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New Leadership, Same Mission: USIAHT's Vision for Ending Human Trafficking in America
68 Plays20 days ago
In this deeply personal and powerful episode of the Trafficking Free America Podcast, co-host Jeremy Hicks sits down with Oree Freeman, the new Executive Director of the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking. A survivor-turned-national-advocate, Audrey opens up about her journey from trauma to healing—and her bold vision for transforming the anti-trafficking movement.
They discuss Kevin Malone’s transition to a federal role, the evolution of public understanding around trafficking, and what’s next for the organization and this podcast. Oree lays out a roadmap for survivor leadership, trauma-informed training, and how YOU can get involved.
🔔 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to join the mission of creating a Trafficking Free America.
⏱️ Timestamps:
00:00 – “You think I want to feel weak?” — Audrey gets real about the weight of reliving trauma
00:28 – Meet Oree Freeman: New Executive Director of USIAHT
01:44 – How Kevin & Marilyn Malone helped Oree go from survivor to servant leader
03:22 – Real relationships = real impact
05:06 – Building a championship team to end human trafficking
07:08 – The shift: from seeing trafficking as "too big" to something everyone can fight
08:26 – Kevin Malone joins HHS under RFK Jr. to advise on national trafficking strategy
10:36 – Oree's new vision: boots-on-the-ground + survivor-led leadership
16:21 – Why education must come before action
21:22 – 15 years ago: No language for "trafficking"—only "prostitution"
29:06 – Why we don’t “rescue” survivors—we walk with them through restoration
50:16 – What is an “Abolitionist Supporter”? And how you can become one today
📣 Join the Movement:
✅ Become an Abolitionist Supporter: usiaht.org/abolitionists
✅ Subscribe for more survivor-led conversations and trainings
✅ Share this video to raise awareness and recruit others into the fight
#HumanTrafficking #SurvivorLeadership #OreeFreeman #USIAHT #TraffickingFreeAmerica #AntiTrafficking #RestorationNotRescue #KevinMalone #RFKJr #AbolitionistMovement #EndHumanTrafficking #FaithAndFreedom #TraumaInformedCare #ChildProtection #PodcastHighlights #SurvivorVoices #FreedomFighters
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
You think I want to talk about being manipulated? Because it makes me feel stupid. It makes me feel shameful. And whether even though I was a child, it makes me feel like sometimes it was still my fault.
Introduction of Ori Freeman and Transition at US Institute
00:00:19
Speaker
Hey guys, welcome to the Trafficking Free America podcast. My name is Jeremy and today I'm joined by Ori Freeman, who is the new executive director at US Institute Against Human Trafficking.
00:00:30
Speaker
In this episode, we're actually providing a large update for the US Institute Against Human Trafficking, who is the main producer of this podcast series, because the president, Kevin Malone, has actually resigned.
00:00:44
Speaker
um due to another position he took and Ori Friedman has come on. And so we're going to talk about some of the new direction U.S. Institute's going and um maybe a few other directions that the podcast is also going. So Ori, really happy to have you here.
00:00:59
Speaker
Thank you, Jeremy. So Ori, our audience probably knows you because you were the start of this entire podcast, your
Ori's Journey and Leadership Vision
00:01:08
Speaker
story. And it's really cool how it's come full circle into you be from being a board member of the US Institute to now actually being the executive director.
00:01:18
Speaker
um And before we get into some of the reasons why, you know you were hired when Kevin Malone stepping down to go to Washington, DC, um We'll talk about that a little bit, but I want to hear kind of your perspective of how you were brought on to the U.S. Institute from Kevin and Marilyn Malone.
00:01:37
Speaker
I have actually known them longer than doing business with them. And so they were a pivotal role in my life and just my healing. And when you talk about passing the baton and helping being a survivor become a thriver and not just having this label. They've done that. They were a part of my healing process, helping me get through school. Um, Kevin and Marilyn was actually the first ones that really believe not just in a vision, but actually acted on it, actually put their money where their mouth was without a tax write-off to say, Hey, we believe in you. We want you to consistently go to therapy and Oh, you know,
00:02:18
Speaker
God said move to Texas. And this is being full transparent. Go. I'm like, I don't have any money. Like move to Texas. And it was the hugest decision that I had to make in my life to really become a great servant leader.
00:02:29
Speaker
Because you were living in L.A. at the time. I was currently living in Los Angeles. And I had met um Miss Marilyn and Kevin. Then when we do a lot of human trafficking work, kind of coincide, like just we were crossing paths a lot.
00:02:42
Speaker
especially during the Super Bowl and different activities that human trafficking is heightened and all the hype about anti-trafficking efforts.
Impact and Relationships in Human Trafficking Fight
00:02:51
Speaker
And we would do work that way and Kevin would call me out. and I would do a lot of press conferences with Kevin too. And I was really grateful for the opportunity to speak that broadly to audiences.
00:03:01
Speaker
um And so that's how our work started together. And then it they became like family though, because I think that you get invested in not just this work, but in actual life. It's not just an idea, it's a life now being invested and in order to keep doing this.
00:03:16
Speaker
I'm big on let me see your relationships. I'll show you your fruit. I'll show you your impact. Because you can do all of the mechanical stuff. the We can do the podcast. We can do the research. We can do all the curriculums and stuff. But if you don't have one good relationship in your life with an individual who's been impacted by some type of trauma...
00:03:37
Speaker
I wouldn't measure to say that you haven't made an impact, but I think it's really important to do direct impact, and that's what they've done. And so that's how we met. That's how we started off. um And it was really we we were able to connect because they said yes, because I said yes to this fight.
00:03:53
Speaker
And so we started there and then they've watched me grow over the years as Ori the bull in the China shop, a lot like Kevin in a way, um because I also had great mentors in my life that was really big on business as well.
