Driving Freedom Podcast

www.christinecesa.comChristine Cesa

Elesondra DeRomano is the founder of STARS Toledo. Standing Together Against Real Slavery (STARS) is a survivor-based organization dedicated to supporting and empowering young women who have experienced or are at high risk for commercial sexual exploitation (sex trafficking). STARS is located in Toledo, Ohio and offers a unique crisis prevention/intervention program with personalized case management and mentorship. Recognizing that sex trafficking doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and leaning on he...

Would you know the red flags of human trafficking to look for if you were a professional in an industry that was routinely entering homes? Would you be able to recognize signs of trafficking inside a residential brothel or other residence where a person was being exploited? Professionals in the moving and in-home delivery spaces are regularly in and out of homes and businesses in ways that other members of TAT’s mobile army are not. So, we have created a new training for this niche part of tr...

Joy Friedman is the Sexual Assault Street Outreach Advocate for the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, a wraparound non-profit whose mission is to empower Native women and families to exercise their cultural values with integrity, and to achieve sustainable lifeways, while advocating for justice and equity. Pulling from her own lived experience of exploitation and survival, Joy walks alongside her clients, building trust and providing services that empower and enable them to rebuild th...

The demand for commercial sex is directly tied to human trafficking. Hear from TAT's own Louie Greek as we drive into how movies and culture have influenced what it means to be a man. We also dive into how men spend their free time together as it relates to male-dominated industries and how seemingly harmless activities can fuel sex trafficking. No buyers mean there are no victims. Resources:TAT's Man-to-Man CampaignMen, Fight for Me - by Allen Smyth The Demise of Guys - Ted Talk

Today's episode focuses on a key challenge that survivors face after getting out of "the life". Oftentimes survivors of human trafficking have extensive criminal records from their time being trafficked and those records can prevent them from obtaining employment and sometimes even access to housing. Beth Jacobs, TAT's field trainer, helps explain how these outdated laws often affect human trafficking survivors and some ways all of us, including private industry and advocates, can help make p...

One way victims of human trafficking can find a way out of “the life” is through interventions by ethical law enforcement. In this episode of Driving Freedom, we hear from retired Sgt. Dan Nash, who shares his wealth of knowledge and compassion from over 20 + years of working human trafficking cases. He provides some best practices in conducting undercover operations, the victim methodology he has developed and teaches to other law enforcement throughout the country, and how, through building...

On this episode we dive into a topic not yet covered on Driving Freedom: labor trafficking. Transportation was number 10 in the list of Top 10 Industries associated with labor trafficking victims in the US on temporary visas that were reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline and BEFREE text line. Individuals exploited when an employer compels or deceives them into providing involuntary labor -- often through use of violence, threats, manipulation of debt or blackmail -- number in th...

What happens after that call is made? Can someone survive and thrive after such a traumatic past? Yes! Hear from two survivor leaders about their journeys of healing through art and how this creative activity has helped others. Courtney Baldwin and TAT’s own Liz Williamson share about their artistic creations and the way this outlet has provided a way no other medium could. They share how important it is to have a nonverbal way to communicate the depth, pain and beauty of what was happening a...

Dr. Nissi Hamilton, CEO of A Survivor's Voice of Victory, shares with us about racism and the systems it has created which lead to vulnerabilities with African Americans, Latinx, Indigenous and Asian women and girls that make them targets of traffickers. She shares her experience as a black woman survivor of human trafficking, including what led her to her trafficker and the barriers blocking her way to a thriving life. Dr. Hamilton is a passionate advocate for survivors and shares how we, as...