The Queerest Podcast
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The Queerest Podcast is your cosmic guide to the Queer Universe. Hosted by Andraé BVR, each episode takes you on an interstellar journey through queer culture, identity, and influence. From dismantling media tropes to exploring queer representation, we invite you to challenge norms and expand your horizons. So, buckle up, set your phasers to fabulous—close encounters of the queerest kind await!
The Queerest Podcast
STEPPING INTO THE SPOTLIGHT: Human Trafficking, LGBTQ+ Homelessness & Tech Solutions
How can technology combat human trafficking and protect LGBTQ+ individuals at risk of homelessness?
In Stepping into the Spotlight: Human Trafficking, LGBTQ+ Homelessness & Tech Solutions, host Andraé BVR and Kristin Boorse, CEO of Spotlight, discuss the systemic vulnerabilities that leave LGBTQ+ individuals at risk of exploitation. Together, they uncover how innovative technology is empowering survivors, preventing exploitation, and building safer, more equitable communities. This urgent episode highlights the critical role of tech and community in addressing systemic injustices.
This episode discusses topics related to human trafficking, lgbtq+, homelessness, exploitation and systemic vulnerabilities. Some discussions may be distressing for listeners who have experienced trauma or abuse. Please listen with care and take breaks if needed.
Speaker 2:Studies indicate that one in three homeless youth are trafficked within 48 hours of running away, with LGBTQ+ being particularly at risk and given the high risk for runaway youth, and I think it's important to state how we think about individuals when they are running away and what our response is when we say there is a missing kid.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:We as a society will respond much faster if we say the child is missing. But when you say that a child has run away, oftentimes people will think well, they're delinquent, they don't want help. But we need to really realize that this is often a trauma response, them running away from something else.
Speaker 4:Welcome to the Queerest Podcast, your cosmic guide to the queer universe. Hosted by Andre BVR, each episode takes you on an interstellar journey through queer culture, identity and influence, from dismantling media tropes to exploring queer representation. From dismantling media tropes to exploring queer representation, we invite you to challenge norms and expand your horizons.
Speaker 3:So buckle up and set your phasers to fabulous. I am your host, andre BVR, and today we are diving into a conversation that is urgent, complex and deeply personal the intersection of LGBTQ plus youth, homelessness, human trafficking, online exploitation and the tech-driven solutions that are stepping in to fight back. Lgbtq youth face significant challenges. They make up 40% of homeless youth, despite being less than 10% of the general population. Without stable housing or family support, many find themselves in dangerous situations, including being targeted for trafficking and exploitation. Research shows that LGBTQ plus youth are three to seven times more likely to be exploited through buyer-perpetuated trafficking, where vulnerable individuals engage in transactional sex for survival due to a lack of resources and support. This puts them at extreme risk for exploitation by predators who take advantage of their need for basic necessities like shelter, food and safety. But the danger isn't just on the streets. It's online, too. New research from Thorne found that LGBTQ plus minors are three times more likely to experience unwanted online interactions, such as being blackmailed, receiving unsolicited nudes or being manipulated by adults. This episode is not just about identifying these risks. It's about shining a light on the technology, policies and community efforts working to protect LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable identities.
Speaker 3:Joining me today is Kristen Bourse, the founder and CEO of Spotlight, a nonprofit organization dedicated to leveraging technology to fight child sex trafficking. Kristen has over 25 years of experience working at the intersection of technology and social impact. She previously served as head of victim identification at Thorne for eight years, leading the effort to deliver cutting edge data and applications to investigators and NGOs, helping identify and protect children faster. Beyond her work at Spotlight, kristen is also a co-chair of the Interpool DevOps Working Group, where she collaborates with global law enforcement agencies and tech experts to build scalable solutions that empower frontline responders worldwide. Her leadership underscores a commitment to collective action and the power of collaboration in tackling some of society's most urgent challenges. Kristen, your work has transformed how we are combating trafficking and supporting survivors. Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3:Awesome. Well, welcome to the pod. To start off, I would actually like to go back to the beginning of your journey, and what kind of first drew you to anti-trafficking work and was there like a defining moment that made you realize this is where you needed to be?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a good question. I will say that one of my girlfriends who I knew in high school, she told me that she wasn't surprised with what I was doing Once I was doing this type of work. She said you've always been mission driven and I feel like I have found a bit of my calling in using my professional experience. I will say that, statistically, one in nine girls and one in 20 boys under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse or assault. My family is no different. Everybody has been impacted by a sexual assault. Everybody has been impacted by a sexual assault.