00:04:08
Speaker
But we just made ah We were able to really make a very great business connection and perspective. ah've I've always been open to different challenges and different perspectives and how we can combat against human trafficking and the way that people do it.
00:04:25
Speaker
And so they've always stayed in my life. you know And it would we would go quiet for a while because life gets busy for me and I'm traveling the freaking world doing a whole lot. And then when this opportunity came up, it was definitely...
00:04:42
Speaker
Yeah, it was a gift. It really was. You know, Kevin, in his past, was you know he would recruit baseball players. And then he'd manage baseball players, and I guess you would say, as a general manager.
00:04:54
Speaker
um And you know a lot of his stick, I guess, was like, I want to make a team. like i made a like Like, I focus on making a championship team with the Dodgers. I want to focus on making a championship team that actually um ah ah destroys human
Recruitment and Misconceptions in Human Trafficking
00:05:11
Speaker
trafficking.
00:05:12
Speaker
And um that's what his whole thing has been. But, you know, I've um never actually told him this. um Hopefully he listens to this part. While he can build a team together, he gets some really star players like he got you.
00:05:26
Speaker
A survivor who... has a lot of knowledge, expertise, and wisdom into helping those who have gone through trauma in multiple ways. Not just and not just trafficking, but you're able to really help spot signs and really help people see things. You've helped me see things that I've never like looked at before.
00:05:46
Speaker
um Of like, no, look at, you know, someone might say this, but look into something like that, and here's how you approach it but to make them feel more comfortable, on and so forth, all these different things. Like, the more listen to you, the more I learn.
00:05:58
Speaker
um So by all means, you're a star player and he's been building a team like that. But, you know, something that he talks about building a team, he never talks about how he recruits his team.
00:06:09
Speaker
And something that the U.S. Institute has been doing for a while is recruiting people to join the fight to end human trafficking. Because I think for a long time, don't know, over the last decade, because you've been part of this for probably, don't know if you say you've been the fight for a decade, but you've definitely been, well, maybe you've been fighting for a decade. I guess it's been that long. It's been a decade. It's been 15 years, really, since. I met you in 2018. So I guess that's almost, that's seven years ago. So I still think of that as not too long ago. Yeah. So I apologize. It has been over a decade, even in this fight.
00:06:46
Speaker
And I completely lost my train of thought. Because you were thinking about the time frame. Yeah, right? So I joined this almost a decade ago.
00:07:01
Speaker
And trying to help and being like, oh my gosh, this is a thing we need to be all be a part of. And I never viewed it that way beforehand. And I think a lot of people did not view human trafficking as something we can do anything about.
00:07:13
Speaker
It's like the only thing, the only people that can do anything about this law enforcement and and and and foreign affairs and ah government.
Kevin Malone's New Role and Collaboration Efforts
00:07:19
Speaker
it It was a big problem that only big people could take care of at the end of the day.
00:07:23
Speaker
And we didn't look at the intricacies of what causes human trafficking and and and how it actually affects us in our backyard in a sense. And i believe that the U.S. Institute has brought that forward over the last eight, nine, 10 years to say like, hey, it's in our backyard, we can do something about it.
00:07:41
Speaker
So I commend him for doing a really good job up until this point. And I believe ah it was a good timing and good opportunity for him to take a step back from the U.S. Institute as president.
00:07:54
Speaker
It's not like he's like, ah, peace out, guys. He was given an opportunity with HHS in Washington, D.C. And I wanted to just roll a quick clip. um He and I had a conversation.
00:08:08
Speaker
um just you know a few months ago, ah right after or is it right before right after he took the position and said, hey, let me let me just ah share with everyone what's going on. And so we're going to roll that clip for you just real quick.
00:08:21
Speaker
I've
00:08:24
Speaker
humbly and with and feel honored to be in a position now to be involved in human traffic fighting human trafficking with the federal government, with President Trump's new administration. It appears that I'm gonna have a position with Health and Human Services under Robert F. Kennedy's ah guidance and leadership, ah where I will, for the health HHS, Health and Human Services, be senior advisor for human trafficking, which which means that
00:09:03
Speaker
Of all the efforts that they're doing, all the work that they're doing in HHS, that anything that touches or is connected human trafficking, I will be a part of the discussion or part of the plan or the approach.
00:09:17
Speaker
And what I believe I'm going to try to do. and I believe I'll be allowed to do, is kind of bring a collaboration, a greater level of communication between all the departments that have something to do with human trafficking.
00:09:32
Speaker
Ori Freeman, a trafficking survivor that was trafficked from the ages of 12 to 15, that's part of the U.S. Institute's Against Human Trafficking's board, will take a ah more...
00:09:46
Speaker
important role probably come on ah in do maybe program director but but basically kind of lead the charge as a traffic survivor on what we need to do to have the greatest impact so I've always leaned on her she's become a friend for a bunch of years and she's been through it she understands the challenges she's very smart tremendously articulate.
00:10:13
Speaker
I love her, and I think she will be a ah an amazing lady to lead us forward and to go in the direction that God wants us to go.
Empowering Survivors and Building Leaders
00:10:23
Speaker
She's in tune with with what the Lord wants. She's seeking the Lord's will, and and she's a lady of God that I think will move us to where God wants us to to go.
00:10:34
Speaker
So Ori, with you coming in as a new executive director, where are going to see the U.S. Institute go from here? You mentioned something earlier that um I'm the lady, the woman, the chick, that I get these moments sometimes where I have these like revelations for sure in the moment.
00:10:55
Speaker
And when you were talking about building a team, I think that historically great leaders don't end well. They don't finish well.
