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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.

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Speaker 1: And we continue now with part two of our conversation

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Speaker 1: with Jessica Lamb. Right after these brief messages from our

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Speaker 1: Generals sponsors, we now returned to Jessica on how she

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Speaker 1: tried to escape sigh her sex trafficker.

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Speaker 2: So I went to the bathroom and flushed the toilet,

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Speaker 2: walked downstairs, sat on the front porch, lit a cigarette,

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Speaker 2: and I looked across the street and there was a

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Speaker 2: Salvation Army that had just opened. And I looked at

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Speaker 2: the Salvation Army and I looked back at the door

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Speaker 2: of the house, and then I looked back at the

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Speaker 2: Salvation Army, dragged off my cigarette, flicked it, and I

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Speaker 2: ran ran right into the Salvation Army and I said

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Speaker 2: I need to use your phone, and they were like,

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Speaker 2: we're not letting you use our phone unless that it's emergency.

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Speaker 2: And I was like, I need to call my one

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Speaker 2: one and they were like, okay. I didn't call nine

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Speaker 2: one one. First first person I called was my dad

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Speaker 2: and my dad was like, I was like, Dad, I'm

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Speaker 2: in trouble, and he's like, what did you get yourself

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Speaker 2: into this? Time, and I didn't even respond. I hung

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Speaker 2: up immediately. Next I called my grandmother. I said, memewhile,

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Speaker 2: I'm in trouble. I need help now, and she's like,

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Speaker 2: call nine one one. So I hung up with her.

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Speaker 2: Called nine one one. This is my first time ever

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Speaker 2: calling the police for help. The police officer comes out

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Speaker 2: and he says, he goes, what's the situation. I was like,

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Speaker 2: this guy did this to me last night. I need

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Speaker 2: to get my keys, I need to leave. I need

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Speaker 2: to get out of here. I'm scared, and he was like,

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Speaker 2: I'm sorry. He was like, I just got on duty.

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Speaker 2: I really don't want to be bothered with paperwork. And

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Speaker 2: he's like I really don't want it to deal with this.

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Speaker 2: And he's like, and why are girls like you over

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Speaker 2: here anyway? And I was like, what is that supposed

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Speaker 2: to mean?

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Speaker 1: You know?

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Speaker 2: And like that never really made any sense to me.

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Speaker 2: I still still doesn't make sense to me. But he

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Speaker 2: gets sigh outside and he's like, she's lying, she's full

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Speaker 2: of shit, she's nothing but trouble. And he's like, I

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Speaker 2: want her out of here anyway. And he's like, well,

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Speaker 2: go get her keys and let her get out, and

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Speaker 2: so he goes, I get my keys, traffic her and

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Speaker 2: the cop fist bump each other on the front porch.

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Speaker 2: I get in my car and I leave. No reports made,

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Speaker 2: or I don't there was no report made. Well, actually

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Speaker 2: there probably was a report made, but like nothing, like

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Speaker 2: he just didn't want to like go through the due

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Speaker 2: diligence of doing the entire investigation of what's going on.

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Speaker 2: And I ended up going to the guy that I

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Speaker 2: was talking to in high school and I went to

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Speaker 2: his house and I told him everything, and he's like, well,

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Speaker 2: now that you have experience, do you think I cannot

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Speaker 2: get some? And I was like, this nightmare is never

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Speaker 2: going to end.

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Speaker 1: So I ended up Did you ever contemplate suicide?

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Speaker 2: Multiple times? It's actually something I struggled with for years

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Speaker 2: and years and years.

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Speaker 1: Was I mean, you can only get abused so much.

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Speaker 2: I carry a lot of heaviness, and it was something

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Speaker 2: that always crossed my mind on a daily basis. And

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Speaker 2: I don't know if it's just I'm resilient as hell

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Speaker 2: or what, but like I'm I'm still breathing and I'm

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Speaker 2: still here. But I remember leaving way boyfriend's house because

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Speaker 2: of his comment, and I went straight to my me

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Speaker 2: Mall's house and she held me and I told her everything.

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Speaker 1: You told her everything?

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Speaker 2: I told her everything was that hard for you. No,

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Speaker 2: my me Mall is my safe haven. In fact my logo.

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Speaker 2: I can get into that with air eye when we

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Speaker 2: talk about it. But my grandmother loves birds, and so

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Speaker 2: she's the one that she doesn't one to save me.

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Speaker 2: So she drove my car that she gave me for

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Speaker 2: a Christmas present that my trafficker would use to traffic

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Speaker 2: me and hit it behind her house and she would.

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Speaker 2: I would sleep all day and then I would stay

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Speaker 2: up all night because I was so scared this guy

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Speaker 2: was going to come for me. Everywhere I went, I

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Speaker 2: thought I was seeing him. He had so like even

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Speaker 2: away from him. I was terrified that he was going

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Speaker 2: to find me. I doubt he ever was looking for me,

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Speaker 2: but I remember traumatized. I was obviously terrified. Yeah, I

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Speaker 2: was terrified this guy was going to come for me.

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Speaker 2: And I ended up staying with my grandmother and my aunt,

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Speaker 2: and they made sure that I went and got mental

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Speaker 2: health counseling. They would take me to my GED classes,

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Speaker 2: which I still was failing. They would help me with

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Speaker 2: all kinds of things, And there were times that like

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Speaker 2: I wouldn't be invited to like family gatherings, and my

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Speaker 2: grandmother said, well, she's not If she can't be there,

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Speaker 2: then I'm not coming. And so she would make me

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Speaker 2: Thanksgiving dinner or make me Christmas dinner, and I would

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Speaker 2: eat with her, and she advocated for me so much,

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Speaker 2: and she never turned her back on me. And she's

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Speaker 2: I think she turns eighty seven this week, and I

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Speaker 2: guess spend Christmas with her.

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Speaker 3: But she's my She's my she is definitely my savior

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Speaker 3: through all of this, and even this all led to

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Speaker 3: a life of addiction homelessness.

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Speaker 2: I went and tried to go into the adult entertainment

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Speaker 2: industry independently. I didn't work in strip clubs, but I

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Speaker 2: would like I was doing my own thing. I tried

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Speaker 2: to addition to be a suicide girl.

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Speaker 1: What's that?

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Speaker 2: Don't google it, but it it's basically alternative looking girls

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Speaker 2: that do webcams or different types of like just edgy

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Speaker 2: girls that that do sex stuff on video or take pictures.

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Speaker 2: And so I was trying to dabble into that. So

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Speaker 2: I was like, that's that was the only way I

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Speaker 2: knew how to make money.

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Speaker 1: Is.

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Speaker 2: I was like, well, this is just.

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Speaker 1: From you were part of this organic, suburban Christian family

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Speaker 1: and hearing these things is it's just gut wrenching. And

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Speaker 1: I mean when you were going through all of this

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Speaker 1: as a result of being molested in your own home,

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Speaker 1: never being able to figure out a way out, and

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Speaker 1: then when you when you confronted your blest your father

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Speaker 1: didn't believe you, which makes you feel even more lone,

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Speaker 1: and then what you ended up with with SIH. I mean,

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Speaker 1: all of it I've sat and listened to, and I

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Speaker 1: you know, I got to ask you, deep inside that

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Speaker 1: brain of yours, there was still a foundation you had

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Speaker 1: to have been You had to have been struggling with

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Speaker 1: reconciling where your life was and where you started. You

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Speaker 1: had to have been dealing with that, right were you?

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Speaker 1: I mean you had to have been looking in the

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Speaker 1: mirror going what what happened? I guess I'm struggling for

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Speaker 1: There's an identity inside you that is not all of this.

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Speaker 1: Did you feel that conflict?

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Speaker 2: There is a lot of times that I would look

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Speaker 2: in the mirror and I'm like, how did I get here?

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Speaker 1: That's what I'm asking?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, Like like like what that like literally what the hell,

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Speaker 4: you know, like like just something just screaming inside of me,

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Speaker 4: like like.

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Speaker 2: I've got to keep pushing through, Like I don't I

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Speaker 2: don't know what it was, but I was like I

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Speaker 2: gotta keep going. And and I think I I think

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Speaker 2: I owe a lot of that to my grandmother, a

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Speaker 2: very praying grandma. So she I think she's the one

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Speaker 2: that just really kept me going.

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Speaker 1: And uh, well this life stopped at some point, how.

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Speaker 2: Well, let me let me can we I'm gonna do whatever, Okay.

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Speaker 2: So I basically was, you know, I didn't want to be,

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Speaker 2: like I said, a burden on my grandmother, and so

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Speaker 2: I ended up leaving her house for a while, and

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Speaker 2: I ended up just finding myself living in like dope houses,

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Speaker 2: like out of my car. I was dating a guy

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Speaker 2: that was like twice my age. We had three children

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Speaker 2: together that that I miscarried. He ended up committing suicide,

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Speaker 2: and I I just remember like just feeling a lot

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Speaker 2: of hopelessness. But even when I was on the streets

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Speaker 2: and I was living out of my car with that

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Speaker 2: had busted out windows because my ex had thrown a

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Speaker 2: piece of firewood through my windows of my car. When

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Speaker 2: I try to leave I am. I remember just trying

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Speaker 2: to pull myself out of this hole, and my grandmother

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Speaker 2: and my aunt continued to advocate.

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Speaker 1: For me and true unconditional love.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. And I even remember my mom like meeting me

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Speaker 2: at gas stations because I was hungry, and she's like,

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Speaker 2: I know you're hungry, and I know you can't come

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Speaker 2: back home, but she would bring me food because I

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Speaker 2: was hungry, you know. And I remember being on drugs

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Speaker 2: so bad. She took me out for lunch one day

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Speaker 2: and I was nodding out and I almost dropped my

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Speaker 2: entire head into a bowl soup right in front of

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Speaker 2: my mom. I will never forget that. And like I

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Speaker 2: was ashamed and humiliated, and.

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Speaker 1: That's what I was asking.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I felt I was embarrassed, Like who, Like I

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Speaker 2: didn't even recognize myself honestly.

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Speaker 1: And I haven't.