Speaker 2:I had a very close family member of mine who, when she was nine years old, she was offered up as a means to basically pay for drugs for this other family member, and I didn't know it at the time. But that would be something now that we would consider familial trafficking, where a family member is trafficking and exploiting you, and I guess I think these are things that you can't unsee, and for me, I know there's something that can actually be done about it. I also know that, specifically with sexual abuse, it is underreported and it is underfunded, and so there have to be other ways to be able to identify children and get them connected to resources.
Speaker 3:That's really intense and really sorry to hear that about your family member. Thanks for sharing that, Kristen. So I want to talk a little bit more about trafficking, and a lot of people who learn about trafficking are frequently overwhelmed by the information, not really knowing how to help and support. But you didn't just stop at awareness yourself Like you took action in a really major way. What shifted you from simply knowing about trafficking to actively building solutions to stop it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I will say one of my main tenants or things that I believe in is hope. And there's this quote from Rebecca Soland that I will say one of my main tenants or things that I believe in is hope. And there's this quote from Rebecca Solent that I will share with the community here, but it's inspiring to me and it's a part of being something that is a movement and knowing that not everybody can do everything, but everyone can do something. But the quote is hope locates itself in the premises that we don't know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act. When you recognize uncertainty, you recognize that you may be able to influence the outcomes, you alone or in concert with a few dozen or several million others. And so for me, it is that there is hope, we can do something and we can take action.
Speaker 3:Wow, I love that quote. I think that's really powerful. Your work today obviously is very impactful, affecting and impacting a lot of people, but I imagine your path to this point wasn't always so straightforward. Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you landed where you're at today?
Speaker 2:Sure, I can certainly say that my career path has not been directly linear. It has been something that I would say looks more like a lattice. I have a bachelor's degree in psychology. Actually, when I was getting my psychology degree, I did some capstone classes. I worked with schizophrenics at a hospital in Southern California testing different medication for their mood disorders. I learned that I didn't want to do that and I am actually a type A personality. I also thought about what if I do therapy with just kind of everyday people, and I thought I could get really frustrated with that, because I could do therapy for a long time and they wouldn't necessarily perhaps change, and that might be frustrating for me. So I had to think about how can I take my psychology degree and apply it towards business. So I actually started.
Speaker 2:My first part of my career was in human resources business. So I actually started. My first part of my career was in human resources. Then I actually shifted from human resources to human resource management systems, so getting more on the technical side, and then I continued to see that I liked more of the impact that technology could make and so I transitioned into software product management and that's where I moved into prior to working in the nonprofit space, I worked for a web fraud detection company, which is really great work being able to help companies risk transactions and tell them we think this is fraudulent. But once I saw what was happening in the nonprofit world, it was something that I really wanted to be a part of. So that's a bit about my transition.
Speaker 2:You had mentioned I am currently the CEO of Spotlight. Prior to that, I worked at Thorne, which you've mentioned. Quite a few of their studies and research is very formative, and in my career, one of the things that I think was really critical in working at Thorne was really that we were grounded in research. You had shared some of the research, but including in trafficking as an example, is really trying to understand what is happening, what are youth experiences, so that you can start to look at what are programmatic or product-related work that you can do to actually have an impact, and so that's a little bit about my career. I could go on, but I think that's probably the 10,000th of you.
Speaker 3:I love that. I think that's really just fascinating just to kind of see how your journey changed from human resources to the work you're doing as now the CEO of Spotlight. But I think the common thread there, though, is people and to be able to impact people in a variety of ways. So I really love that. So able to impact people in a variety of ways, so I really love that. So, now that we're kind of you know we've dove into kind of your background, I would love to kind of understand the issue at large here for the audience, and, before we kind of dive into the solutions, I want to break down the issue itself around how human trafficking can obviously take many forms, from labor trafficking to sex trafficking. Can you break down the different forms of trafficking for those that are not familiar?