00:11:07
Speaker
And I'm grateful that we've had a leader that finished well and is moving on to what he's called to next. And I think that I definitely want to continue that legacy of building great servant leaders, seeing not just potential in somebody, but it's not just about the people that are going to walk alongside the individuals who are being trafficked, but the individual that has been trafficked.
00:11:36
Speaker
How do we help them become great stewards of what they have? How do we help them become great servants of other people? How do we help them lead well?
00:11:47
Speaker
not just in other people's life, um but in their own life. I definitely am going to take the Institute and with the team and with collaboration to really make those investments directly um to specific players that might need a little bit more help.
00:12:03
Speaker
And when I say that is what leaders are currently active right now that need a platform? That needs to come on the podcast and share their heart and share their expertise um and talk about some of the barriers and the gaps or what do we need still today?
00:12:18
Speaker
What are we missing? What could we do? um Also, using the platform to reach audiences that are the unlikely The people that have the capacity, the financial capital, to make an impact on somebody's life in a very, very crazy way.
00:12:39
Speaker
To where a life is transformed where you couldn't even measure it. To help somebody become a healthy mom. A real healthy mom. Somebody that i can identify their vulnerabilities and take accountability for what they can do. in And that's one, only one thing that I want to do um with the podcast. You know, bringing people on for...
00:12:57
Speaker
other people to see, like, how can we help? How can we do that? um Another thing with the organization, ah definitely want to do is get the get the boots on the ground, the training. what we've seen on What we're going to see with different podcasts is we're going to have a counselor come on, and she's going to talk about some of the the limitations and the gaps um of the services that are provided to counselors, to teachers.
Training and Support for Professionals
00:13:21
Speaker
There's not enough training. We have great curriculums out there. There are people doing great things, but It's not a lot of direct contact, and I don't want this institution to just be virtual.
00:13:31
Speaker
This is boots on the ground. We knocking at your door. We coming into your office, and we're going to walk alongside you. How can I help you? um finish well even if you're a social worker if you are a case manager if you're an executive director how can I help you finish well so that way when we're serving people we're at our 100% exceptional best mean we're amazing and I'm not saying being perfect but when we lay down at night we know that we are living we're serving with integrity we're serving with humility we're serving out of being more whole and not empty
00:14:06
Speaker
I want to definitely see that. I want to see this podcast go in that direction of giving a platform to voices. um And then I want to also bring the boots on the ground with training. I want to bring the training directly to you all, directly to the people.
00:14:19
Speaker
um And being able to come in person and not only share my professional experience, but also my my personal experience. I'm an open book. You know, what all that I've been through and what God has got me through.
00:14:32
Speaker
um It's a testament to amazing people that were unlikely relationships that transformed my life. My relationship with Kevin and Marilyn is an unlikely relationship.
00:14:43
Speaker
You could have never told a girl that was born and raised in South Central LA in the projects, in and out of the hood, that a man of the Dodgers and his wife would help me get through college to be getting my master's degree, to believe in a vision that I had a voice to see potential and to say, that's gonna be a star player, ultimately for the kingdom, but ah ultimately for the people and every other young girl and young adult and a woman out there.
00:15:08
Speaker
And so those are the two directions now we wanna continue to support individuals and even the abolitionist program. like I want to get people boots on the ground. Like you can, you can truly, truly make a difference. When we talk on one of the podcasts, we're going to talk about how your children can make a difference.
00:15:25
Speaker
How do we challenge, how do we teach them how to be great leaders by challenging their friends that to say, Hey, we don't love like that. That's not how my family loves. I don't think that's healthy.
00:15:36
Speaker
So those are two um shifts that are becoming. it It's not going to change. um our mission for what we want to do. um It's not going to change our audience, but we want to reach more.
00:15:49
Speaker
We definitely do. win Make a bigger impact, educate more. Why do you believe it's extremely important? Obviously, we talked about this, but but i want to hear from you. Why do you believe it's extremely important for education first about human trafficking and action
Education and Misperceptions about Trafficking
00:16:04
Speaker
after that?
00:16:05
Speaker
My biggest mission for myself is, and I know that that it is definitely a gift that only God has given, is I do have the, not the gift of speaking, but my goal is to change and shift hearts and minds.
00:16:20
Speaker
And the reality is we all come with some type of pre-bias. We all come with some type of experience, some type of pain that dilutes, perverts, or give heart posture towards. We all have it in some sort of area. It doesn't have to be anyone trafficking.
00:16:36
Speaker
Mine could be in and in in men and unhealthy relationships that I've had that I have to learn now through my engagement. Someone's going to be my husband, right? We all have our stuff. But I believe that a lot of times. Congratulations on that, by the way. Hey, man, it's a process, too. Even with that, ass ah that's ah that's a training in itself. How do you help survivors love well and not bring their trauma into a healthy marriage? you know Because even that, the divorce rates are high.
00:17:01
Speaker
Yeah. i as ah is is high But I believe that education is important because a lot of people don't know. They just don't know. Even when I've worked for the last over the last 10 years oh working with law enforcement, they just don't know. That's not what they were trained on.
00:17:18
Speaker
That's not how they're trained to even survive out there. ah well Help us understand. what you like How were they trained? if not like ok How were they trained and how were they supposed to be trained? So 15 years ago, this is like a legitimate thing. 15 years ago from this point, even if it's like 16, let's say, there was no talk about human trafficking.
00:17:36
Speaker
There was no language to human trafficking. There was no commercial sexual exploitation of children. Kids are not for sale. No. 15 years ago, we were being charged with prostitution at 15, 14, 13, 12, 11 years old.
00:17:51
Speaker
Kids were being incarcerated. Women were being locked up for prostitution for being a victim. There was no federal laws in place. There was nothing to protect someone who was being exploited. We didn't even have the word of exploitation.