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Speaker 2: There's mugshots of me on LinkedIn, and you know you

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Speaker 2: can see that the light my eye was just completely gone.

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Speaker 2: And so I I remember my breaking point was I

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Speaker 2: was pregnant with my daughter, Elizabeth, and I miscarried her

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Speaker 2: at four and a half five months and I remember

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Speaker 2: bringing her. I remember bringing her home. My parents were

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Speaker 2: out of the country, and my aunt sat in the

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Speaker 2: hospital with me, and I remember bringing her home and

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Speaker 2: I and I buried her in my parents' backyard and

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Speaker 2: I had a memorial for her. And that was my

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Speaker 2: breaking point of I cannot live like this anymore. The

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Speaker 2: guy I was dating was in and out of jail

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Speaker 2: for drug charges. I was addicted to meth. I was

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Speaker 2: just everything was just terrible, and I was like, I

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Speaker 2: can't live like this. And I remember my aunt being

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Speaker 2: on the front porch one day and she's like and

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Speaker 2: she was going through her own hell, and she was like,

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Speaker 2: when you're ready to get off this stuff, we're here.

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Speaker 2: We're not going to give up on you. So there

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Speaker 2: was always a place for me to shower, always a

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Speaker 2: place for me to eat, always a place for me

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Speaker 2: to sleep. My Mema would make a palette for me

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Speaker 2: on on her floor, because she had a small house,

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Speaker 2: and she'd make a little palette for me on the floor.

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Speaker 2: And sometimes I would sleep in the bed with her

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Speaker 2: and she would play a gospel music when she go

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Speaker 2: to sleep, and so I would feel so much peace

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Speaker 2: and safety with my grandmother. And even to this day,

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Speaker 2: like whenever I feel tired or just need a place

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Speaker 2: to rest, I can know that I can go there.

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Speaker 2: And I used to pull her bed sheets back for

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Speaker 2: her every night, and I still do that today whenever

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Speaker 2: I go to visit her, I turn her bed back

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Speaker 2: for her. But I remember, like my breaking point was

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Speaker 2: just losing my last child, and I, uh, I was

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Speaker 2: like enough, So I got clean and I uh just

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Speaker 2: completely did a one, like a just completely turned everything around.

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Speaker 2: And I started getting involved in anti track can work

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Speaker 2: through my friend Casey's organization for Sarah and she she's

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Speaker 2: the one that was in the strip club across the

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Speaker 2: street from when I was in the hotel, so she's

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Speaker 2: a survivor from the adult entertainment industry. But I ended

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Speaker 2: up volunteering with her org, and so I was working

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Speaker 2: with them, and I started noticing we were looking at

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Speaker 2: these ads of girls that were advertising online trying to

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Speaker 2: extend services, not trying to convince them to, you know,

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Speaker 2: do whatever, just saying hey, if you're in any kind

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Speaker 2: of situation and we can help you out, let us

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Speaker 2: help you out. You know, we have scholarships if you

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Speaker 2: want to go back to school, so we'd raise money

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Speaker 2: to help them do that. And I started saying, like

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Speaker 2: these girls have all matching tattoos, and I was like,

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Speaker 2: I recognize these.

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Speaker 1: Things all matching tattoos or.

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Speaker 2: Match very similar tattoos to Like some of the girls

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Speaker 2: had the same tattoos some of the girls. I was like, oh,

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Speaker 2: I had a tattoo that was similar to that, or

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Speaker 2: I was like, I started just noticing patterns of some

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Speaker 2: of the girls on these ads.

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Speaker 1: Were they like the ones you had?

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Speaker 2: Some of them were similar. Of course they're not gonna

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Speaker 2: be the ones. Yeah, like things that were pertained to

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Speaker 2: money or to the game or street name or you know,

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Speaker 2: dollar signs. People talk about barcodes. It's not that common.

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Speaker 1: I got a question. Yeah, now I'm gonna tell a

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Speaker 1: terrible joke or ask a stupid question. But I mean,

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Speaker 1: is there a pimp school? I mean, how do how

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Speaker 1: does this tattooing girls thing go around? Apparently this is

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Speaker 1: a thing among pimps or traffickers or whatever. This is

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Speaker 1: clearly as I'm listening to you, I'm discovering that I

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Speaker 1: guess girls are tattooed as if they belong to a

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Speaker 1: pimp or a trafficker, or I mean, is that the deal?

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Speaker 2: I actually train on this. I trained in iconography, and

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Speaker 2: the identifying icnography.

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Speaker 1: What is that word?

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Speaker 2: Icronography is basically the study of an image in the

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Speaker 2: background of where the image comes from. So I actually

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Speaker 2: go when I do trainings around, I've done sixty five

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Speaker 2: hundred trainings. I've trained sixty five hundred individuals this year

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Speaker 2: alone through conferences and podcasts and all kinds of things,

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Speaker 2: and I train people on this isn't a new thing.

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Speaker 2: People have been branded since ancient Rome. I take this

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Speaker 2: thing all the way back and I go through the

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Speaker 2: history of human branding and how it started, and how

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Speaker 2: we saw it go through the Armenian Genocide, how we

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Speaker 2: saw it go through Holocaust, how we saw it.

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Speaker 1: I just swear to you, I was sitting there thinking

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Speaker 1: about the inside of the risks that I've seen of

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Speaker 1: Jewish Holocaust survivors that were tattooed like their inmate number.

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Speaker 1: I don't know the right word for it, but.

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Speaker 2: I go through. I go through this whole training for

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Speaker 2: like an hour, and I train people on the indicators

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Speaker 2: and the tattoos and all that kind of stuff. So,

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Speaker 2: but that's kind of jumping way ahead of how I started. Atlanta.

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Speaker 1: I get it, and we've got to go back and

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Speaker 1: stay chronologically in order. But the point is you started

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Speaker 1: noticing these girls having similar looking tattoos. Yeah, which we're

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Speaker 1: talking about brands. Yeah, we're talking about human ownership, right, Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Pretty. I mean it's not always. Sometimes I've worked with

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Speaker 2: women that have had these tattoos and men that have

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Speaker 2: had tattoos, and it's not nobody's like sitting on them

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Speaker 2: making them get him. Sometimes it's the manipulation or are

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Speaker 2: they are truly like in love with their traffic, or

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Speaker 2: there's like a soul tie there or there there's that

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Speaker 2: trauma bond there, and so they're wanting to show that

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Speaker 2: they're loyal. I've covered up tattoos or our artists that

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Speaker 2: we work with have covered up tattoos on women that

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Speaker 2: were like, I loved this man and I wanted to

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Speaker 2: show him that I was loyal to him and I

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Speaker 2: wanted the touch, although.

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Speaker 1: The love was completely perturbed wrong. So we did a

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Speaker 1: We talked to deb Ellinger, who is in Detroit and

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Speaker 1: she works providing food and clothing for women in the

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Speaker 1: street of Detroit, very much in the same situation like

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Speaker 1: what you're talking about. And she's just constant, consistent and

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Speaker 1: she will rate for three or four years for girls

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Speaker 1: that finally want to get out of the life, and

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Speaker 1: then they provide everything for them. And you talk about

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Speaker 1: a grassroots cow. She's unbelievable. She's from the opposite. She

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Speaker 1: was a cop and then started doing this. But every

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Speaker 1: time she pulls up to the street corner or the

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Speaker 1: house or the drug house or the trafficking house, whatever,

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Speaker 1: and it's two three times a week, the same girls

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Speaker 1: come out, and she says to them, every time, you

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Speaker 1: are worthy, you have value, you are loved. She's trying

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Speaker 1: to counteract the sick stuff that's been putting these kids head.

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Speaker 1: And when you're ready, I will take you from here.

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Speaker 1: And I ask her, when these people are often living

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Speaker 1: in homes without running water, without electricity, and they're being

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Speaker 1: pimped out for food and oftentimes drug use and everything else.

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Speaker 1: And you pull up and you've been there for two

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Speaker 1: or three years, you have to develop some type of

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Speaker 1: relationship and report these folks. Why wouldn't they jump in

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Speaker 1: your truck and run like Ellen, she said this. They

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Speaker 1: are affixed to that trauma and they really don't know

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Speaker 1: a way out. And the truth is, the fear of

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Speaker 1: the unknown, of a clean life is worse than the

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Speaker 1: fear of the abuse that they're living in, because at

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Speaker 1: least they know those rules. So it's just I want

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Speaker 1: you to hear me. I do not want people to think, well,

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Speaker 1: these are adults, they can always get away. There's this

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Speaker 1: grip of this lifestyle that holds people that don't even

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Speaker 1: want to be in it, and they're almost wrestling with

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Speaker 1: themselves to get out. And I've learned that through people

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Speaker 1: I've met and everything else. And your story is yet

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Speaker 1: another illustration of how that trauma affects somebody and how

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Speaker 1: phenomenal your story is that you did get away from it.

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Speaker 1: So tell me that you did get away from it.

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Speaker 1: Let's get to the good part of the story, and

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Speaker 1: we will right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors.

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Speaker 2: So, like, I was working with my friend's org, which

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Speaker 2: is a survivor led organization, and we were noticing the tattoos,

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Speaker 2: and so we started documenting them, and.

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Speaker 1: You started documenting the girls tattoos that you saw.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, because if we found out that they were like

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Speaker 2: in need of like law enforcement help, or they were

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Speaker 2: in need of getting out of the situation like we

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Speaker 2: were like hey, or if there was somebody that was missing, Like,

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Speaker 2: we've actually recovered children that were like being advertised on

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Speaker 2: back page when back page was the thing set back page.

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Speaker 2: Back Page is kind of like Craigslist. So there used

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Speaker 2: to be the adults for people. Yeah, you've never heard

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Speaker 2: of back page.

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Speaker 1: No, ma'am.

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Speaker 2: Oh okay, I'm sorry. So back page. You could buy

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Speaker 2: a car on back page. You could sell car on

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Speaker 2: back page.

