She Survived Sex Trafficking
The first guest on ‘the balanced girl’ podcast is someone I met while working in anti-human trafficking, and in turn a friendship blossomed from working so closely together. She taught me more than I ever wished for and really poured into me, a true mentor and message to anyone looking to learn about how the world of sex trafficking TRULY works.
My dear friends name is Connie-Rose and she was trafficked at the age of 15. What drove Connie and continues to drive her is her family, from her own children down to her grandchildren. It is all about the children of today having a voice and knowledge, but also important for parents to know how easy it is to fall into the trap of sex trafficking.
This doesn’t just happen to ‘those people’, it can happen to the girl next door. It happened to me.
Connie was a child from a upper-class family in the suburbs of Tampa Bay of a Catholic and Greek Orthodox upbringing. Now, who do you picture when asked who her trafficker was? You picture a creepy figure, a grainy photo of a blank staring face from those chilling documentaries or books of murders or child molesters. But what we have learned from recent times is that 99% of the time the predator is usually not someone that you would expect EVER to do such things. Looking at people like R.Kelly or Jeffrey Epstein; the life of the party and the trusted, much loved public figure or celebrity. It is also usually someone that the victim trusts or even loves.
So with that in mind, when asking who her trafficker was, the word you least expect to come out of Connie’s mouth is: father.
Her own father not only trafficked her to other men but tragically, Connie was also the victim of 14 years of her father sexually abusing her. Connie shares in turn, comes an array of horrific things for an innocent child to endure in their own home: pornography, exploitation, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, alcoholism, drug addiction, mental + physical abuse, the list is endless.
Connie grew up believing that she was lucky to be a model, a ballerina and a beauty pageant contestant but when the veil covering the ugly truth dropped; it revealed that her dad had been using the runways to advertise his own daughter to other men.
I know that this woman’s life story is quite frankly, horrifying and I found it so hard to believe and process when she first told me, but her story of growth from such challenging adversity and trauma is one in a million. It has truly built a resilience that she has brought into her work and teaching as a powerful, transformational speaker. This is a woman that has truly found the importance of balance.
For more on Connie’s story listen to the podcast ‘the balanced girl’ as she joins me in discussing her story, how she is fighting against human trafficking, and ways we can all be a part of the solution.
Connie is the founder of non-profit organisation Victims2Survivors that helps other survivors of sex trafficking and abuse. She knows that helping a victim become a survivor is endless. Connie supports many different initiatives on countless levels from human trafficking councils, to filling gaps for survivors whether they are at the beginning of their journey or at the end. I am so passionate about joining Connie and helping her reach a wider audience. I am going to match dollar for dollar up to 2,000 dollars, please go to her Facebook to help me join them in this movement. Every dollar helps rescue a victim of human trafficking.