Jojo Dries grew up in a house where the people who were supposed to protect her were the ones doing the harm.

The abuse started when she was 9. She was homeschooled, isolated, with no one outside the family to turn to. She didn't even have the language for what was happening. Only the feeling that something was wrong, and that fighting back made things worse. When she did fight back, her siblings blamed her. Her mother stayed silent. Her father continued.

She carried that alone for nearly two decades.

When she finally left in her late 20s, she cut off her entire family and started over from nothing. Most people would have taken that hard-won peace and held onto it quietly. Jojo didn't.

She founded On the Wings of Angels, a nonprofit built to give survivors what she never had: a community that shows up, listens, and refuses to let them feel alone. Hundreds of people have come through its doors. The number keeps growing.

In this conversation, Jojo talks about all of it — the abuse, the silence, the dissociation, the leaving, the building. She also talks about where her fire comes from, what she would say to her 9-year-old self, and what she wants anyone who feels stuck to hear right now.