Speaker 2:Yeah, buckle up. There's several different forms, so I'm going to kind of go through them. Feel free to ask as we go along the way.
Speaker 2:In general, the umbrella of human trafficking is the exploitation of individuals through forced fraud and coercion. This can be, again, labor or commercial sex. It is, in essence, a violation of human rights and it affects vulnerable populations worldwide. I will say, in particular, for juvenile sex trafficking in the United States, forced fraud and coercion does not need to be present for it to be the exploitation that occurs. When we speak specifically about sex trafficking, again it's the coercion or force to exploit individuals for commercial sex. It is a form of child abuse and it occurs when a child under the age of 18 is solicited or exploited through a commercial sex act. A commercial sex act is any sex act where something of value so this could be something, money, it could be food, it could be drugs, it could be a place to stay is given or received by any person for sexual activity.
Speaker 2:And when we look at juveniles or children who are sex trafficked, there are kind of four main categories that we have identified. One is familial trafficking, which again I shared a little bit about my personal story, but this is somebody who is a family member who is trafficking this individual. So you can think about a child might think like they're being traded with other people. You have non-familial trafficking, which I think is probably the type that most people are most familiar with, and they are being trafficked by somebody who is not related to them. They could be a male or female. They often will develop an intentional relationship with that child and then they're gonna later use that to exploit them. And then we have buyer-perpetrated trafficking, in that they do not have the trafficker. Again, this used to be kind of termed survival sex, but the buyer is directly exploiting the child's vulnerabilities. Again, they could be offering money, the place to stay, shelter, in exchange for sexual exploitation. And then the last one would be gang-controlled trafficking, where they are trafficked by a member of a gang or by the entire gang. They leverage their organizational structure, violence and local and national and international networks to instill fear and loyalty for the child victim, juvenile or children. Sex trafficking In general, both for LGBTQ plus and youth vulnerabilities are going to be around exposure to the foster care system having adverse life impact. So these could be things like a family member is incarcerated, other family members potentially who were trafficked themselves. So these are all types of things that can create some of those vulnerabilities and, of course, rejection in the home. I also want to share with you another type of sex trafficking that does occur, which is different than the work that I focus on, but in order for the community to kind of get awareness of it. The other one I would share about would be illicit massage parlor business and so how this manifests.
Speaker 2:Traditionally in the United States it might be somebody, usually in Southeast Asia, who may not be able to find a job. They're very low income and they're looking for work. And somebody says yes, I can get you to the United States, you'll be working at a hotel as an example. You'll be you to the United States, you'll be working at a hotel as an example, you'll be doing this type of work. And they make an arrangement, an actual contract. They tell them how much it's going to be. So let's just say it's relatively expensive, around $30,000. And they think they're going to be doing legitimate work. They wind up coming to the United States.
Speaker 2:Their passport is usually taken from them and they're put in a massage parlor and at some point a client comes in and there's an expectation for sex and they may go out to the owner and say, oh no, they're asking for sex. And then what will happen is, let's say, you go back, you have to pay off your debt, and so they are, in essence, an indentured servant. They don't have their passport, they generally don't do not speak the language, and so they are working to basically repay the money for that contract. And it's usually quite difficult if they were to contact their family, primarily because there is shame and embarrassment and their family may reject them and not want them to come back. So those are some contours in terms of actual sex trafficking, how they manifest and what it looks like.
Speaker 2:Now we can talk a little bit about labor trafficking. So labor trafficking is the exploitation of individuals through forced labor in industries, so these can be things such as agriculture, domestic work so think of housekeepers as an example Could be migrant workers, low income or undocumented individuals, and indigenous communities are some of the populations that are most vulnerable there. The labor traffickers are promising money or a better life that instead results in withholding wages. It can be physical confinement, physical abuse and working excessive hours, but the through line in all forms of this trafficking is that they are rooted in systemic inequalities.
Speaker 3:I think for me, as somebody who's unfamiliar with a lot of this stuff, I think there's just so much more to it than meets the eye To kind of grasp the scale of this problem how widespread is trafficking globally?