00:18:03
Speaker
and so Was it they thought of human they knew what human trafficking was, but they didn't associate it with that? We just weren't educated. We didn't understand that. I mean, at that time, I truly believe, um and even just legislatively,
00:18:17
Speaker
Think of the mind frame of you have a 15-year-old kid who, by law, historically, in the nation, we have declared if there is an act of sex for an exchange, it is prostitution.
00:18:30
Speaker
Or it's solicitation in the act of. So now, flash forward, you have fifty you have years and generations. I mean, biblically, too, right? Like, you have all generations and generations of what this exchange looks like.
00:18:44
Speaker
Nobody knew the psychological effects. Nobody knew... the life, the life of what we call a traffic in the fact that I have a pimp, a controlled pimp or a controlled perpetrator, whether it is a family member, whether that's a gang, whether that is a boyfriend, whether it's force, fraud or coercion, somebody is transporting, somebody is coercing me, somebody is manipulating me. Let's use those type of words.
00:19:14
Speaker
And then I'm don't even keep the money. So I think that we had A different lens. And we they didn't know not just law enforcement, legislators, social workers didn't know.
00:19:27
Speaker
At one point, I my my own mentor said I literally thought 16 year old girls is like, this is what they want to do. Now, the logic behind that, you can say, no, there's no possible way. Like, why would you think that?
00:19:39
Speaker
Because sometimes you see a porcupine. You don't see a sweet little panda bear. Like at the time you see a porcupine that's telling you, flicking you off and telling you to F off and all these, excuse my language, but you don't see that. You don't see victim.
00:19:54
Speaker
right You see false confidence. You see false, you know, I'm secure in where I am and this is what I want to do. That's who I was at 15 years old talking to Jim Carson, who was a mentor. This is what I wanted to do. This is what I wanted to do for my life.
00:20:05
Speaker
And he said, like, he said, you, so you're telling me 11 years old, You wanted to trade sex for money. You wanted to be violated.
00:20:16
Speaker
You wanted to give somebody oral sex at 11 years old. That's what you're telling me. And I wept. You know, here I am at 15 years old and didn't even know what the word victim was. Hmm.
00:20:32
Speaker
You know, so if I didn't know that, think about that. If I didn't know that, if the women, children, men didn't know that, what would make us think that workers knew that? Now, an innate feeling is to think that something's wrong, because what I will say is it isn't it hasn't just been 15 years ago that services have been provided.
00:20:52
Speaker
There are people like Vanita Carter. There are people that, Audrey Morris, who've been doing this work longer than 15 years, getting girls off the street corners and bringing them into their homes. People like Rachel Lloyd, people like Leah, people like Josie, people that have been doing this work long before there was terminology, long before there was services.
00:21:11
Speaker
So this is just like pre-educated, like, hey, This isn't prostitution, this is human trafficking. This is child sex trafficking. This is exploitation.
Recognizing Victims and Public Awareness
00:21:22
Speaker
And so I even have my mother, my biological mother in her 50s who took a long time, just a couple years ago, she was like, I wasn't a victim. I'm like, mom, you were a victim. No, I wasn't. I chose it.
00:21:33
Speaker
Till finally now, literally this recent past time when she was here, is say, you know what, baby? I've really been thinking about that. Like, that person did exploit me. They did take advantage of at 14 years old.
00:21:45
Speaker
So that's if the victim and someone that had experienced didn't even know they were evicted, how can we have expected people to identify something, call it something without education?
00:21:57
Speaker
And so now what we can't say is that the human heart, why didn't anybody say something? Why wouldn't there be resources? But We're figuring it out.
00:22:08
Speaker
But I think it is it's been it's only been 15 years, 15, 16 years. That's a short amount of time. It feels like a long time, but we've made a lot of progress. but And the the progress seems like it was, okay.
00:22:22
Speaker
how you would separate choice from abduction. It seemed like the the only reason why, or only, the only um case that would cause human trafficking is abduction.
00:22:33
Speaker
And what we started to look at and, and listen to, would say probably the biggest thing is listen to is define abduction is it like physically i grab you and i lock you up in a in a cellar or is it i manipulate you into thinking this is the only worth that you'll ever have yeah and the only thing and and and kind of just put you in a box and say the the the life that you want the life that is enjoyable is the one I give you, which is filled with drugs, filled with emptiness.
00:23:08
Speaker
But it's it's you begin to think that's all you have. that's what i at least That's what I've heard from your story about how someone made you feel. And it took many, many, many people to break you out of that.
00:23:25
Speaker
Because especially it's like if you're if you're if you've been taught that since a young child, it becomes your core almost. and And then you feel that with a lot of trauma.
00:23:40
Speaker
There's a lot of confused people out there who don't know that they're being trafficked. And nobody wants to be seen as weak or vulnerable. That's a whole other podcast topic that we'll definitely get into, like the strong leader that I'm consistently becoming, the strong woman that I am, the strong mom, also has to learn how to be meek, also long has to learn how to be gracious and not feel unsafe about it.
00:24:00
Speaker
And um because I've had to survive a certain way, but it also pours into the other areas of your life if it's not healed. And so... Also in that, I had a moment one time with um some filmmakers because they've been following me since I was like 15. It's a documentary. It's been going on for a long time. But it's coming to an end finally. Like, who doesn't want the happy ending of getting married, graduating, going to grad school?
00:24:24
Speaker
Right? So it worked out perfectly. Timing is perfect. But I remember I got so pissed off at the producer. Because she was like, and she's like family to me. She's like a mother to me. And she was just like, you are just so strong when when these experiences and when you're talking about something. Like, where is the emotion? And I'm like, this is not Hollywood, okay? Like, I'm not.