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Speaker 1: It's okay. I was thinking the farious stuff. Yes, back

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Speaker 1: in the day, there was a website they would advertise

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Speaker 1: you could like it was like a groag cell online.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but there was also places where you could also

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Speaker 2: purchase or find a date or you know all, so

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Speaker 2: there was all. So we would call these girls that

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Speaker 2: were working online when backpage was up and running, but

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Speaker 2: it ended up getting shut down, so I mean they

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Speaker 2: just moved to different platforms. It's still out there. But

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Speaker 2: I started like, we've recovered missing people like that were

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Speaker 2: missing from their families in ways that we were able

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Speaker 2: to do. It was we would notice, like there was

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Speaker 2: one young lady that had her street name tattooed across

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Speaker 2: her claviical and trafficked. Yeah, and her grandmother was like,

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Speaker 2: we can't find we can't find the girl, and Casey

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Speaker 2: was able to find her. We were able to get

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Speaker 2: her recovered and return back to her family. But like

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Speaker 2: she had she had a tattoo, and I was actually.

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Speaker 1: On identified her from her street name on.

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Speaker 2: Her shoulder she had it on there, and then her

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Speaker 2: the way she looked like. I I didn't identify a

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Speaker 2: Casey founder, but we were able to. I actually got

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Speaker 2: the the honor to cover that up for her several

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Speaker 2: months ago. So but yeah, we were able. Like I

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Speaker 2: started documenting these and we started putting in on the

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Speaker 2: sheets of different tattoos that we were seeing. And I

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Speaker 2: remember one day the founder of the org called me

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Speaker 2: and she goes, you're really into tattoos and all that.

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Speaker 2: She's like, I have this young lady. She's got REV

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Speaker 2: tattooed on the back of her neck because her trafficker

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Speaker 2: called himself the Reverend, so she had r EV tattooed

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Speaker 2: on the back of her neck. And she's like, can

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Speaker 2: you get her connected to a shop? And I was

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Speaker 2: like on it. And so like I got on Facebook

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Speaker 2: and I was friends with a tattoo artist on there,

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Speaker 2: and I asked him he was really like down the

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Speaker 2: street from where I live, and I said, uh, would

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Speaker 2: you be interested in helping me cover up this tattoo

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Speaker 2: for this young lady that's been through some some hell

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Speaker 2: of stuff, you know, And he was like absolutely, I'm down.

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Speaker 2: I didn't have organization, I didn't have a nonprofit, I

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Speaker 2: didn't have fifty dollars.

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Speaker 1: So I name you also had your own tattoos.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I still have my own tattoos. I hadn't even

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Speaker 2: covered up yet, right yeah, And so I was like, yeah, cool,

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Speaker 2: I'll do that, Like I'll love to help her out,

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Speaker 2: bring her to the shop. We covered it with this

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Speaker 2: gorgeous rose with a butterfly, and I remember her looking

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Speaker 2: in the mirror. I'll never forget it, and she literally

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Speaker 2: fell to her knees crying. Again. Casey was there with me,

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00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:35,040
Speaker 2: the shop shop artist was crying and she was like

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Speaker 2: thank you. And then like something inside of me was

395
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Speaker 2: like this is my niche like I found it. I

396
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,200
Speaker 2: found it, Like I loved working with for Sarah and

397
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Speaker 2: I actually was their outreach director for a long time.

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Speaker 2: But I was like, I I just felt this fire

399
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Speaker 2: like I can't even describe it. I just got like

400
00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:01,280
Speaker 2: super excited, and some one thing inside of me was like,

401
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:03,520
Speaker 2: this is my thing, hold it.

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Speaker 1: Why does this matter?

403
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:08,440
Speaker 2: Why does this matter? Well, I had my own I

404
00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:11,680
Speaker 2: had my own stuff, right, and I knew the feelings

405
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Speaker 2: that I felt with mine. And then when I went

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Speaker 2: and tried to go get mine covered up, the artist

407
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Speaker 2: was a complete douchebag. Just being honest, man like, he

408
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:27,240
Speaker 2: was like making like just just off, just disgusting comments,

409
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Speaker 2: like the music he was playing was like giving me

410
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Speaker 2: a freaking headache. He was not trauma informed or sensitive.

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Speaker 2: He was rude and like he covered up my tattoos

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Speaker 2: and did a crappy job. And I remember sitting in

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Speaker 2: that tattoo chair and thinking, I don't ever want to

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Speaker 2: see another survivor have to deal with somebody like this,

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Speaker 2: and come hell or high water, I will make sure

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Speaker 2: that they don't.

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Speaker 1: And the point is by getting rev turned into a

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Speaker 1: flower with a butterfly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah it's beautiful, all right.

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Speaker 1: Turned into a beautiful flower the butterfly, it changes from

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00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:13,440
Speaker 1: a reminder of the worst part of this young lady's

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00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:21,879
Speaker 1: life to something pretty and metaphorically literally metaphorically breaks the

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00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:25,160
Speaker 1: proverbial chains of her bondage to.

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Speaker 2: Her pimp or TRAFFI absolutely.

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Speaker 1: And she no longer has to look in the mirror

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Speaker 1: and be disgusted a boy what she sees on her

427
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Speaker 1: own body. Yeah, and you.

428
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Speaker 2: Felt that, yeah, And I was like, and I was like,

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Speaker 2: I want to make sure that I connect people with

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00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 2: shops and artists that are going to be trauma informed

431
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:48,320
Speaker 2: and trauma sensitive and caring and loving. And I have

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Speaker 2: found some of the most incredible artists on the planet

433
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Speaker 2: run this whole country. It just started in my own

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Speaker 2: hometown down the street from where I live now. And

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00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:02,719
Speaker 2: you know I did, like, I didn't have any kind

436
00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:06,399
Speaker 2: of fancy fundraising teams. I don't have an office like I.

437
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:11,720
Speaker 1: Literally, you're a normal, average person that found a place.

438
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,119
Speaker 2: I found a place that I found a need that

439
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 2: wasn't being met in my met in my community, and

440
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,840
Speaker 2: decided to meet that need. Andyank, go ahead.

441
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,440
Speaker 1: The two tattoos that you got when you were being trafficked,

442
00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:27,119
Speaker 1: one was on your wrist and I think one was

443
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:27,880
Speaker 1: on your leg.

444
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,640
Speaker 2: It was on my butt cheek, your yeah, help whatever.

445
00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:38,880
Speaker 1: Right after you finally got away and we're working with

446
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:42,000
Speaker 1: your friend, then that was three year period that was

447
00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:43,840
Speaker 1: still there before you got it covered up.

448
00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:46,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was literally still I was working in anti

449
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:48,800
Speaker 2: trafficking with my own tattoos on me?

450
00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:54,439
Speaker 1: So what did you think when you saw that on

451
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:56,520
Speaker 1: your wrist or looked in the mirror and saw that.

452
00:27:56,640 --> 00:28:00,200
Speaker 1: What was your initial reaction when you saw that? You're clean. Now,

453
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:03,920
Speaker 1: you're getting your life back together, you're working, and you're

454
00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:09,600
Speaker 1: helping and anti trafficking, so you're aware, you're no, what

455
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:11,359
Speaker 1: did you think when you saw those?

456
00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:16,040
Speaker 2: Like my old tattoos? Every time I was looking at them,

457
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,840
Speaker 2: I was like, every time I took a shower, change

458
00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 2: my clothes, or you know, I was intimate with, you know,

459
00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:29,080
Speaker 2: my kid's dad, I was like, I don't want this

460
00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:32,680
Speaker 2: on my body, you know, like I don't want to

461
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:36,040
Speaker 2: see this anymore. And it was a constant reminder.

462
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:39,680
Speaker 1: Of that's what, Yeah, of the most desperate time of

463
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:40,040
Speaker 1: your life.

464
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:41,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm like, I don't want to look at this.

465
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,680
Speaker 1: You move on when every time you look at yourself

466
00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:46,280
Speaker 1: you're reminded of that time.

467
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so I was like, it's it's time. And

468
00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:51,600
Speaker 2: then I had some self harm scars and I was like,

469
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:56,320
Speaker 2: it's time. It's time for me to stand up for

470
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,600
Speaker 2: Jess and do something for Jess.

471
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:02,480
Speaker 1: And so I So you got rev fixed. Ye, while

472
00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:06,040
Speaker 1: you have your own, but now it's time. Now you say, well,

473
00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 1: you know this works, I'm getting rid of my own. Yeah,

474
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:12,760
Speaker 1: and then you think there's a need that needs to

475
00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:18,080
Speaker 1: be methods not being filled for probably a population or

476
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,680
Speaker 1: community of some of the most traumatized and abused women

477
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:23,000
Speaker 1: on the face of the planet.

478
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,000
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I was like, I'm I was like, this

479
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:27,440
Speaker 2: is where I'm going to what I'm going to do.

480
00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:31,000
Speaker 2: So I remember going home, and that's why I brought

481
00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 2: my pamphlets so you could see them. I remember going

482
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:38,080
Speaker 2: home and sitting at the computer, and I was sitting

483
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:42,440
Speaker 2: on the floor of my apartment and I opened up

484
00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:47,880
Speaker 2: clip like word clip art, and I was like, birds

485
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:53,000
Speaker 2: symbolize my grandmother, because my grandmother was my biggest advocate

486
00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:56,240
Speaker 2: and she helped me through so much. Both of my

487
00:29:56,280 --> 00:30:01,200
Speaker 2: grandmothers loved birds. I was like, I took a bird,

488
00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:03,680
Speaker 2: and then I took a tattoo machine and I put

489
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 2: them together, and I was like, there's my logo. I

490
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 2: didn't have some fancy marketing.

491
00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:13,080
Speaker 1: If you can, if you could see it, I'm holding

492
00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:16,080
Speaker 1: it now and I'll describe it to you. There's a bar.

493
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,840
Speaker 1: It looks a lot like a dove. I think, I

494
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:22,360
Speaker 1: don't know, this is some bird in the center, and

495
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 1: then there's a tattoo tool in the image. It's okay,

496
00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:38,800
Speaker 1: And then behind it is this vibrant mix of color

497
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:45,959
Speaker 1: assume tattoo ink, and the whole symbol is I think

498
00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:52,080
Speaker 1: that you're changing the darkest ink on your body to

499
00:30:52,400 --> 00:31:00,720
Speaker 1: the most vibrant ink and you're being as a bird.