Speaker 2:So we're looking at about more than 17 million who are exploited by private industry and commercial non-sex work. We know there are about 6.3 million who are forced into commercial sex work. There are 3.3 million children are being trafficked and this could be for labor or for sex and in terms of monetary it's about $236 billion a year in illegal profits from forced labor.
Speaker 3:You know, looking at it from the perspective of like LGBTQ youth, who are, you know, among the most vulnerable populations when it comes to trafficking. They make up 40% of the homeless youth population, and yet they are seven times more likely to be exploited through buyer-perpetuated trafficking. Why does this population face such extreme risks and what systemic factors contribute to this vulnerability?
Speaker 2:Well, it's important to know.
Speaker 2:It's not because they are LGBTQ+, but it is often the family rejection, discrimination and lack of support that leads to increased rates of homelessness, so these factors really heighten their vulnerability to traffickers to exploit for things like basic needs again shelter, food.
Speaker 2:As an example, we know that 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ+ and 46% of these individuals may run away due to family rejection, and that's based on some of the data that we have from Polaris. They are also 7.4 times more likely to experience acts of sexual violence compared to their heterosexual peers. What's more is LGBTQ plus trafficking survivors may hesitate to seek help due to fears of mistreatment or disbelief related to their gender identity, sexual orientation, resulting, honestly, in underreported cases and a lack of comprehensive data. One other data point that I will share with you is that studies indicate that one in three homeless youth are trafficked within 48 hours of running away, with LGBTQ plus being particularly at risk and given the high risk for runaway youth, and I think it's important to state how we think about individuals when they are running away and what our response is when we say there is a missing kid kid.
Speaker 2:We as a society will respond much faster if we say the child is missing. But when you say that a child has run away, oftentimes people will think well, they're delinquent, they don't want help. But we need to really realize that this is often a trauma response them running away from something else. So I think that's something that is important. One of the things that we do at Spotlight is we collaborate directly with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. We cross-reference the kids that we know are missing, we develop a report and we alert them to that to identify potential minors. So that's one thing that we're doing, and the other thing that we're doing with Spotlight is we are regularly evaluating new sources of sex ads where individuals are being bought and sold, and so we want to ensure that those sources include those that have LGBTQ plus youth in particular, that may be exploited.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Quick question on that, though, as it pertains to those that are considered runaways versus those that are missing. Is it more of a positioning so that people understand and have more urgency to go after and kind of rescue these youth, or how is that kind of classification determined?
Speaker 2:Well, I would say most people would use the term runaway if the child is leaving on their own, and we often would use the term missing. If there was something like an abduction right, you would get an amber alert. But I think our response as a community is quite different, and so it is nuanced and it's something that I think it's every day. In the United States, on average, there are 5,000 children who are missing from the foster care system. Somebody should be looking for them.
Speaker 3:That's really, really incredible. Honestly, I think that's really disappointing to have that be a statistic that is still, you know, prevalent and accurate for today's day and age, that, like with all the technology we have and all that stuff, that this is still happening. And I think, like organizations like Spotlight are, they clearly are aware of this issue and are tackling it head on. So I'm, you know, really grateful for all the work that you're doing there. You know really grateful for all the work that you're doing there. And you know, obviously we know, that trafficking you know happens, you know, across the world, you know, in public spaces, but it's not always in public spaces that this is happening. A lot of times, digital spaces can be a place where people are targeted and exploited. Thorne's research found that LGBTQ plus minors are three times more likely to experience online exploitation. Given that many LGBTQ youth rely on digital spaces for community, how do traffickers take advantage of it?
Speaker 2:Well, traditionally, anybody who's going to do anything that's related to exploitation is they will go where those individuals are. As you noted, lgbtq plus often seek refuge in online communities. They may do that because they don't want their family to know as an example, so they're going to go where the individuals are. It may start out as a friendship. They will work on building up rapport.