00:24:44
Speaker
And I had a moment of vulnerability where I yelled. Because I'm like, i don't want to be her no more. Hmm. I don't wanna be weak. You think I wanna relive something when I felt dirtiness, shame, where couldn't even lift my head up, getting spit on? You think I wanna feel that again?
00:25:04
Speaker
You don't think I like being strong? That this makes me somehow feel like, like i I feel, it makes me have a false sense of confidence?
00:25:16
Speaker
You don't think I like being an ego? Now I need to have a good balance, but you think I wanna feel weak? You think I want to talk about being manipulated? Because it makes me feel stupid.
00:25:27
Speaker
It makes me feel shameful. And whether even though I was a child, it makes me feel like sometimes it was still my fault. I don't want to be her. And it was such a like moment because there are still some victims to this day that are out there that who wants to sit with that?
00:25:48
Speaker
Not because because it's not their fault, but who wants to sit with the truth that I'm in bondage? Who wants to sit with the truth that how somebody is treating me, how I'm being loved is abusive, and that this isn't reality?
00:26:03
Speaker
And then when you get a taste of healing, oh, it's harder to heal. It's easy to stay in bondage rather than walk in freedom. And I'm telling you that as a leader, it is.
00:26:15
Speaker
It's easier to... to walk in the same darkness over and over and over again and go back to the same things, the same patterns, the same habits, then walk into freedom and to face yourself and to take accountability for choosing freedom at some point when you do, when you've already walked through the door or when you've been given opportunity, you know, or...
00:26:37
Speaker
when you are rescued in a way, if it's especially international or even here in our hometowns, if it if it looks like that, it's it's hard. It's hard to to stay in the light. it Oh, it really is because the light exposes everything, not just the things you've experienced, but who you have to become.
00:26:57
Speaker
And um that's a whole other topic, but it's easier. you know i i always talk about when I was a child, I would have rather be in the streets, be homeless, be beat,
00:27:10
Speaker
and fake like I was okay, and fake like I didn't care than to be at some group home that did care about me, that people did love me, hug me, talk to me about my feelings, put me in therapy.
00:27:23
Speaker
And I'll run. I'll go right back because it's what I know. And it's not even just a child. like I mean, their brain, their frontal cortex is not even actually processing what they need to process because it's it's literally in the middle of their brain, the nervous system that's responding.
00:27:41
Speaker
So, like, even neurologically, I'm not going to respond the way that I need to because I've been i've experienced trauma. Mm-hmm. So it's just, it's hard. I mean, we just did not know. but But we do have to take accountability now because we do know.
00:27:55
Speaker
We do know. And I think that there's a lot more education that needs to happen around that. I don't i don't think it's not as it's not so much that it's happening because I as do believe we're doing a great job at awareness.
00:28:11
Speaker
I think that we need to do a better job at how do we combat it? Yeah, so that is the next question is education is important because without the education, you're not going to combat it very well.
00:28:26
Speaker
I almost imagined like someone who maybe started listening this podcast like, oh, my gosh, I want to help these victims and coming to 13-year-old Ori.
00:28:37
Speaker
How would that gone? I probably would have cut you off. You'd have to finger in it and probably spit on your window. like And that's not everybody. Some people are like, help me. Not me. I was like, don't mess up my money. And it's hard. you And I think for anybody watching this,
00:28:54
Speaker
You are not, we don't we don't come to rescue. Yeah. We can come to help restore. which is which Which is, by all means, I want to be on the record to say it's an innocent thought and to say I want to co-rescue. It's very valid. good.
00:29:08
Speaker
What we've learned, and this is, part of the education, what we've learned is that that's not the right approach most times. And so let's talk about that. Yeah. what when When you say restoration, what do you mean by that?
00:29:24
Speaker
Walking alongside beside someone in their journey, knowing that at any point they could pivot. That's a part of, recovery is a part of relapse, not just from addiction. So people are familiar with addiction nowadays. Like we've had all the drug-free campaigns alcoholic stuff like throughout, I know, my generation with the school.
00:29:43
Speaker
But a part of recovery is relapse. It just is. um And then there's these different stages of change that you go through in more of the ah psychology department that where you think about you want to get free you deserve to be free but then you go back to being like yeah no I don't think that I deserve that i don't think I'm worthy of that but restoration is walking along somebody without having expectations not to say that you don't have a desire for them to want more, to have better, to have a free life, but an expectation that it's gonna happen on your timeline, no.
00:30:22
Speaker
um To have an expectation that you're gonna be the one. You're gonna be the one that picks up the starfish. We always hear this story about ah boy, or it gets always mixed up. We always hear the story about the boy walking on the beach and all these little starfish and he wants to say save them all, but just one.
00:30:38
Speaker
For you to even be like, I wanna be that one, is so like It's innocent, but it's also maybe you're the person teaching someone how to be that one. Yeah, what I was just gonna say was everyone who invested into your life, your one life.
00:30:55
Speaker
Now, obviously, every life is important, but you know in the grand world that we look at the ah ROI. like How much money and time did we spend on one person's life?
00:31:07
Speaker
We don't have time for that. like that is how That is the world we live in. However, want you just take a step back and go, look at the ah ROI. Look at what you have done in your life to help restore many others because someone said, I'm going to help restore Ori.
Investing in Lives for Societal Change
00:31:26
Speaker
That's the kind of thing you could be changing so many people's lives by focusing on the one in front of you. And I don't think we're, and and and one of the biggest mission, the the differences, I think, that when we first started out as USN students, it was big and bold. And what we've actually done is like less than a little bit ago.