500
00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:02,840
Speaker 2: I get really excited talking about air.

501
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:05,680
Speaker 1: You're allowed to, you know what.

502
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:07,800
Speaker 2: I went from crying, you.

503
00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:11,200
Speaker 1: Shared gut wrenching with this. It is so nice not

504
00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:13,360
Speaker 1: to see you cry and see you smile, you every

505
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:19,400
Speaker 1: beautiful smile. It's great. So but yeah, so you're now

506
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:22,479
Speaker 1: you're like, Okay, here's this thing that needs to be filled.

507
00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:25,160
Speaker 1: It's worked for me, it's worked for the girl that

508
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:29,440
Speaker 1: had rev And you decide at your computer to make

509
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:33,480
Speaker 1: a logo of this bird with a tattoo thing and

510
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:38,160
Speaker 1: his talons with this cool color, and you decide you

511
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:38,880
Speaker 1: need to name it.

512
00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:42,640
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I was actually sitting with my friend again

513
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:44,840
Speaker 2: and I was at one of her things. She was like,

514
00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:46,480
Speaker 2: can you come and speak with me at this event?

515
00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 2: And I was like, sure, I'm getting up there. And

516
00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:52,400
Speaker 2: when I first started working in this field. I'd be

517
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:55,440
Speaker 2: like him, I'm Jessica. I you know, I'm like real shy.

518
00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:58,120
Speaker 2: I would look at the floor and hold her bag

519
00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:00,560
Speaker 2: with her logo from her company, and I'd be like,

520
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:03,280
Speaker 2: I'm just you know, I'm a survivor and I help

521
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:06,920
Speaker 2: people like I was afraid to share anything, and she's like,

522
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:08,640
Speaker 2: it's time to share your story. You've got to share

523
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:12,440
Speaker 2: your story. This was almost seven years ago, but I like,

524
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:15,800
Speaker 2: I was sitting and she was speaking at this church

525
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:18,880
Speaker 2: and this song came in and it was like, I

526
00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 2: am redeemed. You've set me free. I shake off these

527
00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:25,320
Speaker 2: heavy chains, break away everything. I'm not who I used

528
00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:30,280
Speaker 2: to be. And I was like redeem hm and I

529
00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:34,440
Speaker 2: was like Atlanta Redemption or like I was like Redeemed ink,

530
00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:39,000
Speaker 2: Redemption ink. I was trafficking in Atlanta. I was like

531
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:42,720
Speaker 2: Atlanta Redemption ink. And it stuck and I felt my

532
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:46,080
Speaker 2: heart start racing every time I would say Atlanta Redemption ink.

533
00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:48,840
Speaker 2: And I know it's a mouthful, which is why we

534
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:54,360
Speaker 2: shorten it to ARII or ri, but I remember just

535
00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:59,800
Speaker 2: feeling this this sensation inside of me of this is

536
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:03,360
Speaker 2: where God wants me, or this is where. This is

537
00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:05,640
Speaker 2: where I need to be. And like I said, like

538
00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:08,120
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't have a marketing team. I don't

539
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:11,600
Speaker 2: have fancy cameras. I don't have an office. I sit

540
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,800
Speaker 2: at my computer on my floor of my house with

541
00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:15,560
Speaker 2: my two kids.

542
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:18,800
Speaker 1: Do you have a cool pamphlet, I'm looking at it.

543
00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:24,520
Speaker 2: I made a pamphlet. Yeah, and Ari was and Ari

544
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,280
Speaker 2: was born. And in the news, actually, my friend, my

545
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:30,640
Speaker 2: friend Casey, had told the news about me, the local news,

546
00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,160
Speaker 2: that I was covering up these tattoos, and they came

547
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 2: out and interviewed me. And then it was like overnight,

548
00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:41,000
Speaker 2: I started getting questions, Like I made a little Facebook

549
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,760
Speaker 2: page and like we had like two followers, and then

550
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:46,959
Speaker 2: I started like it started getting bigger, and then like

551
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,760
Speaker 2: the news started asking me more questions. And then I

552
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 2: called a friend of mine that makes websites and uh,

553
00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:56,200
Speaker 2: he's actually runs a coffee company in Covington, Georgia, and

554
00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:58,440
Speaker 2: he's a roaster and he's like I looked at him

555
00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:01,440
Speaker 2: and I said, dude, I think I knew website. I

556
00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:03,880
Speaker 2: was like, I don't have money for a website. And

557
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:06,760
Speaker 2: he's like, don't worry about that right now, And like

558
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:10,840
Speaker 2: within like, forty eight hours build me a website.

559
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:12,839
Speaker 1: So I love it so wely.

560
00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:16,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm like, so it didn't cost me anything.

561
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:19,080
Speaker 1: And Okay, it doesn't need to be lost on anybody

562
00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:22,200
Speaker 1: that only three years before this you were being trafficked

563
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:23,880
Speaker 1: and you were on drugs.

564
00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:29,440
Speaker 2: Oh no, I had been out of that life. I

565
00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:32,000
Speaker 2: got out of trafficking in two thousand and four. And

566
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:34,680
Speaker 2: then again did Alriay start already started in twenty seventeen.

567
00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:37,920
Speaker 1: Okay, fine, it doesn't need to be lost on anybody.

568
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,040
Speaker 1: It doesn't number the number of years twelve or thirteen

569
00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:45,480
Speaker 1: years earlier. You were desperate, You shared that you had

570
00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:49,480
Speaker 1: suicidal thoughts, you were being manipulated. You were the survivor

571
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:54,520
Speaker 1: of molestation in your own home, you were a survivor

572
00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:59,640
Speaker 1: of trafficking, and now you're sitting at your computer building

573
00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 1: out a program.

574
00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:01,799
Speaker 2: Ari.

575
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:08,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, and nobody is beyond redemption. It is never ever

576
00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:09,680
Speaker 1: too late.

577
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:13,440
Speaker 2: Now everybody has an ability to do something in their community,

578
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,279
Speaker 2: and knowing something and putting action to it are two

579
00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:18,319
Speaker 2: different things.

580
00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:39,680
Speaker 1: We will be right back, I say. Often amazing things

581
00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:47,680
Speaker 1: happen when somebody's passionate and talent intersect with opportunity. That's you.

582
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:54,320
Speaker 1: You're passionate about helping people. You're passionate about understanding girls

583
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:57,640
Speaker 1: that have gone through the same trauma that you've gone through.

584
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:01,080
Speaker 1: And you saw an opportun unity just like you said,

585
00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:02,520
Speaker 1: you said out of your own mouth just a few

586
00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:05,240
Speaker 1: minutes ago, I saw a place of need that nobody

587
00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:08,920
Speaker 1: was filling. And so your passion and your discipline about

588
00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:11,279
Speaker 1: opportunity and ari was born.

589
00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:14,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I do want to say that there are

590
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:16,920
Speaker 2: artists around this country that probably do this, and I

591
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:20,279
Speaker 2: know one personally am in Chicago that has been doing

592
00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:22,960
Speaker 2: this for years out of his own shop. And there

593
00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:25,839
Speaker 2: are people that are doing it. But what I did

594
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:30,880
Speaker 2: was I built a network. So I started talking to

595
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:35,160
Speaker 2: tattoo shops and training tattoo shops on my lived experience,

596
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:38,720
Speaker 2: and then like indicators, and then we became we started

597
00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:40,640
Speaker 2: making them safe place sites. So if you ever like

598
00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:42,120
Speaker 2: go to like a Quick Trip, I don't know if

599
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:44,400
Speaker 2: you guys have them here in Memphis, but like you

600
00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:46,719
Speaker 2: go to Quick Trip or like a YMCA, they'll have

601
00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:48,600
Speaker 2: those big yellow signs that say safe place.

602
00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:53,600
Speaker 1: So that's somewhat sho tattoo shops that have the yellow signs.

603
00:36:53,719 --> 00:36:55,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, like so we started, we started the first one

604
00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:58,000
Speaker 2: to have the first tattoo shop to become a safe

605
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:00,480
Speaker 2: place site is in Covington, Georgia called iron Clad Ink,

606
00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:03,840
Speaker 2: and we actually help them become a safe place site

607
00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:06,640
Speaker 2: so youth can go there at any time and say

608
00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:08,600
Speaker 2: I need help, and then they know exactly what to

609
00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:10,160
Speaker 2: do and who to call, and then they get youth

610
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:13,000
Speaker 2: advocates out there to help before they because sometimes they're

611
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:14,640
Speaker 2: afraid to call the police because they're thinks they're going

612
00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:17,160
Speaker 2: to get in trouble. Right, So we started trying.

613
00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:19,840
Speaker 1: To bumping your captor on the front porch.

614
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,600
Speaker 2: So I just a whole another story. Yeah, and I'm

615
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:27,000
Speaker 2: and I'm not anti law enforcement at all, but like

616
00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:30,760
Speaker 2: law enforcement need to be trained and they are actively

617
00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:32,640
Speaker 2: being trained, which is great. So there has been a

618
00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:32,880
Speaker 2: lot of.

619
00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:38,920
Speaker 1: Also fifteen years ago different mentality towards somebody.

620
00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:41,040
Speaker 2: Absolutely there would come a long way and there's still

621
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:45,120
Speaker 2: a long way to go. But I just I remember

622
00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:50,880
Speaker 2: I still sit in my apartment and I do our website,

623
00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,080
Speaker 2: I do everything.