Speaker 2:They will have trust. They might listen a lot in the beginning and try and pull and draw additional information out, understand what really they care about or matters to them, so, for example, if it was like a sibling or something like that and then, as time progresses, they're going to use that knowledge to exploit them Again, particularly if they're facing rejection in their own home. They may not be welcome in their home anymore, and so they may offer things like possessions or hey, you can come, stay with me. That seems OK until the tide is turned against them, and that comes obviously with a cost.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and kind of just double clicking into that a little bit. When, for the LGBTQ youth who are in these online spaces that are susceptible to predators, are there any tips that you have for them to recognize as they're navigating these spaces and how to be safe online?
Speaker 2:I mean, I think probably some of it goes back to both the physical, in-person relationships and the digital ones, and a lot of it comes to boundaries, and for relationships that are really healthy is knowing that it shouldn't be harmful and it should not hurt you.
Speaker 2:And it is difficult because they are what we consider grooming right, where they're going to go through a gradual process, and it can be difficult when you are in a vulnerable situation to actually see that happening to you. So I would encourage people to think about that. You know love shouldn't hurt and somebody who really cares about you would not ask you to do these things. So I think it's more often than not, we know that all kids are exploring in online environments and they have people who they only know in an online environment and not in the real life, and so it's important to kind of really understand those boundaries and healthy relationships. But I think that can be really hard if you are coming from dysfunctional family, and many of us have dysfunctional families, as we know. So I think trying to understand boundaries is one of the main things that I would encourage individuals to think through.
Speaker 3:Yeah that's true, and you know, when it comes to prevention, obviously recognizing the signs, the warning signs specifically, is really crucial in order to protect these individuals who are being targeted for exploitation. What are like the common red flags that someone, especially LGBTQ plus youth, may be targeted for exploitation or trafficking, and how can community members, service providers, even peers like, recognize these signs early to prevent this exploitation and trafficking?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a great question. So if you're a friend of somebody, keep an eye out for things like if they're overly fearful they might seem submissive, tense or paranoid, kind of giving up to another person again deferring to somebody else. They may have physical injuries. Or perhaps branding. Branding is something that is very common in juvenile sex trafficking and in adult sex trafficking as well, so those are things like tattoos. Those can be on the face, they can be on the chest. Crowns money are often symbolic in terms of trafficking.
Speaker 2:Clothing that could be inappropriately overly sexual for the specific weather. As an example, if a minor is unaccompanied at night and doesn't really have explanations to kind of where they're going at those times, of course it's hard to recognize. But another thing would be if documents are held by another individual, if they're working really long and excessive hours, you think that they're potentially overly sexual for their age or their situation. They may be kind of over sexualized in some way. Other things that you could potentially look for is maybe they had nothing and then all of a sudden they have things right. They have a Gucci bag, as an example, new shoes, watch and so kind of this unknown income is coming into the space. But where did they get that from? Another one again if it were kind of more in the massage business, is that they would be actually living at a massage parlor and they wouldn't necessarily be free to come and go. So those are different types of exploitation but different types of signs that you might be able to look for.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and like on a personal, one-to-one level, when you know somebody or you suspect somebody of potentially being exploited or being trafficked, like, what are things that you can say or maybe approaches that you can take to help them and support them during this moment?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's obviously a bit of a delicate situation because if a trafficker is watching there can be harm that can be done to the actual individuals. So you wanna be really cautious in terms of that because you do not want them to get further harmed. I would say probably the safest thing that you could do, you can call the National Human Trafficking Hotline. That number is 1-888-373-7888. Of course, be human, be kind. I think those are our general human principles.
Speaker 2:I was in France at one point in time and it was late in the evening. There was a young girl, I don't think she was a kid, but she was probably like 20. She was with a much older man. She seemed to be maybe on drugs. She was on the street and it was right in front of a hotel and he kept telling her to get up. And I was with two other colleagues and I just asked her I'm like, are you doing okay? And she said she was and they got up and they went into the hotel. But there are some things that you could do but you do have to be sensitive to kind of the context and the situation at the time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that makes sense, and organizations like Spotlight are leveraging data-driven tools to detect trafficking early. Are leveraging data-driven tools to detect trafficking early. How does your platform leverage AI and analytics to identify and protect at-risk youth?
Speaker 2:Our mission is to interrupt the cycle of abuse by equipping frontline responders with intelligence to identify juvenile victims and disrupt those sex trafficking networks.
