Jean Riseman is a leader in the survivor community, organizing supportive, cultural, and educational events for survivors and their allies. She is a survivor of ritual abuse, mind control experimentation, and child pornography, a retired clinical social worker, and a co-founder of the GrassRoots RA/MC Survivors’ Collective.
Read MoreBeatriz Menanteau is the Supervisor of the Violence Prevention Unit in the Injury and Violence Prevention Section at the Minnesota Department of Health, which includes the Safe Harbor and Sexual Violence Prevention Unit. She recently received her Master of Public Health degree from the University of Minnesota.
Read MoreCaroline Palmer is the Safe Harbor Director at the Minnesota Department of Health. Safe Harbor is a multi-sector, statewide response to human trafficking, with a focus on the sexual exploitation of youth. She is a Bloomberg American Health Initiative Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Read MoreSteve Mentrek has his OCALI Master’s in Recreation Therapy and Leisure Administration and 15 years of experience in the DD field. Steve is involved in assisting victims of trafficking to feel safe, remove barriers, and identify limitations.
Read MorePat Stephens is a Director at the Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities (DD). She has eight years of mental health experience and 24 years in the DD field. Pat is a member of the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition and is involved with The PATH Project through the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute at The University of Toledo.
Read MoreMarianne Thomas has been working with marginalized populations for 15 years and is a lived experience expert in complex trauma and human trafficking. She is the founder of My Name My Voice, an organization that teaches other organizations to work with and hire HT survivors.
Read MoreDr. Lauren Vollinger is a community psychologist who has been involved in the gender-based violence field for over 10 years. In that time, she has managed and conducted numerous studies examining the effects of financial abuse and coerced debt in the lives of survivors of domestic violence and sex trafficking.
Read MoreThrough her work in victim advocacy, Melania Brostowitz understands the importance of trauma-sensitive, victim-centered social media campaigns. She creates informed awareness about human trafficking through online and in-person learning opportunities. Currently, she’s the Director of Development for JobsWork MKE and sits on the Board of Directors at The Avery Center.
Read MoreScott Peters in an occupational therapist and graduate of the University of Toledo. Scott completed his capstone project through the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute, where he created a human trafficking course for occupational therapy personnel, as well as established the OT track for the IHTSJC.
Read MoreBrenna Wallace is a lived experience expert and survivor of child abuse, neglect, and human trafficking. She brings a unique perspective to understanding modern sex slavery. She is currently Alberta, Canada's only active front line human trafficking worker, with her - A Lady with Lilies Society.
Read MoreAlicia Murray is a Detective with the Toronto Police Service, with 20 years of police experience. Alicia is currently a member of the Human Trafficking Enforcement Team, where she focuses on children at risk of exploitation. She is dedicated to developing intervention strategies aimed at preventing the victimization of youth.
Read MoreSin Kim is a Detective Sergeant with the Toronto Police Service. His experience includes conducting complex criminal investigations, providing subject matter expertise, training investigators, and developing various police practices. He is currently leading a project team responsible for enhancing how police respond to missing persons.
Read MoreLorna Ferguson is a PhD Candidate at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and Founder of the Missing Persons Research Hub. Lorna’s area of specialization is police responses to missing person cases. She has a broad interest in policing research and developing evidence-based approaches to policing and crime prevention.
Read MoreMelissa Elliott is a PhD student at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Her research focuses on social inequalities relating to crime and victimization. With an emphasis on intersectionality, she investigates differences in victimization rates to advance victimological theory.
Read MoreLOVE Queen Layla is a professional dominatrix, sex educator, performer, and speaker with over 20 years of experience as a Mandarin and ESL educator. She is a living role model who uses past trauma to transform taboos around sex with personal coaching, workshops, performances, and the Punani Productions sexuality podcast.
Read MoreStella Jendrzejewski is a mental health care provider, advocate, and researcher. Working on the “Complex Rights & Wrongs” study, she collects and analyzes data from participants with a focus on their lived experience in the sex industry in order to understand the impact of current legislation and policy.
Read MoreDr. Jill McCracken is a Professor of English and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of South Florida and the Co-Director of Sex Workers Outreach Program Behind Bars, an organization that supports incarcerated sex workers and victims of trafficking. Her research focuses on sex work and trafficking in the sex industry.
Read MoreRhonelle Bruder is the Founder and Executive Director of Project iRISE, a survivor-led anti-trafficking agency. Rhonelle is completing her doctoral studies at The University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health alongside her community work. She applies an intersectional and critical lens to her research understanding of human trafficking.
Read MoreDori Rivkin is the leader of the Social Inclusion Team at Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute (MJB) for applied social research in Israel. Her main research areas are prostitution and poverty. Dori holds an MA in clinical psychology and is currently working towards her PhD in social work at the University of Haifa.
Read MoreDavid Corliss is the founder and Director of Peace-Work, a volunteer cooperative of statisticians and data scientists applying statistical methods to issue-driven advocacy in poverty, education, and social justice. Dr. Corliss leads Peace-Work’s human trafficking research initiative. He holds a PhD in statistical astrophysics from the University of Toledo.
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