624
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:59,000
Speaker 1: So tell me how you get somebody to help. How

625
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:01,759
Speaker 1: does that happen? How does somebody come to you? Like,

626
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,879
Speaker 1: where do yeah, because these girls or guys. I see

627
00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:08,600
Speaker 1: a picture of a guy actually, which I'm interested in

628
00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:12,239
Speaker 1: that story, but I'm for the listeners. I'm looking at

629
00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:18,920
Speaker 1: the pamphlet and what Jess has. Here are pictures before

630
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:24,280
Speaker 1: and after tattoos of girls or I assume, guys who've

631
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:28,520
Speaker 1: been trafficked, and you see what they had and then

632
00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:31,839
Speaker 1: what it becomes. And just so everybody knows, I don't

633
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:34,040
Speaker 1: have a single tattoo in my body. I'm not a

634
00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:37,040
Speaker 1: tattoo guy, never have been. But I'm also not one

635
00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:40,400
Speaker 1: of these anti tattoo people. I mean, if you like tattoos,

636
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 1: good for you, you know, that's great. But what I'm

637
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:49,319
Speaker 1: looking at is like a risk that has the word

638
00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:52,400
Speaker 1: cash on it and the S is a dollar sign,

639
00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:57,680
Speaker 1: and it's incursive and it is not attractive, and it.

640
00:38:57,640 --> 00:38:58,720
Speaker 2: Is cash only.

641
00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:04,520
Speaker 1: What's up? Cash only? It's too risk when you put

642
00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:09,839
Speaker 1: them together, say cash only, which I assume I can't

643
00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:14,800
Speaker 1: believe I'm saying this. What I assume is a prostitute

644
00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:18,160
Speaker 1: is basically saying to the John, cash only. That was

645
00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:21,600
Speaker 1: probably put on there by her pimp or trafficker.

646
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:25,600
Speaker 2: Is that right, Yes, so she was a trafficking victim.

647
00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:29,880
Speaker 2: That had that on her, and then you're touching on

648
00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:35,040
Speaker 2: the guys. We actually do more than just tattoos from

649
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:40,239
Speaker 2: exploitation in trafficking. We cover and remove gang tattoos from

650
00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:41,200
Speaker 2: former gang members.

651
00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:42,280
Speaker 1: Awesome.

652
00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:46,080
Speaker 2: We also cover up self harm scars. We all show

653
00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:49,279
Speaker 2: people that have been using IVY drugs that are left

654
00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:52,040
Speaker 2: with scarring and bruising from IVY drug use. We help

655
00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:52,719
Speaker 2: cover those of us.

656
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:58,120
Speaker 1: Regardless of the trauma of the depths of desperation, these

657
00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:01,120
Speaker 1: people in you are trying to cover up the things

658
00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:03,560
Speaker 1: that they have to look at on themselves so they

659
00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:06,480
Speaker 1: can change the ugliest time of their life into something pretty,

660
00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:10,239
Speaker 1: so that they can get past the daily reminder on

661
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:14,080
Speaker 1: their own bodies of their own trauma. Yes, it is phenomenal.

662
00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:19,160
Speaker 1: Just so the cash only thing turned into like this

663
00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:23,480
Speaker 1: big rose with a bee and I'm not sure what

664
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:26,200
Speaker 1: that is, but it's pretty and it's cool looking. And

665
00:40:26,239 --> 00:40:29,640
Speaker 1: then there's another one that is I'm not even reading it,

666
00:40:29,719 --> 00:40:31,880
Speaker 1: but it looks like a hip or the small of

667
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:35,080
Speaker 1: a bout. I think that's a small, small lower back

668
00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:41,719
Speaker 1: and it is egregious what it says. And it is

669
00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:48,040
Speaker 1: now a purple pretty bow that you can't even see

670
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:54,960
Speaker 1: what it was, and it's phenomenal. Okay, so hold it.

671
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:57,480
Speaker 1: So I'm sorry, I got to get out of your brochure.

672
00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:03,120
Speaker 1: You you make ari And this is how long ago.

673
00:41:03,719 --> 00:41:05,160
Speaker 2: I started it in twenty seventeen.

674
00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:09,480
Speaker 1: Okay, so six years ago. Now you've started it. You

675
00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:12,360
Speaker 1: got a website, you got an email address. How do

676
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:12,960
Speaker 1: you get people?

677
00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:17,160
Speaker 2: We started getting the word got out. Like I said,

678
00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:20,480
Speaker 2: we were on the news and there was just one

679
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:23,359
Speaker 2: news segment, and then people started learning about us, which

680
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:24,840
Speaker 2: is why I called my friend Jason up and I

681
00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:26,880
Speaker 2: was like, dude, I need a website now, you know.

682
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:28,800
Speaker 2: And he got on it and he's like, I'm behind

683
00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:31,800
Speaker 2: this one hundred percent. And so he created the website

684
00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:34,560
Speaker 2: for me. And then now we get referrals from drug courts,

685
00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:39,160
Speaker 2: we get referrals from probation officers, the GBI. There's actually

686
00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:42,520
Speaker 2: a young lady, the one that with the bow. We've

687
00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:47,000
Speaker 2: gotten referrals from GBI, FBI, Homeland Security.

688
00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:50,319
Speaker 1: Law enforcement sends you people trying to help them.

689
00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:53,360
Speaker 2: Yes, we get over. We get a lot of referrals

690
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:55,879
Speaker 2: from law enforcement and a lot of referrals from programs.

691
00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:58,799
Speaker 2: There'll be women that are in long term programs that

692
00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:02,200
Speaker 2: will call us and or contact us for help, and

693
00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:04,400
Speaker 2: so their advocate will go with him to get help

694
00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:07,200
Speaker 2: and they'll meet us at the shop if they're in Atlanta.

695
00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:10,760
Speaker 2: I'm always I do my dead level best to always

696
00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:12,320
Speaker 2: be present for their appointment.

697
00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:14,279
Speaker 1: And these people don't pay a dime.

698
00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:16,440
Speaker 2: They do not have to pay us anything.

699
00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:20,040
Speaker 1: If I have a friend that's a real actually a

700
00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:22,799
Speaker 1: god do business with who's a furniture builder, he is

701
00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:25,560
Speaker 1: literally tatted, I don't I've never seen him nicked, so

702
00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:27,719
Speaker 1: I can't say it. And Daniel, if you hear me,

703
00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:31,280
Speaker 1: I don't want to see you naked. Literally the dude.

704
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:33,479
Speaker 1: I've seen him during the summer in shorts and T shirt.

705
00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:35,480
Speaker 1: There's not an ounce of his body that doesn't have

706
00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:38,200
Speaker 1: ink other than his face, including his head. All right,

707
00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:41,160
Speaker 1: And he's just a tattoo guy, right. Well, he was

708
00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:43,520
Speaker 1: telling me what he pays for some of these tattoos,

709
00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:47,000
Speaker 1: and I mean this tattoo work is expensive.

710
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:52,000
Speaker 2: Yes it is. And we actually work with some incredible

711
00:42:52,239 --> 00:42:56,160
Speaker 2: artists that either donate their time or they discount it

712
00:42:56,200 --> 00:43:01,120
Speaker 2: for us. So we raise just through ordinary people. We

713
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:04,160
Speaker 2: raise money or try to raise money, and then I

714
00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:07,520
Speaker 2: speak to raise money to be able to afford to

715
00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:09,640
Speaker 2: do some of the cover ups for these young ladies.

716
00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:13,840
Speaker 2: But we also go even further than just the tattoos

717
00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:17,080
Speaker 2: tell us about that, Jess. So we have our Beyond

718
00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:21,680
Speaker 2: inc program. So Beyond INC is where we provide holistic counseling.

719
00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:23,839
Speaker 2: So we have a licensed therapist that works on our

720
00:43:23,880 --> 00:43:26,880
Speaker 2: team that will do zoom calls and do therapy sessions

721
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:29,120
Speaker 2: with people that want to have them, so they can

722
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:31,040
Speaker 2: choose to go to a therapist if they're not able

723
00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:33,920
Speaker 2: to go through insurance or like any other company, and

724
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:36,600
Speaker 2: so it's at a discounted rate. We also work with

725
00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:40,840
Speaker 2: an organization called Tears Free Academy who actually helped me

726
00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:44,440
Speaker 2: get my high school diploma and I was able to graduate.

727
00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:46,759
Speaker 2: And I did not realize this, but I was only

728
00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:49,759
Speaker 2: one credit shy away from graduating when I couldn't even

729
00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:54,359
Speaker 2: pass the GED no kidding, yeah, So yeah, I went

730
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:56,959
Speaker 2: through her program and I was pregnant with my son,

731
00:43:57,200 --> 00:43:59,400
Speaker 2: and my daughter was three years old, and she's in

732
00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:02,879
Speaker 2: the audience and she's screaming, yay mommy as I throw

733
00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:06,040
Speaker 2: my cap and gown or I threw my cap a

734
00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:07,840
Speaker 2: few years ago. Actually, I was able to get my

735
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:11,640
Speaker 2: high school diploma, and then I became a peer support

736
00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:14,440
Speaker 2: counselor and I teach art therapy so I can do

737
00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:17,319
Speaker 2: art therapy at safe homes with the young ladies. And

738
00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:22,439
Speaker 2: then we have someone that does holistic job readiness job

739
00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:25,279
Speaker 2: training skills, so we have like a team that all

740
00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:28,600
Speaker 2: worked together and beyond inc so we're able to it's

741
00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:32,880
Speaker 2: not just an outward change, but it's an opportunity to

742
00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:36,399
Speaker 2: do an nword change as well. So it's just this

743
00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:44,279
Speaker 2: whole program centered around redemption and new opportunities. And I

744
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:46,319
Speaker 2: had somebody one time ask me. They were like, oh,

745
00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:50,040
Speaker 2: so you're just basically changing somebody's identity and I was like, nah,

746
00:44:50,520 --> 00:44:53,800
Speaker 2: because that wasn't their identity to begin with. Their identity

747
00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:57,400
Speaker 2: was who they were along before someone even put that

748
00:44:57,440 --> 00:45:00,600
Speaker 2: on them. Their identity is what was breathing to them

749
00:45:00,920 --> 00:45:08,520
Speaker 2: from birth or from conception. So I am yeah, I

750
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:11,160
Speaker 2: just I get super excited talking about it. I could

751
00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:14,279
Speaker 2: probably talk about AARI for like five hundred hours.

