Dr. Debbie Lassiter is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of The Convergence Resource Center with over 35 years of experience in trauma recovery. She has been honored by the Department of Justice and the Department of Corrections. Debbie is one of the 50 heroes of Fortune 500, and is a Certified Heartmath Coach.
Read MoreDr. Tanisha L. Knighton holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology. Dr. Knighton is an independent consultant and national trainer with over 19 years of combined experience as a Social Worker with the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Service and the Missing Persons Unit for the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department.
Read MoreBillie Jo McIntire is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Licensed Addiction Counselor, survivor, and advocate with a total of 31 years of knowledge about the commercial sex industry and ten years of experience providing clinical services to commercial sex industry and human trafficking survivors. Ms. McIntire is active in Colorado human rights and anti-trafficking legislation and is an Adjunct Faculty at the Colorado School for Family Therapy. She is also a member of the National Survivor Network.
Read MoreJennifer Pizio is the Associate Director in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Toledo. Jennifer has a Master's in Sociology and has taught Cultural Diversity courses. She has 17 years of experience in postsecondary education.
Read MoreDr. Willie McKether is the Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, Vice Provost, and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Toledo. He is also a founder, administrator, and professor in the UT Multicultural Emerging Scholars Program, designed to help students make the academic, social and cultural transition from high school to college.
Read MoreDr. Jill McCracken is an Associate Professor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg where she teaches courses in rhetoric, writing, and women’s studies. Her research focuses on sex work and trafficking in the sex industry, the impact of sexuality education on marginalized communities, and women who are incarcerated.
Read MoreSally Richardson is a trafficking survivor; she spent two years held captive by her trafficker. Sally has made it her mission to educate others on trafficking, speaking publicly about her story to help influence the courts, and help pass legislation in South Dakota. Sally sued her trafficker civilly, which was heard before the South Dakota Supreme Court.
Read MoreLynne Hix-DiSanto is a South Dakota State Representative. Her interests include women's issues, domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking. She and Sally Richardson collaborated to work on several pieces of key legislation. They formed the non-profit organization, Fighting Against Trafficking.org, to bring a voice to a secret epidemic in a conservative, and highly male dominated, state government.
Read MoreFaith Lynn is an American Sign Language Interpreter. Faith is an active human rights and social justice advocate and a member of SWOP MI.
Read MoreZee St. James is a Detroit resident and a sex worker rights activist. Zee serves as the secretary of the Michigan chapter of SWOP. Zee is passionate about anti-oppressive facilitation, healing justice, and decentralized organizing. Zee is completing a Bachelor of Arts in Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Read MoreJuniper Fleming is an artist currently attaining an MFA at Cranbrook Academy of Art. Juniper was awarded a DAAD Fellowship in 2013, and her work has been shown at MIX NYC Queer Film Festival, Sex Worker Film & Art Festival, XPOSED, Popporn Brazil, and Berlin’s Porn Film Festival. Juniper is a member of SWOP MI, and a prior member of SWOP NYC.
Read MoreTamara Simpson is a network engineer and an active human rights and social justice advocate. Tamara was involved with sex work for 20 years. Additionally, Tamara is a member of the Global Adult Industry Association.
Read MoreJay Theden is southern born and rebirthed in Detroit. As a transitioning 12-year-old with no family support, he turned to the streets (gangs, drugs, and survival sex work). He is now sharing his experience to help others learn and grow.
Read MoreCrysta Heart was involved with Sex Work for 20 years. Crysta has been an active human and animal rights advocate and activist since 1987. She became proactive in the sex worker rights movement and started SWOP-MI in 2006 and is currently the Director. Crysta focuses on a harm reduction and social justice approach to serve and educate the community.
Read MoreErin Peterson is one of the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition Education Co-Chairs. She does independent consulting with nonprofit organizations, health systems, universities, and companies. Erin has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in education from Harvard University.
Read MoreDr. Lori Handrahan is an expert in gender-based violence, child pornography, and international development. She has worked for the United Nations, on and off, for 20 years. Her doctoral degree is from The London School of Economics. www.LoriHandrahan.com Pre-order her book on Amazon: Epidemic: America's Trade in Child Rape
Read MoreHillary Gyuras is a graduate of the University of Toledo and the Community Education Manager for Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio. She provides comprehensive sexuality education to youth and adults in Lucas County and coordinates a Peer Education program. Hillary serves as the Co-Chair for the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition Education Committee.
Read MorePamela Griffin-Rambo is the Executive Director of Believe In Me Kiamichi Youth Services Sex Trafficking Residential Program. She has been active in the area of advocating and service delivery for victims of sex trafficking for the past five years. Her current research involves the study of Sex Trafficking victims.
Read MoreJessica Chen is the director of strategic research at Tiny Hands International, an anti-trafficking NGO in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, and South Africa. She promotes research and strategic partnerships as Tiny Hands International expands its programs overseas. She holds degrees from Yale Law School and Harvard College.
Read MoreRobin Colbert is the Associate Director of the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault, where she manages programmatic internal operations and develops systems, and realigns agency functions to improve overall agency technical assistance, training, and member service response. Robin serves on the North Carolina Coalition Against Human Trafficking’s Training and Education Committee. Robin is a member of the Project Team of UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work Project NO REST.
Read More