Speaker 2:So originally when Spotlight was created, we knew there were themes law enforcement were seeing when they were actually investigating these cases. We partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, also some academic institutions, to understand which ads were actually juvenile ads. From that data and that information we were able to train a model to basically surface which ads we believe are juvenile ads. And so we're doing this at scale. We're using it to kind of also aggregate information, so you can kind of think about how the buying and selling happens, as, like any type of classified site, right, there's many different listings and sometimes listings are posted multiple times a day, so people will see the newest one, and what we're doing is also using artificial intelligence to aggregate all of those advertisements to be able to see a child's trafficking situation that's occurring over space and time, and so those are a couple ways that we use artificial intelligence. You have to a human problem, but also a data problem, and how do we take data to be able to identify the humans? And that's a part of what we're doing.
Speaker 3:That's amazing. So I'm curious. You know, this technology, would you say, is relatively new and I'm curious how has it aided in supporting, you know, rescuing those that are exploited and trafficked, you know, across the globe?
Speaker 2:Well, spotlight actually has been around for a little more than a decade. So happy birthday, spotlight. Originally, when investigators would work these cases, one of the biggest challenges they would have is so I'm currently sitting in Arizona. I believe you're in California. If they were investigating a case, they might go on to one of these sites and they might be looking through a lot of different advertisements.
Speaker 2:You have to think about like data is coming on and going off. It's kind of an insurmountable task for a human to be able to look at, but what they wouldn't be able to tell is, if they were looking on that site would be what would be happening in California, where you are, in comparison to me. We know, for children that go missing, about 30% of them are not found in the same jurisdiction where they were missing, and so being able to see an individual's trafficking that's occurring over space and time is one of the biggest values that it has. We also know that investigators who use our application on a daily basis save about 60% of their time. So we know that currently, law enforcement is under-resourced and underfunded, and so if we can try and make them more efficient and elevate information for the most vulnerable victims, that's going to be the sweet spot.
Speaker 3:So I wanted to kind of shift the conversation out a little bit to LGBTQ plus erasure and policy threats. And unfortunately, some of the very resources designed to protect LGBTQ plus youth are being stripped away. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recently removed LGBTQ plus resources from its site under pressure from federal authorities. One of these reports actually acknowledged that LGBTQ plus youth experience homelessness among the highest within vulnerable populations. What are the real world implications and consequences from this form of erasure?
Speaker 2:First of all, I think we have to acknowledge that knowledge is power. First of all, I think we have to acknowledge that knowledge is power, and when we remove access to information, you are actively disempowering vulnerable communities, and so by erasing these resources that acknowledge the specific risks faced by LGBTQ plus youth, institutions not only withhold knowledge, but also reinforce the invisibility of those who need protection the most. So this is pretty critical. We know that reduced visibility of vulnerable populations if they aren't acknowledged, service providers, law enforcement, may not receive adequate training to identify and assist LGBTQ plus risk who are at risk.
Speaker 2:There's information gaps for those vulnerable populations. Again trying to seek resources and information, there's decreased funding for programs that may support LGBTQ plus. I think it also signals to other organizations. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children does significant and really great work. Unfortunately, I think a lot of their funding sources are saying that they cannot have that information on their site. But it does signal to other organizations to potentially remove that information as well.
Speaker 2:And it reinforces stigmas right, so it can inadvertently validate harmful narratives about LGBTQ plus identities. And we're also going to be missing out on prevention opportunities. I mean, I think my work is on identification, once they are already being trafficked, but prevention, honestly, is the holy grail. If you can stop somebody from actually being abused, if you can stop somebody from actually being abused, that's really critical. So there for sure is a big challenge in this space and we again. I know you've already said this, but research consistently shows that LGBTQ plus youth experience homelessness at disproportionate rates. Again, that's primarily due to family rejection. They face higher risks of exploitation while unhoused. So again, removing those resources really could hamper the efforts to protect an already marginalized population.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's really just disappointing to have a federal government who should be protecting all communities under its leadership is not only demonizing the LGBTQ plus community but also then removing resources you know created to protect them, to identify, you know, opportunities of exploitation or trafficking, and I think it's definitely going to have really severe consequences for, you know, those within the community that are, you know, vulnerable. For those who are listening, who wanna be a part of the solution, there are ways to make a difference For our listeners out there, whether it's a community member, parents, educators or even just concerned allies. What are the most impactful ways or actions that they can take to protect LGBTQ plus youth from trafficking and exploitation?