752
00:45:14,760 --> 00:45:20,920
Speaker 1: Well, you know the thing that's amazing is is you

753
00:45:21,080 --> 00:45:25,400
Speaker 1: started just trying to get tattoos covered or removed that

754
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:32,800
Speaker 1: are horrible reminders of desperate times for people because you

755
00:45:32,840 --> 00:45:37,360
Speaker 1: certainly identified with and empathized with that reality. But now

756
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:44,000
Speaker 1: you're using this beyond inc to actually, once people are

757
00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:47,239
Speaker 1: able to get rid of the physical reminders and get

758
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:52,000
Speaker 1: over that, you're actually helping them move on with life,

759
00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:56,399
Speaker 1: in with therapy and with job readiness and all of it.

760
00:45:57,680 --> 00:45:58,000
Speaker 2: Yeah.

761
00:45:58,239 --> 00:46:00,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, and remember you're the bad girl in the family.

762
00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:07,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, they don't think that now, I know. I can't.

763
00:46:07,320 --> 00:46:10,200
Speaker 1: I can't wait here that part. How many girls over

764
00:46:10,239 --> 00:46:12,880
Speaker 1: the last seven years or girls ain't guys? Sorry? How

765
00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:17,520
Speaker 1: many people have you helped get ink off of and

766
00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:22,440
Speaker 1: or covered or whatever and gone through programs? How many

767
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:23,160
Speaker 1: people have you.

768
00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:27,319
Speaker 2: Served as of today? We had to last week and

769
00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:30,120
Speaker 2: then a couple a couple of weeks ago, but as

770
00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:32,760
Speaker 2: of today, I think we are right at six hundred

771
00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:39,880
Speaker 2: and thirty five people served since twenty seventeen. Cool story,

772
00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:43,239
Speaker 2: because I'm I'm almost I'm all about a year. Yes,

773
00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:46,800
Speaker 2: we get an eight a month. We get a lot.

774
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:49,600
Speaker 2: And it's not just in Georgia. We get applications from

775
00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:53,640
Speaker 2: Georgia to California and everywhere in between. Like we we

776
00:46:53,719 --> 00:46:56,320
Speaker 2: just covered up a tattoo on a young lady in Texas.

777
00:46:56,440 --> 00:47:01,400
Speaker 2: A couple of days ago, the day before Thanksgiving. This story,

778
00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:05,120
Speaker 2: this has never happened in the seven years that I've

779
00:47:05,160 --> 00:47:07,760
Speaker 2: been doing this. I actually met her through a program

780
00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:10,080
Speaker 2: in Atlanta. It was like a drop in day center.

781
00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:12,360
Speaker 2: What it drop in day center? So it was like

782
00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:14,439
Speaker 2: a place that they could go to get help during

783
00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:17,239
Speaker 2: the day and then they would sleep somewhere at night.

784
00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:19,799
Speaker 1: And usually the people they still in life.

785
00:47:19,719 --> 00:47:22,160
Speaker 2: Or I don't know. I went there just to talk

786
00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:23,719
Speaker 2: to them and let them know about our services.

787
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:26,040
Speaker 1: Okay, but it's a drop in day it's.

788
00:47:25,920 --> 00:47:27,440
Speaker 2: Like a day center. Yeah, they don't sleep there.

789
00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:30,560
Speaker 1: You don't know if they're still in alive or getting

790
00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:32,640
Speaker 1: out of the life. You don't know what stage with

791
00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:34,040
Speaker 1: the world these folks directly.

792
00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:39,600
Speaker 2: It's all confidential with their program. But she she had

793
00:47:39,600 --> 00:47:42,239
Speaker 2: some tattoos, and she actually had one of a trafficker's

794
00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:44,919
Speaker 2: name that I've seen on multiple women. So we're gonna

795
00:47:44,920 --> 00:47:48,800
Speaker 2: be working on that one too shortly. But we're sitting

796
00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:51,839
Speaker 2: in the tattoo shop the day before Thanksgiving. I had

797
00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:54,839
Speaker 2: just gotten in a car accident a few days beforehand,

798
00:47:55,880 --> 00:48:00,000
Speaker 2: and I'm sitting there pushing through the pain of the accident,

799
00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:02,560
Speaker 2: and I'm sitting there and I'm holding there. I got

800
00:48:02,560 --> 00:48:05,439
Speaker 2: a picture of it, and I'm holding her hand and

801
00:48:06,239 --> 00:48:09,799
Speaker 2: she's like talking about her story. She's in pain because

802
00:48:09,840 --> 00:48:12,799
Speaker 2: it's in a painful area and she's getting it covered

803
00:48:12,880 --> 00:48:16,240
Speaker 2: up and she says some things to me, and I go, WHOA,

804
00:48:17,920 --> 00:48:21,960
Speaker 2: she's still in the life. This girl needs help. Like,

805
00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:26,120
Speaker 2: so I immediately get on the phone and she's like,

806
00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:28,400
Speaker 2: I can't find a bed anywhere. She's like, there's no

807
00:48:28,480 --> 00:48:32,880
Speaker 2: open beds for long term. So day before Thanksgiving, I

808
00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:35,799
Speaker 2: get on the phone with a friend of mine and

809
00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:37,879
Speaker 2: I'm like, this girl said that she tried to call

810
00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:41,200
Speaker 2: and there wasn't beds, and he was like, on it.

811
00:48:42,000 --> 00:48:46,560
Speaker 2: We had her bed within an hour and she within

812
00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:48,920
Speaker 2: two hours. They had a team that came out from

813
00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:50,919
Speaker 2: the program to pick her up from the tattoo shop

814
00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:53,480
Speaker 2: and got her into a program. So like, she got

815
00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:56,480
Speaker 2: help immediately. So like, I don't just share stories of

816
00:48:56,719 --> 00:48:59,120
Speaker 2: seven years ago. We have stories that are happening just

817
00:48:59,160 --> 00:49:03,840
Speaker 2: a few weeks ago, and these people are coming through

818
00:49:04,239 --> 00:49:08,160
Speaker 2: and are getting all around.

819
00:49:08,160 --> 00:49:14,000
Speaker 1: Care are you when you said that she had a

820
00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:18,239
Speaker 1: tattoo that you've seen before. Yeah, it's interesting because you're

821
00:49:18,360 --> 00:49:22,880
Speaker 1: kind of the keeper of the tattoo. Information you gotta

822
00:49:25,840 --> 00:49:27,759
Speaker 1: I would think law enforcement, we want to know what

823
00:49:27,800 --> 00:49:29,360
Speaker 1: you want to know what you know?

824
00:49:29,840 --> 00:49:33,720
Speaker 2: Well, I actually work with an organization I actually started doing.

825
00:49:34,600 --> 00:49:36,959
Speaker 2: I'm a survivor hunter with School Games.

826
00:49:36,680 --> 00:49:39,280
Speaker 1: A survivor hunter or like I'm.

827
00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:41,759
Speaker 2: The survivor, Like I'm a survivor and I hunt with them.

828
00:49:41,800 --> 00:49:45,320
Speaker 2: And it's called school Games and their website is Schoolgames

829
00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:49,160
Speaker 2: dot io and I volunteer with them. And so when

830
00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:53,000
Speaker 2: we're looking for women, we're actually looking for people that

831
00:49:53,080 --> 00:49:57,759
Speaker 2: are trafficking them. And we'll see tattoos and they'll ask

832
00:49:57,840 --> 00:50:00,600
Speaker 2: me like, hey, Jess, can you tell me about tattoo?

833
00:50:00,640 --> 00:50:03,520
Speaker 2: And these are like veterans and law enforcement officers and

834
00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:07,920
Speaker 2: analysts and we all meet together and we work together

835
00:50:08,520 --> 00:50:11,759
Speaker 2: as a community, and they'll ask me about these tattoos,

836
00:50:12,239 --> 00:50:15,239
Speaker 2: and so I'm able to assist with that. I get

837
00:50:15,239 --> 00:50:17,600
Speaker 2: a lot of phone calls from people asking me about

838
00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:19,960
Speaker 2: you know, can you help me identify this? What does

839
00:50:20,000 --> 00:50:23,080
Speaker 2: this mean? I work with gang investigators and they're like, hey,

840
00:50:23,360 --> 00:50:25,360
Speaker 2: if I have a question, is something I don't know about.

841
00:50:25,480 --> 00:50:27,920
Speaker 2: I don't try to be misnow it all. I literally

842
00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:29,800
Speaker 2: will call up people and be like, hey, help me

843
00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:32,319
Speaker 2: out with this because I don't know what this one is.

844
00:50:32,560 --> 00:50:33,279
Speaker 2: So do you know?

845
00:50:33,440 --> 00:50:41,120
Speaker 1: Phenomenalists, you're helping people. You're getting their shame off their

846
00:50:41,160 --> 00:50:44,279
Speaker 1: bodies so that they can move on mentally and spiritually

847
00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:49,839
Speaker 1: and emotionally. You're helping them move on literally and physically

848
00:50:50,360 --> 00:50:56,000
Speaker 1: with their lives. And you're working with people to identify

849
00:50:56,040 --> 00:51:03,120
Speaker 1: the perpetrators of this evil. From where you wore fifteen

850
00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:04,320
Speaker 1: years ago, from where you are.

851
00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:06,880
Speaker 2: Today, it was a totally different person.

852
00:51:09,840 --> 00:51:11,400
Speaker 1: And where would you be without your grandmother?

853
00:51:13,719 --> 00:51:17,000
Speaker 2: I love that woman. I can't ever talk about Ari

854
00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:19,840
Speaker 2: without talking about my memal. I know it's such a

855
00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:22,160
Speaker 2: Southern term, but you know I'm from the south Side.

856
00:51:22,840 --> 00:51:47,000
Speaker 1: I'm We'll be right back. Do you have a favorite

857
00:51:47,040 --> 00:51:50,920
Speaker 1: story of somebody you ever worked with to get covered?

858
00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:53,600
Speaker 2: They're all my favorite stories.

859
00:51:54,880 --> 00:51:55,640
Speaker 1: Whack get that?

