While I am a survivor, I understand that my personal experience is just one of many within the sex trade. Over the past decade, I’ve dedicated myself to gaining a broader understanding of how the sex trade impacts survivors as a community and affects society as a whole.

In 2013, I joined the board of the Organization for Prostitution Survivors (OPS) in Seattle, where I volunteered at drop-ins and facilitated art workshops. Through this work, I realized that the experiences of those in the sex trade varied greatly from my own, and that most people involved didn’t look like me. It was at OPS that I began to see the systemic abuses and oppressions that not only drive the sex trade but also perpetuate it.

In 2018, I became Co-Executive Director of OPS, where I worked with survivors and allies to expand the organization, develop new programs, and build partnerships that provided a continuum of care for survivors in Seattle. I also co-directed the Ending Exploitation Collaborative (EEC), a cross-sector partnership focused on reducing demand for commercial sex in Seattle, alongside government agencies and organizations like the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking.

During the pandemic, I took on the role of Director of Policy and Advocacy at Thistle Farms in Nashville, Tennessee, where I built their policy department from the ground up working with survivors and organizations nationwide. Currently, as Deputy Director for World Without Exploitation, I lead national grassroots advocacy efforts, while also fostering a network of nearly 400 survivors. and ensuring the organization runs smoothly and turning big ideas into realities. Also at World Without Exploitation I developed the STAND Program, a speaker’s bureau-style education program, and lead regular survivor-only calls to provide a space for survivors to discuss policy and share their work without fear of judgement.

Through all of this, I’ve remain committed to the issue and have developed a range of trainings on advocacy, media, and career pathways for survivors. While my lived experience informs my work, I’ve learned that the most powerful advocacy comes from amplifying collective voices, rather than focusing solely on my own.

Additional affiliations and recognition:

Previous board member of OPS, Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking, and the EPIK Project

Awarded a Vital Voices Global Freedom Exchange Fellowship

Former appointed member of the Washington State Attorney General’s Coordinating Committee

Former member of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Advisory Council

Peer Reviewer for the Federal DOJ