In 2008, I was watching a program about sex trafficking of children in Cambodia on MSNBC. When watching this program, they started talking about sex trafficking of children in the United States. The thought that this was happening here pierced my heart. I have two daughters and so the thought of girls being victimized in such a way deeply disturbed me...
In the Booth with Ruth – Stella Marr, Sex Trafficking Survivor, Anti-Sex Trafficking Activist and Advocate, Executive Director and Founding Member of Sex Trafficking Survivors United (Survivors Connect)
I was trafficked in prostitution in New York City for nearly ten years, from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. Two of my friends from the life were murdered. My beautiful friend, April, died of suicide because the madam she'd called promised to send help then did nothing. April died waiting - to me it feels like another murder. My best friend Gabriel, who'd been trafficked from age sixteen, died of AIDS at age twenty-four. His family kicked him out when they found out he was sick, so he had to spend his last days living with a john who made him buy life insurance with the john as beneficiary. I fill with tears when I think of it...
In the Booth with Ruth – Erica Greve, Anti-Human Trafficking Advocate and Non-Profit Founder
I first came into contact with children who had been sold for sex in America a few years ago, while I was completing my MSW degree from UC Berkeley. At the time, I was interning as one of the emergency department social workers, and my job was to conduct the initial interview of physically and sexually abused youths who were brought into the emergency...
In the Booth with Ruth – Jody Williams, Founder of Sex Workers Anonymous (formerly Prostitutes Anonymous) and Trafficking and Prostitution Services
I was in the middle of this in Los Angeles during the 1980s, which was during the whole Iran-Contra fiasco. This meant I saw government, CIA, police, and other politically connected people pumping guns and drugs into Los Angeles using the gangs as a front for what they were doing. I was on the trucks full of crates of cocaine off the boat from Columbia when I saw the coast guard wave them on through, because everything had been already arranged within our own government to happen. I watched how the prostitutes were used as mules to carry the drugs or to have sex with potential purchasers of the guns to make sure they were not cops...
In the Booth with Ruth – Ed Drain, Anti-Human Trafficking Advocate and Activist
I found out about a woman who was trafficked to a massage parlour in DC. I was disgusted to learn that she had to ask twelve ‘customers’ or johns - men who pay to use her body, for help. It was a very brave thing she did because the traffickers would have beat her severely if they knew she had asked any johns for help. The business of the trafficker is...