860
00:51:56,160 --> 00:51:59,239
Speaker 2: I can't I can't think a favorite. It's so fush.

861
00:51:59,440 --> 00:52:02,160
Speaker 1: I hate that question. But this jack ap bitting over

862
00:52:02,200 --> 00:52:04,120
Speaker 1: here always likes me to ask it, you know, the

863
00:52:04,160 --> 00:52:09,920
Speaker 1: producer type. But let me just ask this. I get

864
00:52:09,960 --> 00:52:13,560
Speaker 1: asked that about the kids. I get asked that about

865
00:52:13,600 --> 00:52:17,160
Speaker 1: the kids that I coached. No, I don't have a favorite.

866
00:52:17,760 --> 00:52:20,680
Speaker 1: They're all different, but there's a story under every ailment.

867
00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:23,839
Speaker 1: I'm certain there's a story behind every piece of ink.

868
00:52:24,840 --> 00:52:30,040
Speaker 1: But give us one that people will go wow when

869
00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:30,560
Speaker 1: they hear.

870
00:52:32,360 --> 00:52:35,920
Speaker 2: I. She's actually on the pamphlet. There's a young lady

871
00:52:36,440 --> 00:52:40,440
Speaker 2: who I love very dearly. I talk to her often.

872
00:52:42,800 --> 00:52:45,799
Speaker 2: There's her, My god. I love all of them. I

873
00:52:45,840 --> 00:52:49,279
Speaker 2: love everybody that I've worked with. They all have a

874
00:52:49,280 --> 00:52:51,839
Speaker 2: special place in my heart. But this one right here,

875
00:52:52,280 --> 00:52:56,759
Speaker 2: I will never forget what she told me. So she

876
00:52:56,760 --> 00:53:02,680
Speaker 2: she was with her trafficker, and I said, what was

877
00:53:02,719 --> 00:53:04,960
Speaker 2: it like when you got that covered up? Share it

878
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:08,040
Speaker 2: with me? And she said, I no longer see the

879
00:53:08,040 --> 00:53:11,080
Speaker 2: girl I used to see in the hotel mirror. And

880
00:53:11,239 --> 00:53:12,600
Speaker 2: that has I no.

881
00:53:12,520 --> 00:53:15,040
Speaker 1: Longer see the girl I used see in the hotel mirror.

882
00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:20,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that stuck with That has stuck with me forever.

883
00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:23,239
Speaker 2: And I usually like to say that when survivors tell

884
00:53:23,280 --> 00:53:26,320
Speaker 2: me these things, that those are always going to be

885
00:53:26,360 --> 00:53:34,160
Speaker 2: tattooed on my heart because it's it's beyond it's beyond me.

886
00:53:34,239 --> 00:53:37,440
Speaker 2: It's it's the tattoo community that are stepping up.

887
00:53:37,280 --> 00:53:39,400
Speaker 1: And which now you have like eighty you.

888
00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:41,960
Speaker 2: Know, we have eighty shops across the country that work

889
00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:44,120
Speaker 2: with us, and there's several people in the shop, and

890
00:53:44,160 --> 00:53:47,040
Speaker 2: then if we have like one artist in one shop,

891
00:53:47,520 --> 00:53:49,200
Speaker 2: the other artists get win of what we're doing and

892
00:53:49,200 --> 00:53:50,719
Speaker 2: they're like, hey, I want to get on board, and

893
00:53:50,760 --> 00:53:52,800
Speaker 2: I want to get on board. But we vet these shops.

894
00:53:52,840 --> 00:53:54,279
Speaker 2: We want to make sure that they don't have any

895
00:53:54,360 --> 00:53:57,319
Speaker 2: kind of sex crimes or domestic violence crimes in their backgrounds.

896
00:53:57,760 --> 00:54:01,680
Speaker 2: We want to make sure that when these survivors go

897
00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:04,680
Speaker 2: into their shops that they are going to be taken

898
00:54:04,719 --> 00:54:08,640
Speaker 2: care of and respected, which you know, I've yet to

899
00:54:08,719 --> 00:54:11,680
Speaker 2: run into a shop where that has been a problem,

900
00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:15,640
Speaker 2: and I don't think I will ever run into that issue.

901
00:54:15,840 --> 00:54:21,560
Speaker 2: But I just have an incredible team of artists.

902
00:54:20,440 --> 00:54:25,680
Speaker 1: That Jesse Rollins, an owner and artist Ironclad, Inc. Said,

903
00:54:26,200 --> 00:54:29,040
Speaker 1: I've seen self harm scars that go from the wrist

904
00:54:29,120 --> 00:54:33,080
Speaker 1: to the elbow, branding that I've been put on by

905
00:54:33,160 --> 00:54:37,640
Speaker 1: pimps and seff draffers. Women abused by father from five

906
00:54:38,440 --> 00:54:41,920
Speaker 1: to fifteen years old that had not shed a tear

907
00:54:42,040 --> 00:54:46,719
Speaker 1: since six and said, we gave her back her life.

908
00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:48,399
Speaker 1: It's the best thing I've ever done.

909
00:54:49,960 --> 00:54:53,400
Speaker 2: I love Jesse Jesse's actually the one that repaired my

910
00:54:54,080 --> 00:54:58,279
Speaker 2: tattoos from the ones that were messed up. He had

911
00:54:58,320 --> 00:55:00,799
Speaker 2: to go back and fix them all for me. So

912
00:55:01,640 --> 00:55:03,680
Speaker 2: he's a great guy and he's also a firefighter that

913
00:55:03,760 --> 00:55:05,239
Speaker 2: works in the community that I live in.

914
00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:11,879
Speaker 1: Have you taken a deep enough breath in a little

915
00:55:11,880 --> 00:55:13,360
Speaker 1: bit of time to take stock of you?

916
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:15,800
Speaker 2: What do you mean.

917
00:55:18,280 --> 00:55:24,120
Speaker 1: You're changing lives? Jess?

918
00:55:26,760 --> 00:55:27,880
Speaker 2: I don't know if I can answer that.

919
00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:32,520
Speaker 1: Well, I can for you, you're changing lives. But the interesting

920
00:55:32,560 --> 00:55:37,600
Speaker 1: spart interesting part, and this is universal on this show.

921
00:55:38,320 --> 00:55:41,400
Speaker 1: This is universal on this show. You're not just changing

922
00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:43,840
Speaker 1: the lives of the girls and the guys who are

923
00:55:43,880 --> 00:55:46,799
Speaker 1: getting the gangs and the trafficking tattoos set up. You're

924
00:55:46,840 --> 00:55:50,080
Speaker 1: changing lives of the artists. You're changing the lives of

925
00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:53,160
Speaker 1: the community, of the quote network that you talk about building,

926
00:55:53,239 --> 00:55:57,160
Speaker 1: because now they're able to use their passions and their

927
00:55:57,200 --> 00:55:59,759
Speaker 1: talents and an opportunity to need because you created that

928
00:55:59,800 --> 00:56:05,400
Speaker 1: for them. And for someone to say, a firefighter to say,

929
00:56:07,960 --> 00:56:11,200
Speaker 1: this is the best thing that I've ever done. He

930
00:56:11,280 --> 00:56:14,200
Speaker 1: wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for you. He

931
00:56:14,200 --> 00:56:17,040
Speaker 1: wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for Ari. He

932
00:56:17,040 --> 00:56:19,760
Speaker 1: wouldn't be doing this if you didn't decide to get

933
00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:22,279
Speaker 1: rev off the back of a girl's neck one day

934
00:56:23,120 --> 00:56:27,960
Speaker 1: and you became energized where your passion and your abilities

935
00:56:28,600 --> 00:56:31,640
Speaker 1: met opportunity. And you're changing lives of girls, but you're

936
00:56:31,719 --> 00:56:34,000
Speaker 1: changing lives of the community of people helping the girls.

937
00:56:35,520 --> 00:56:39,879
Speaker 1: And you're just a kid from Atlanta who was abused too,

938
00:56:41,120 --> 00:56:46,520
Speaker 1: fell into a crazy set of circumstances, who's now a

939
00:56:46,680 --> 00:56:49,560
Speaker 1: mother and is changing lives for people. And I just

940
00:56:49,600 --> 00:56:52,760
Speaker 1: want to know if you ever take stock of yourself.

941
00:56:53,960 --> 00:56:54,040
Speaker 3: I.

942
00:56:55,680 --> 00:57:00,400
Speaker 2: Usually just keep going I don't. I don't know what

943
00:57:00,400 --> 00:57:02,040
Speaker 2: you mean by take stock of myself?

944
00:57:02,080 --> 00:57:02,479
Speaker 3: Like, I don't.

945
00:57:02,640 --> 00:57:05,319
Speaker 1: Do you ever sit there and look like I don't

946
00:57:05,360 --> 00:57:09,040
Speaker 1: know what that means to take stock. If you go

947
00:57:09,160 --> 00:57:13,880
Speaker 1: down the aisle of a grocery store and there's people

948
00:57:14,440 --> 00:57:18,880
Speaker 1: putting empty cartons back on empty shelves, it's because they're

949
00:57:18,920 --> 00:57:23,320
Speaker 1: taking stock. They're looking at what that owlist is. Now

950
00:57:23,680 --> 00:57:26,200
Speaker 1: you know how empty the owl was, and then they

951
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:30,240
Speaker 1: put it up and it becomes restocked. Look at what

952
00:57:30,360 --> 00:57:33,800
Speaker 1: your life is, I mean, it's phenomenal what you're doing.

953
00:57:34,240 --> 00:57:42,120
Speaker 1: And to come where you've come from and who've had

954
00:57:42,240 --> 00:57:47,320
Speaker 1: to build. This is just so redemptive and so inspiring,

955
00:57:47,400 --> 00:57:51,040
Speaker 1: and you know, I just I hope you take a

956
00:57:51,120 --> 00:57:56,400
Speaker 1: second to take a deep breath and realize the blessing

957
00:57:56,800 --> 00:57:59,480
Speaker 1: you now are in other people's lives, much like your

958
00:57:59,480 --> 00:58:00,760
Speaker 1: grandmother wasn't yours?

