I was abused as a child bride and this is what I learned | Samra Zafar | TEDxMississauga










Her story has captured a nation from coast to coast across Canada and beyond. Samra Zafar takes us on a journey of survival and self-discovery.

Samra was trapped as a child bride in an abusive marriage for over a decade, with no hope of ever finding freedom and opportunities to live with respect. Samra is an advocate for survivors of domestic violence, and her own journey of survival was featured in Toronto Life magazine in February 2017. Her feature on Yahoo Canada's Facebook page became the page's most watched video of all time, with over 6.6 million views.
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Samra Zafar is a Commercial Account Manager in the Toronto Business and Professional Services department at RBC Royal Bank. She was previously an Associate with the ABL group at RBC Capital Markets.
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Samra is a multiple award winning graduate of the University of Toronto, a Public Speaker, an upcoming Author, and the Founder of Brave Beginnings, an organization dedicated to helping women find personalized mentorship, friendship and support to rebuild their lives after oppression and abuse. After overcoming severe challenges and adversity, Samra went on to graduate with

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

A "normal" life. When child abuse is normal | Luke Fox | TEDxCalPoly






What happens when abuse is all that a child knows? What happens when the system meant to protect children fails?

See the world through the eyes of a child who knew nothing else. Feel the hope of truth when it is revealed. Learn how you can save a child’s life—a child with the potential to change the world.

Luke Fox learned what it means to survive. Through the love and kindness of once strangers, he has learned to thrive. He has found success as an advocate for youth rights and CEO of WhiteFox Defense Technologies, Inc.

Luke Fox quickly learned the need for advocacy, which has been a passion for him his entire life. From starting the first human trafficking task-force in his county to writing and passing legislation to enhance foster youth rights, he has dedicated his life to developing and implementing improvements across systems.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Being a Survivor of Male Child Sexual Abuse | Harish Iyer | TEDxCRCE









Braving the stigma of male child abuse by a family member nonetheless is a large ordeal. But nothing could stop the staunch determination of Harish Iyer to come out and now work strongly as an influential activist. He is a story of overcoming your fears and prevaling over it.

Harish Iyer is an activist for a number of socio-cultural and environmental issues.[He is an equal rights activist, known for his campaigns for the rights of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community, children, women, animals as well as survivors of Child Sexual Abuse .Pink Pages named him one of India's seven most influential gay and lesbian people and one of the ten individuals to be awarded the Zindagi Live Awards for his work in creating awareness on child sexual abuse. On 29 June 2013, The Guardian, the British national daily named him in the list of the 100 most influential LGBT people in the world for 2013 and the only Indian on the list. His life inspired two films, director Onir's I Am and Ranadeep Bhattacharya and Judhajit Bagchi directed Amen. In I Am, Actor Sanjay Suri plays Abhimanyu, a child sexual abuse survivor, the character inspired by Harish's life and that of Hyderabad based fashion designer Ganesh Nallari.


This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

I was human trafficked for 10 years. We can do more to stop it | Barbara Amaya | TEDxMidAtlantic






Barbara Amaya ran away at the age of 12 after being abused by family members. She was taken in on the streets of Washington, DC by a couple who seemed nice, but ended up selling her into human trafficking. She was used for months and then sold to a man named Moses who took her to New York and continued to traffic her for many years. Now Barbara fights for other victims of human trafficking and to change policies that treat victims as criminals.

Barbara is an anti-trafficking advocate, speaker, trainer, author and survivor leader in the movement to end modern-day slavery and human trafficking. She is Senior Technical Adviser, Policy, Programs and After Care Services at SeraphimGlobal, and has been actively raising awareness of the sexual exploitation of children and domestic sex trafficking since 2012.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Sex trafficking isn't what you think it is | Meghan Sobel | TEDxMileHighWomen





“When I first started studying sex trafficking in 2008, I thought it mean girls were kidnapped and chained to beds,” explains Professor Meghan Sobel. Soon she realized that was the Hollywood version - not the reality. In order to combat sex trafficking effectively, we must first understand what it is.

Meghan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Regis University, where she teaches classes on international communication, public relations, and human rights. Meghan's research focuses on the role of mass media in combating human rights abuses and humanitarian crises. She is also a certified cake decorator.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

How to spot human trafficking | Kanani Titchen | TEDxGeorgeSchool







The numbers associated with human sex trafficking are staggering, but the lives of victims and survivors are what stay with us. In this talk, Kanani Titchen M.D. reveals her experiences as a physician whose interactions with trafficked patients opened her eyes to a parallel world previously unseen.

Kanani Titchen MD, is an Adolescent Medicine fellow at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, Bronx, New York. She encountered human sex trafficking for the first time during a gynecologic rotation while in medical school at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Kanani served as the 2013-2014 President of the American Medical Women’s Association National Resident Division. During her tenure as President, she trained with Girls’ Educational & Mentoring Services in New York City and created an online video tutorial to educate doctors about human sex trafficking.