00:31:46
Speaker
Tell you what, If everyone in the United States were to be educated, that's the first step to then looking in their neighborhood and their sphere of influence for that one person. And if everyone's focusing on that one person, suddenly that's when you start seeing the numbers go down. It's not going to happen overnight.
00:32:07
Speaker
It's not going to happen drastically because like as you said, it took years, right? And, but that's the ultimate thing we need to do is plant these seeds. So how are we going to plant more seeds, Ori?
00:32:25
Speaker
With people donating, you know what I'm saying? No, I'll be honest because I do want to backtrack a little bit. It's not about the ah ROI, like the one person.
00:32:37
Speaker
Of course. But where your heart is and your why. I always talk about that. What is your why? Yeah. And to why you want to. help one life. What's your why?
00:32:47
Speaker
yeah And it's easy to say people really just genuinely want to help. Some people genuinely want to help, but also it helps them hide their own stuff, their own things they need to work out, and their own marriage, and their own family.
00:33:01
Speaker
I'm big on that, too. I'm big on that. Like before you save your save somebody else, need to save yourself. Help save yourself. Yeah. Focus on your own kids. Right. And you own your first ministry, which is your family. Right.
00:33:12
Speaker
But what I will say is that I am evidence that investing in one life to say. I'm going to tell you this. I didn't meet everybody that's in my life at one time.
00:33:25
Speaker
I met them at different seasons in my life when I needed something different. When I needed a mom that was going to teach me about business, who was a CEO of a massive firm and partnering her firm and making over $700,000 a year because I needed to learn to articulate my words better a little bit.
00:33:42
Speaker
To not say at the end of a sentence. And I couldn't stand it at first. But how do you lead being a black woman and what she says, break the glass ceiling? Right. I needed her at one point. I needed those snuggles. I needed that smell, that butterfly on her bed to remind me that was also a daughter.
00:34:01
Speaker
You know, I needed her and my daughter needed her. And then I also needed my mom that I met at 15. You know, that was Cheryl, the first woman. Then I met Mitzi. I met her before that at 15. And I needed a woman that was going be strong, that was going to hold me accountable of being a healthy mom, regardless of being a survivor.
00:34:19
Speaker
I needed her, you know, and she paid for my therapy for years, years of intensive, expensive therapy. I got people in my life throughout my journey And so there's ways, practically, that people could actually plant a seed.
00:34:35
Speaker
And that's to say, what is my capacity? What could I give to an organization? What could I give to the Institute in order to impact? It's almost like we're so quick to sponsor, and it's great because my dad did it because he loved elephants, one of my mentors.
00:34:50
Speaker
And he would sponsor an elephant. And he gifted it to Evelyn like for her birthday. it was really cute. But like if I said, you know what, I'm going to make this donation, this contribution, this into one life. I want to sponsor, so crazy, like we do this in other countries, like sponsor child, but I want to sponsor a survivor.
00:35:07
Speaker
I want to pour into their education, their healing. This is what I want to do. um You would then be able to see where directly where it's going. You get to see a life.
00:35:19
Speaker
Evan, you get to see the flower go through the different seasons too. When it feels like it's dying, what's going on with you? What's what's happening? Is she all right? Is he okay?
00:35:30
Speaker
um But that's life. And I think that um the first thing by planting a seed is looking at like something that's monetary, like, monetary value like okay where is my dollar going my dollar is not just going to ory that's 18 years old it's going to ory's education that guess what is going to get her to kick down that door to get at that table with people that don't know what they're talking about when it comes to this subject but need her assistance and she needs them too and then hey i know that my contribution is going to ory's healing to the point where it's not just about ory it's the fact that
00:36:05
Speaker
Evelyn, my seven-year-old, almost seven-year-old daughter lives in the suburbs, not in the ghetto, not in the hood with bars on her window. She doesn't know what abuse is. She don't know what rape is. She don't know what it is to have a boogeyman in her closet.
00:36:18
Speaker
All because one woman decided, you know what, I'm going sponsor her healing so that I could be wholer for my child, for the next generation. That's how you do it.
How Individuals Can Contribute
00:36:28
Speaker
And so that's how you plant a seed.
00:36:30
Speaker
You say, this is what I have the capacity to do. Whether it's to teach, whether it's to say, you know what, I'm a teacher. And I'm going to go all in when it comes to making sure I teach my students not only what human trafficking is, but how do we fight this? How do I teach them to come to become abolitionists?
00:36:48
Speaker
How do I teach them to challenge their community? How do I teach them how to challenge their legislation? How do I teach them how to build, how to break down barriers? That's think about where you are. What can you give? You may not be able to give money.
00:37:03
Speaker
Guess what? I've learned this too. You might be able to provide a service. You might have a clinic that you're saying, hey, survivors need help when it comes to medical. You know, survivors come up in this business as well, and then they have the most horrible medical insurance, but they have families.
00:37:21
Speaker
And so if I can support somebody through, hey, we'll we'll be able to sponsor your family for a year or two, we really want to help, or we want to help survivors not just come off the streets, but maybe survivors that are having issues with IVF. This is a real thing, though.
00:37:33
Speaker
Something I was robbed, a woman that can't even...
00:37:39
Speaker
is struggling with fertility because of exploitation. And what somebody else did. But now she works for an amazing company. But can't afford IVF. So that what her dream of being a mom.
00:37:51
Speaker
Her dream of being a wife is snatched from her. Because of somebody else's decision. To exploit her. It's whatever you can give. Look at what you can give. Teacher. I don't care if you a janitor.
00:38:03
Speaker
I don't care if your goal is to learn every single child's name on that row. To know like. Why they staying back. Why that kid not eating. What's going on. That's how we plant seeds. What can we give? What capacity are we at? I know right now I have been serving for the past 10 years as not only an educator or a trainer or a motivational speaker.