959
00:58:01,760 --> 00:58:10,400
Speaker 2: Okay, I I feel like if I try to go, well,

960
00:58:10,440 --> 00:58:12,920
Speaker 2: look what I did, I feel like I feel like

961
00:58:12,960 --> 00:58:17,720
Speaker 2: that looks arrogant, I guess, and so I I try

962
00:58:17,840 --> 00:58:23,000
Speaker 2: not to do that, but I do look back and go, dang,

963
00:58:23,040 --> 00:58:27,240
Speaker 2: I've come a long way, and I am honored to

964
00:58:27,320 --> 00:58:29,760
Speaker 2: be able to sit with the people I get to

965
00:58:30,600 --> 00:58:33,800
Speaker 2: said with and meet the people that I meet. But

966
00:58:33,840 --> 00:58:39,200
Speaker 2: I very rarely will go look at me. I just

967
00:58:39,240 --> 00:58:39,760
Speaker 2: I can't.

968
00:58:40,160 --> 00:58:43,480
Speaker 1: I get that. That's also universal among almost everybody we

969
00:58:43,600 --> 00:58:49,640
Speaker 1: interview with me. I get it, but you know you can't.

970
00:58:49,720 --> 00:58:52,520
Speaker 1: You can't do anything about me saying hey girl, look

971
00:58:52,560 --> 00:58:57,200
Speaker 1: at you. You should be so proud. And all of

972
00:58:57,200 --> 00:59:00,200
Speaker 1: this work, where's money come from?

973
00:59:01,720 --> 00:59:06,560
Speaker 2: So, like I've said, we don't have I don't sit

974
00:59:06,600 --> 00:59:09,200
Speaker 2: in a fancy office. I'm just a young lady that

975
00:59:09,200 --> 00:59:13,920
Speaker 2: sits at home and a homeschool. My daughter and I

976
00:59:13,960 --> 00:59:16,760
Speaker 2: work from my house on my computer, and I have

977
00:59:16,800 --> 00:59:22,200
Speaker 2: people that volunteer. We don't have huge donors, but we

978
00:59:22,320 --> 00:59:25,760
Speaker 2: have some that have been very gracious to give. And

979
00:59:25,880 --> 00:59:29,640
Speaker 2: we depend on just people that hear our story and

980
00:59:30,000 --> 00:59:33,760
Speaker 2: are moved by what we do to donate so we

981
00:59:33,840 --> 00:59:35,160
Speaker 2: can continue to do the work.

982
00:59:35,480 --> 00:59:38,360
Speaker 1: So how do people that are moved by your story donate?

983
00:59:38,840 --> 00:59:40,720
Speaker 2: They can do that on the website as soon as

984
00:59:40,760 --> 00:59:44,400
Speaker 2: they go to aaronline dot org. It is bag and

985
00:59:44,520 --> 00:59:47,880
Speaker 2: massive at the very top, and it says support ARI.

986
00:59:48,200 --> 00:59:50,920
Speaker 1: We will thank you money and put it to good use.

987
00:59:51,640 --> 00:59:52,439
Speaker 1: Is that's the thing.

988
00:59:52,760 --> 00:59:56,880
Speaker 2: What goes into ARI goes into direct services. It doesn't

989
00:59:56,920 --> 01:00:01,040
Speaker 2: go to a high paying CEO, doesn't go into marketing teams,

990
01:00:01,080 --> 01:00:04,800
Speaker 2: it doesn't go into a fundraising coach. It goes directly

991
01:00:04,880 --> 01:00:08,880
Speaker 2: into direct services. And then when I share and I train,

992
01:00:09,800 --> 01:00:13,120
Speaker 2: that's how I also bring in funding to the org.

993
01:00:13,400 --> 01:00:17,160
Speaker 1: So if somebody's listening to us today and they need

994
01:00:17,200 --> 01:00:21,920
Speaker 1: your service anywhere in the US, or they're tattoo artists

995
01:00:21,920 --> 01:00:23,720
Speaker 1: who wants to be part of your service.

996
01:00:24,480 --> 01:00:24,960
Speaker 2: Or.

997
01:00:27,400 --> 01:00:30,120
Speaker 1: Or knows somebody that needs your service, how do they

998
01:00:30,120 --> 01:00:31,040
Speaker 1: get in touch with you?

999
01:00:32,200 --> 01:00:36,640
Speaker 2: They can go on our website, which is ARII online

1000
01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:41,080
Speaker 2: dot org, or they can call us at six seven

1001
01:00:41,120 --> 01:00:46,440
Speaker 2: eight nine two six nine nine four six and they

1002
01:00:46,480 --> 01:00:48,720
Speaker 2: can reach out and we'll do our best to help.

1003
01:00:48,840 --> 01:00:52,040
Speaker 2: We have our provider application on our website, so if

1004
01:00:52,040 --> 01:00:56,480
Speaker 2: you're an artist or removal specialist or scar revision specialist,

1005
01:00:56,800 --> 01:01:01,640
Speaker 2: you can apply on there. If you're a survivor or

1006
01:01:01,680 --> 01:01:05,680
Speaker 2: in former gang involvement or self harm, there's a survivor

1007
01:01:05,680 --> 01:01:08,640
Speaker 2: application you can imply on there. Or somebody wants to

1008
01:01:08,640 --> 01:01:11,800
Speaker 2: book me to train, to come out and train an icronography,

1009
01:01:12,360 --> 01:01:17,840
Speaker 2: that's icronography, they can book me as a speaker on there.

1010
01:01:19,160 --> 01:01:22,800
Speaker 2: I travel all around and share my lived experience in

1011
01:01:22,840 --> 01:01:24,600
Speaker 2: the work that we do at AARI and it's an

1012
01:01:24,640 --> 01:01:26,600
Speaker 2: honor every time I get to do that, and it's

1013
01:01:26,640 --> 01:01:29,080
Speaker 2: actually healing for me when I get to share my story.

1014
01:01:31,040 --> 01:01:33,160
Speaker 1: I think it's healing for people to listen to it.

1015
01:01:33,800 --> 01:01:38,760
Speaker 1: And you know, if you tune in and listen to

1016
01:01:38,800 --> 01:01:42,080
Speaker 1: this whole interview and here the first twenty minutes of it,

1017
01:01:42,400 --> 01:01:45,880
Speaker 1: you got to be going, holy crap, where's this going?

1018
01:01:46,920 --> 01:01:53,280
Speaker 1: And it's ending at a beautiful place that is full

1019
01:01:53,280 --> 01:02:00,520
Speaker 1: of redemption and grace and love and unconditional love. An

1020
01:02:00,600 --> 01:02:06,480
Speaker 1: amazing work. I am. I am so inspired by the

1021
01:02:06,480 --> 01:02:10,160
Speaker 1: work you've done. And you know, like we talk about

1022
01:02:10,160 --> 01:02:13,760
Speaker 1: a lot, you know, we don't go around interviewing a listeners.

1023
01:02:13,760 --> 01:02:16,200
Speaker 1: We're going around and interview normal folks who are seeing

1024
01:02:16,200 --> 01:02:22,000
Speaker 1: places in Eden. Fillett and you, my friend, are are

1025
01:02:22,040 --> 01:02:26,200
Speaker 1: an unbelievable example of no matter where you come from,

1026
01:02:26,440 --> 01:02:29,560
Speaker 1: what you've been through, how you are, you can always

1027
01:02:29,600 --> 01:02:33,640
Speaker 1: find redemption. You can always make your life work, and

1028
01:02:33,680 --> 01:02:36,360
Speaker 1: then you can always be a shining light for other people.

1029
01:02:37,240 --> 01:02:41,760
Speaker 1: And you are, my friend. You are certainly a member

1030
01:02:41,800 --> 01:02:44,480
Speaker 1: of army of normal folks, but maybe you're like a

1031
01:02:44,600 --> 01:02:49,520
Speaker 1: captain or a lieutenant or something, because you're amazing. I

1032
01:02:49,560 --> 01:02:51,880
Speaker 1: can't tell you how much I appreciate you joining us.

1033
01:02:52,240 --> 01:03:00,760
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, and I appreciate all of you for

1034
01:03:00,920 --> 01:03:05,080
Speaker 1: joining us this week. If Jessica Lamb or another guest

1035
01:03:05,120 --> 01:03:07,919
Speaker 1: has inspired you in general, or better yet, to take

1036
01:03:08,000 --> 01:03:13,240
Speaker 1: action by donating to Atlanta Redemption, Inc. By joining their

1037
01:03:13,280 --> 01:03:18,040
Speaker 1: network of tattoo artists, or something else entirely, please let

1038
01:03:18,080 --> 01:03:20,560
Speaker 1: me know. I really want to hear about it. You

1039
01:03:20,600 --> 01:03:24,800
Speaker 1: can write me anytime at Bill at Normalfolks dot us

1040
01:03:24,880 --> 01:03:28,960
Speaker 1: and guys, I will respond and if you enjoyed this episode,

1041
01:03:29,040 --> 01:03:32,720
Speaker 1: share it with friends that on social, subscribe to the podcast,

1042
01:03:33,000 --> 01:03:37,480
Speaker 1: rate and review it. Become a Premium member at normalfolks

1043
01:03:37,520 --> 01:03:40,400
Speaker 1: dot us. All these things that will help us grow

1044
01:03:40,880 --> 01:03:44,960
Speaker 1: an army of normal folks. For premium members, we will

1045
01:03:44,960 --> 01:03:48,600
Speaker 1: have bonus content from this episode, and it's me asking

1046
01:03:48,760 --> 01:03:52,720
Speaker 1: Jessica if she's been able to forgive her trafficker, and

1047
01:03:52,800 --> 01:03:57,160
Speaker 1: I promise you what she says is powerful. If you

1048
01:03:57,200 --> 01:03:59,960
Speaker 1: don't want to miss it, become a premium member today.

1049
01:04:00,600 --> 01:04:02,919
Speaker 1: I'm Bill Courtney. We'll see you next week.