I'm Jennifer, I am a sex
trafficking survivor. I am also
currently a Shelter Coordinator at a
domestic violence shelter. I'm
also a deputy part time and a
mom full time to two kids.
So my trafficking situation began when
I was 21 years old.
I was going to school full
time. I was actually going
towards a Criminal Justice degree.
During that time, I was working
two jobs, trying to pay my
bills, trying to pay for school
and it just, it was tough
and also still trying to have
time, you know, have money
for fun things to do.
So I had been to a bar,
it was a college bar and
ended up meeting somebody there
who offered modeling services
and offered to pay for our
drinks all night. And that
ended up being my trafficker.
So the way that they ended up
tricking me I guess or getting me
into it is it wasn't
initially him that came to me.
It was another female,
she came to me with a legit
business card with phone numbers,
and everything about this modeling company
and me thinking it was legit,
it looked legit, I mean
there wasn't some guy hassling me
about something, you know, it's people
that you don't think would be,
you know like out there getting
you, it's not this guy sitting
on the corner or this guy
driving around the block and
just gonna like put you in your
car and you know it is
unfortunately sometimes happens like that,
but with mine, it was another
college-aged girl, like asking me
to a model with her
eventually it turned around and then
I was doing that same thing
to others. So I was out
there at college bars with
business cards and trying to recruit
other, you know, other girls
that like, I don't know,
just looked pretty and liked to have fun.
So the moment that
I realized that I was I
guess being trafficked or had a
pimp, we were actually
working in Vegas. I was
with three other girls there and
our pimp and it was
another girl we had met out at the
club, she was helping us with
something and then as she was
driving us not home, I guess,
back to the hotel, she was
just kind of warning us of
different things that people could do
just saying that there's a
lot of pimps out here and
the girls are going to try
to recruit you these are
the type of tactics that they're
going to use, You guys need
to be careful and then
asked why we were going to the
hotel we were going to. She
had said that a lot of pimps
had their girls staying there.
So just on the whole ride
back it just like, it just
kind of came to my mind like,
wow, I have a pimp. Like
this is crazy, this, I
never would have like thought
about it like this because he
wasn't having, well at least he
wasn't having me like have sex
or anything for money with
other people. Um but...yet um
and so when I...we got to the
hotel, I just remember looking
over to one of the girls that
I worked with and I just
said like we have a pimp and
that was just kind of like my
lightbulb moment, I guess.
So I think some things that
really are things that maybe people
should pay attention to
in my situation, was that I
got offered to do modeling,
which I thought was okay,
cool, this was, you know, easy money.
And obviously when I got
down to it, it was me
getting forced to work at strip
clubs or private parties or take
nude photos for money and
was being forced to do these
things on a daily basis and not
really, I guess, the modeling that I
thought it was. I know that's
a huge tactic that a lot
of people use and at
least, I don't know, with mine
I started in strip clubs
and thankfully it only lasted
two months for me, but I
think that was just the beginning
and he was just conditioning me
to see how far I would go.
I guess, and to see
how much he could get me to
trust him to move on and
actually engage in sexual activities.
Well, I definitely think back to
this and just wondered what would
have helped me back in that
situation to maybe not even get
into it. And I think knowledge
would have been the number one
thing. I didn't know what
sex trafficking was. I had heard
of pimps and you know,
like that kind of stuff, but
it was mostly stuff that you
see in movies, and it
was more or less some big
thing where they took you to a
different country or had you, you
know, like chained to a bed,
that type of stuff. So I
really had no idea going into
it. I think like, even just
schools, like kind of giving more
knowledge or someone, you know,
just anyone, I guess letting me
know what it was. I had
no idea. And that was
probably the biggest thing and that's
kind of what I do,
why I do what I do now
is just to give knowledge and
just explain what it is and
how different it can look than
what you think it would be.
I don't think that like the
general public would have been able
to tell that I was a
trafficking victim when we were out.
Normally I dressed in, I don't
know, normal clothes, I guess
that you would wear. Um nice clothes.
We had to dress nice and
appropriate when we were out going
out to dinner, going out to
like party or whatever.
The only other time, I think
that maybe somebody could have
questioned it was when we were
shopping and there was about four
of us girls with one guy.
I think that might have been
the only questionable thing.
So what we see in the media
nowadays, just with stuff
going through social media, you
know, saying 'watch out for this
person and I think they're
trafficking' or movies, like, for
example, the Taken movies where,
you know, someone's like
snatching you from your house.
I think if that stuff would
have happened to me, I would
have probably been like, 'oh wow,
this is really serious', but
it obviously doesn't really work
like that. I mean, in some
cases it might, but with mine it
was completely just them
manipulating me and feeding me false
information to get me to trust them.
And that's what happened with me.
That's what the scary part is.
It's just you know, it
seems so innocent to start until
you got trapped into the
situation.