00:38:26
Speaker
I have been doing case management for the last 10 years. I'm exhausted. Mm-hmm. My first ministry is my family at this point. And I'll never forget when my mentor Jim Carson told me.
00:38:40
Speaker
I was 15 years old sitting in a group. and I was like, I'm change the world. Dad, I'm gonna change the world. I'm help people. He was like, you gotta to help yourself first. And he said, but the one thing to tell you is, guess what? One day you're gonna have going to have a child.
00:38:54
Speaker
And you're going go to college and you're going to get married. And I'm like, married? p Yeah, right. Who wants me? Right? It was that young 15-year-old Ori. He said, but you are. And you're going love what you do.
00:39:09
Speaker
And you're going to have to learn that you can't bring work home at night. And you're going to have to learn that you need to be at home when evelene gets when that child comes home from school. And then going to look back at all the social workers you cussed out, you choked out, that you treated when you was young.
00:39:24
Speaker
And you're going to say, dang, I need those interns to now do direct service work. Because at this point now, I love hard. And I have good boundaries.
00:39:36
Speaker
But that's just the way that I've been taught to serve. And I know now that it was time for a shift. And then lo and behold, Kevin and Marilyn called me to say, hey, we really feel like we want to offer you this position.
00:39:51
Speaker
and was only god That was only because unlikely relationship. my my I've always done leadership. I've even stewarded over other people's finances well when it comes to money, stewarding what Kevin Marilyn has done before or even my scholarship money that I had to go to college.
00:40:08
Speaker
So I already had great history and track record with finances, with leadership, being and honestly being um not just living with integrity but being honest where I'm at. I'm like, listen,
00:40:21
Speaker
couple years ago, I'm struggling with trying to co-parent with my daughter's father. And I am not communicating the best way, but I've always been an honest leader. And then the position comes.
00:40:33
Speaker
And I'm like, y'all think I'm qualified to do that? Absolutely. And it was an answered prayer in a way because I'm like, um' I'm getting burnt out. And I'm not burnt out an unhealthy way, I'm just like, it's time for me to transition.
00:40:47
Speaker
And a good leader knows when a transition too. So for me, it's saying, this capacity, um I might be fostering children soon as well.
00:40:58
Speaker
that's That's my heart because I wasn't ah a foster kid. I was the girl that did get adopted and get put back in the system and didn't get adopted again. So that's my one heart. But I'm like, okay, I need to be the best version of myself for not only the organization, ultimately for myself, ultimately under God, but for these kids. And so there needs to be a ah pivot. So that's my capacity now is that – I want to be able to full on be boots on the ground with training, with speaking to individuals, with giving other people a platform through the organization to really what do we need to do.
00:41:33
Speaker
And that's my capacity. What's yours? You've been carrying this for a while. you know And I remember first meeting you and your heart, man, was in it. Like, that's not normal.
00:41:45
Speaker
That is not normal, Jeremy. People don't come in and executive directors, like my documentary executive director, would drive around with me at 2 o'clock in the morning at 15 years old because I don' have nowhere to go.
00:41:56
Speaker
That is not normal. That is an unlikely relationship. And now she's sitting up here at an house, so many survivors and helping them. All the things because of her heart. You sit up here and have held it down.
00:42:10
Speaker
Teaching people, educating. All based on your heart.
00:42:16
Speaker
That's the capacity. Well, I'm um ah have happy to have this new fire here at the U.S. Institute and and inside this ah this Trafficking Free America podcast. And um it's it's exciting that you started this with your story. um It was my first episode that I got to share, like help put your story together. And and it greatly did change me over these last few years and has put and remains a huge passion of mine to
00:42:47
Speaker
Help the vulnerable, help the traumatized, help um those who might be at risk to falling into lies, which is that you are like, this is your worth, fill in the blank.
00:43:05
Speaker
And their worth is in Jesus, a child of God. And that's what I want them to know, to feel and to hear. And i know I can't do it alone.
00:43:18
Speaker
And so what I've been doing here is pleading to everyone by making content and saying, if you're hearing this, can you please help me do this? i'm not I'm not asking you to put your boots on and go save children over in at the border and and do all this stuff. like Look,
00:43:38
Speaker
There's a time and a place for everything. And there's many different departments and and and and gifts and and people to help do many, many things. But right now, we just need everyone doing something. When we say doing something, it's it's getting educated. That's the easiest thing to do. It's like if you won't if you won't get educated, that's your heart.
00:44:00
Speaker
Then it's to get engaged. And engaged is it done in many different ways. Again, are you someone who can give financially? Are you someone who can give time? I'm giving time to just make content, right? um ah I'm giving kind time to have conversations with people that I never had before.
00:44:17
Speaker
um I'm learning, right, and having those conversations, engaged in that way, to be ready for any moment that I can plant a seed in someone's life. um It was just the other day. My wife and I were driving down the road.
00:44:30
Speaker
And we saw someone that looked like they were in distress. Now, come to find out, everything was okay. And we didn't have to do anything trash or call anybody, but right away my instincts kicked in.
00:44:44
Speaker
Now, if I was alone, I would have i would have called somebody or done something. who was like, hey, there's a lady who looks like she's in distress. I'm not going to go by myself. That's training number one. Training number two, but the other but I had my wife with me, so the training number two was I'm going to pull around to where she she sees you and not me.
00:44:59
Speaker
like war you know Like, not like, sorry, I should say, sees me but not in a they threatening way. She sees me so you can be the one to talk to her. And we're getting ready for that. To do that. It was like the moment that kicked in in that moment.