She has authored numerous articles for medical journals and for the lay press about US child sex trafficking and physician education, and she has advocated for sex trafficking survivors at the United Nations and at the US Department of Health and Human Services.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Look Again: Sex Trafficking in your Own Backyard | Elizabeth Melendez Fisher | TEDxOakParkWomen









Elizabeth Melendez Fisher, Selah Freedom CEO and President, gives a surprising look into the world of sex trafficking and challenges communities to look again at this issue. Her passionate approach stretches our understanding of this matter from being an “over-there” problem, taking place in third-world countries and unleashes the realities of what it looks like in our own backyard. She shares eye opening realities about how girls and boys are lured into this industry and brings to light the root issues which have allowed it to thrive within our own nation.

Elizabeth Melendez Fisher, CEO/President leads Selah Freedom, a national organization, providing solutions to local victims of sex trafficking. Fisher has been described as, “Part healer, part businesswoman, all resolve—if Selah Freedom is bringing light into the darkness, as the slogan says, then Fisher is the one behind the megawatt.” Selah Freedom educates over 45,000 annually, has residential safe houses in Florida and Chicago, leads at-risk teen prevention programs, and trains and equips law enforcement agencies.

Fisher speaks nationally about the root of sex trafficking, received the prestigious Tampa Bay Business Woman of the Year Award for the Nonprofit Category in 2014 and has been featured in various media outlets. Prior to Selah Freedom, Fisher worked in the Chicago area as a therapist and in leadership development. She is a graduate of Southern Illinois University with a bachelor of arts in communications and a Master’s in Clinical Psychology.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Sex trafficking | Linda Smith | TEDxPortland







"No girl wakes up and looks in the mirror and says I want to be a prostitute." Linda Smith is a saint and with relentless determination, professionalism and poise she has dedicated her life to the issue of sex trafficking. She literally saves lives and seeks justice for those who can't defend themselves through policy change, awareness and activism. To alter the course of human rights, we must change our perception, language, laws and response in an effort to stop this criminal offense.

Linda Smith is a leader in the global movement to end sex trafficking. In 1998, while serving in Congress, Linda traveled to a notorious brothel district in India where the hopeless faces of women and children forced into prostitution compelled her to found the Shared Hope International organization. Linda is the primary author of From Congress to the Brothel and Renting Lacy, co-author of The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, and instrumental in creating the DEMAND Report. Linda has testified before Congress, presented at national and international forums, and has been published in numerous news outlets and journals. Linda served as a Washington State legislator (1983-93) before being elected to Congress in 1994.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Sex Trafficking in Your Back Yard | Vednita Carter | TEDxMinneapolis






Vednita Carter is the Founder and President of Breaking Free, a nonprofit direct service provider in St Paul fighting to end all forms of prostitution and sex trafficking. She is an influential abolitionist, author, speaker, and survivor of sexual exploitation.

Vednita Carter is the founder and executive director of Breaking Free, a non-profit organization that educates and provides services to women and girls who have been victims of abuse and commercial sexual exploitation (prostitution/sex trafficking) and need assistance escaping the violence in their lives. She has extensive experience in developing and planning programs for sex trafficked women and girls, and was awarded the Norma Hotaling Award for her life-long service to victims of sex trafficking. She was recently named a CNN Hero for her work in ending sexual exploitation of women and girls.Also in 2013, she traveled to the Middle East and Asia to educate service providers and community members on Breaking Free's pioneering work. Vednita was awarded the prestigious Path Breaker Award from Shared Hope International for her tireless efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex. She has dedicated her life to advocating for, rescuing and restoring victims of prostitution.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Look Again: Sex Trafficking in your Own Backyard | Elizabeth Melendez Fisher | TEDxOakParkWomen







Elizabeth Melendez Fisher, Selah Freedom CEO and President, gives a surprising look into the world of sex trafficking and challenges communities to look again at this issue. Her passionate approach stretches our understanding of this matter from being an “over-there” problem, taking place in third-world countries and unleashes the realities of what it looks like in our own backyard. She shares eye opening realities about how girls and boys are lured into this industry and brings to light the root issues which have allowed it to thrive within our own nation.

Elizabeth Melendez Fisher, CEO/President leads Selah Freedom, a national organization, providing solutions to local victims of sex trafficking. Fisher has been described as, “Part healer, part businesswoman, all resolve—if Selah Freedom is bringing light into the darkness, as the slogan says, then Fisher is the one behind the megawatt.” Selah Freedom educates over 45,000 annually, has residential safe houses in Florida and Chicago, leads at-risk teen prevention programs, and trains and equips law enforcement agencies.

Fisher speaks nationally about the root of sex trafficking, received the prestigious Tampa Bay Business Woman of the Year Award for the Nonprofit Category in 2014 and has been featured in various media outlets. Prior to Selah Freedom, Fisher worked in the Chicago area as a therapist and in leadership development. She is a graduate of Southern Illinois University with a bachelor of arts in communications and a Master’s in Clinical Psychology.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Nice post