00:45:13
Speaker
And if the lady wasn't distressed, that's what we would have done. Yeah. that's that's the kind of That's the kind of thing that if everyone is just ready and kicks in. But ultimately it comes down to love and the love that I share with my children and that I hope to pass on. And ol some and so it all comes down to we have to be actively pursuing love.
00:45:34
Speaker
Love for others. A deep, deep love. A forgiving love. The same love that Christ shows us that when someone spits in our face, we're ready to know what to do.
00:45:47
Speaker
Or don't show up. Don't show up to the meeting. Gotta get somebody free, you know? I had a girl, I got a call from an organization, collaboration is important, from a woman that we're great friends and she runs an organization up north of California that's amazing, called City of Refuge and they have housing that, oh my gosh, it's amazing. But, and you don't see that a lot, the housing and and they're killing it
Personal Commitment to Helping Others
00:46:12
Speaker
right now. But had a woman um in Texas that was in distress and I went off the clock, not representing anybody, but I went on my, after I just got off of work, sitting in my bed with my mumu on, I'm like, I'm going to go get her.
00:46:27
Speaker
And I'm driving with her and I had the opportunity to whether, one, I could have decided to say, no, I'm not going to go. I'm to set a boundary. Or I'm to say, going to do whatever ah can.
00:46:39
Speaker
And if she's ready, she's ready. And if she chooses to say,
00:46:46
Speaker
I'm not ready because I don't believe that I deserve it or I don't feel worthy or she don't know she's in bondage. Then I'll still be right here when she calls again.
00:46:56
Speaker
But I went. I got in her car for an hour and 30 minutes, drove all the way to deep, deep, deep Dallas in a dangerous area, got her in the car with her and her son, was going to take them to the house, my house, warned her, you know, of this is Texas.
00:47:14
Speaker
Don't bring anybody to my house. I do have an amendment right. So she was
00:47:23
Speaker
coming off of drugs. So I was like, you sure you want to be in my home or would you rather be in privacy at a hotel? And and I did that. And the next morning, people could say, well, why didn't you take her to a shelter? She didn't to go to shelter.
00:47:35
Speaker
And there was no drop-ins available. And the situation was tricky. And guess what the Institute did? I called Marilyn up. I said, hey, Marilyn, I got a girl. Could we get her on a Greyhound?
00:47:46
Speaker
We got to get her back to California. And Marilyn said, absolutely. So that opportunity was available. The next morning she said, I don't want to waste your time.
00:47:59
Speaker
um I am. I have someone coming to get my son out, but i just... I just, you going back? And she was like, yeah, I called him. I said, i understand.
00:48:11
Speaker
I said, well, you have my number. We're here to help. When is the time? Or when when you feel like, again, you ready or you want to get out, we're here.
00:48:21
Speaker
And I said, thank you for calling me, though, and telling me you were leaving. That's big of you to take accountability to say, I'm just going to run off on the room. I'm going leave.
00:48:33
Speaker
So that's what I did. yeah that's simple. And my center of text here and there, hey, thinking of you, and just leave it open.
00:48:47
Speaker
Kind of like how God has called us to disciple. Mm-hmm. you know And um it's one of the reasons why we believe this message belongs in the church because there's a lot of hurting people. And I think i think there's a lot of people that close doors because they think that's how you show them.
00:49:06
Speaker
And people need to listen more to you because you have given great insight on how to share truth with you. while keeping the door open.
00:49:18
Speaker
And there's that's a strategy. And I'm excited for you to really help teach our audience more about that. And Ori's gonna be on podcasts a lot more.
00:49:28
Speaker
and I'm probably gonna be on him a lot less. and And I'm extremely thankful for that because I'm good at making content. I'm good at editing the content, getting it out. But um we need to hear more from from you, from someone with a lot more wisdom in this fight and to teach me as well.
00:49:46
Speaker
And I'm excited for the future of this podcast the future of the organization. um I'm grateful to have you come on and be part of this. And if you um are tuning in for the first time and a long time, first time ever, or maybe you've been with us all along, what we need from you right now is to go become an abolitionist supporter.
00:50:11
Speaker
um What that ultimately is, it's just a monthly donor of like 15 bucks a month. And the reason why we need that money is to help create more content. i don't know if you know this or caught on this, but we're making this right now in Tampa.
00:50:24
Speaker
And Ori came, you know, she had to go to Miami, and then she came over to Tampa, and then she's go like, you've basically been up for like 48 hours. and And what she's, she has to travel, has to do many things, have to talk to many people.
00:50:36
Speaker
all these All this takes time and funds and many things to get everything coordinated together to educate the public. And so we don't only need you sharing this and listening to it to become educated and to share with others.
00:50:48
Speaker
We need your help to continue it going, to you know, and we're not asking for a lot. That's why we made the number so small. Fifteen bucks a month is like nothing now. But if everyone does it, you know, what we have twenty nine thousand followers currently on Facebook. And if everyone just gave, you know, a few bucks a month.
00:51:08
Speaker
we could be sharing this message a lot more and and making a lot larger of an impact and our goal is to ultimately do that to help other organizations because as you get recruited into the fight you'll find a direct service organization that your gifts line up perfectly with as you're living in don't know idaho just trying to think of a random place that's outside of Florida, Dallas, and California. But that's what we're trying to do is that this is not our fight.
00:51:37
Speaker
Something that, or you shared couple of years ago in a podcast with Kevin is something that you wish organizations would do more often is niche down. To be like, this is our gift.
00:51:48
Speaker
And if we do this really strong, you can the other organization who does this strong over here rather than just trying to be like this vanilla organization. And that's what we're trying to do is we're niching down to say it's time to recruit and create a team of anti-traffickers around the globe, around the U.S. to say this is a trafficking-free zone, trafficking-free America.
00:52:13
Speaker
And I'm really excited to have you lead the fight. Thank you.