Speaker 2:First of all, I love this question and I don't know if I've said this, but you can't do everything, but everyone can do something. I would say, if you do know LGBTQ plus youth who may be living in a household that perhaps may not welcome or might be rejecting them, and you're in a place to be a friend to them, obviously having good intention, I think that would go a long way. Just on a personal perspective, one of the things globally and kind of just thinking locally too, one of the most important things that you can do is educate yourself, educate others. Again, it does not look like what it is portrayed in the media. There have been movies out where they talk about you know, they're going to snatch somebody from the parking lot. That is not how trafficking is occurring, and so really learn about the realities of trafficking both in your community and globally.
Speaker 2:There are resources. You know we have Spotlight, we have NCMEC, polaris, to kind of share some of the information, follow survivor stories and support survivors who are working in the space and trying to create space for what their experience was. We also think it's really important to support survivors so after they've exited the life. There are many organizations that provide direct services to survivors, including housing, job, training. And again, there's a lot of mental abuse that occurs during trafficking and so there needs to be therapy that happens after that. So you can look in your local community. Maybe there's a place where you could volunteer, you could donate. If you are a teacher or a lawyer or a healthcare worker, you do have unique skills in this space. Often attorneys are needed in terms of restitution, as an example. So look for things that you might be able to do.
Speaker 2:And again, I mentioned kind of the National Human Trafficking Hotline. If you did see something like that, I would be remiss to say we play one tiny piece of a puzzle and it is a relatively complex puzzle. So I do want to share. There are many other organizations out there. Again, there are ones that are local, there are ones that are national. But if it's okay, I'd like to share a few other organizations for people to kind of get some additional information and knowledge. One would be Polaris. They have a lot of great research and information. They're also running the hotline that I've shared with you. Rebecca Bender Institute is also another great survivor resources. Annie Cannons does great work. They help empower survivors if they're interested in the tech space and help with training and occupational work. More to Life, founded by Dr Brooke Bellow, who is also a survivor, and, of course, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and I could probably have a list that goes on and on, so feel free to do your own search, but those are some that I thought I wanted to share.
Speaker 3:Thanks for sharing that. I think that's super important. Like you said, knowledge is power and the more that we can both promote LGBTQ acceptance, promote these different resources and organizations, the more safe and more proactive we can be in preventing this type of trafficking and exploitation. So, you know, for those out there who are interested in learning more, check out those organizations that Kristen mentioned and, you know, make sure that you're always on alert for any of the warning signs. The work obviously is not easy. It takes obviously deep dedication and personal commitment on your end and those who work in this space. How does your personal commitment to this guide your vision for the future and why would you say you're so personally committed to this cause?
Speaker 2:Well, one I will say that we as humans are changing over time, and part of the way that we're changing is how we're interacting with the world and with one another, and a lot of that is through technology. And while we know that technology is being used by traffickers to exploit individuals, I think it is equally important for us to use technology in the fight, and so that's part of what we're thinking about from a spotlight perspective on how do we optimize investigator workflows, how do we elevate that information for the most vulnerable, and how do we identify victims faster and disrupt those trafficking networks through the use of technology and data and information, again in a very human-centered way. So part of my personal passion in this particular type of work, and also in some other stuff that I do outside of work, is, I really believe that investing in children, and kids is one of the greatest investments that we can make. Children are resilient, they are our future, and I firmly believe that every child deserves to be found.
Speaker 3:I love that. Yeah, I think that's it's so important, I think, where we live in this day and age, specifically in the United States, where funding's being cut for a variety of different things and what what that end result is, it creates greater vulnerability for those that are marginalized, those that are susceptible to this type of exploitation, and a lot of it being youth who are in danger of being trafficked or exploited. And you know, despite these challenges, there are victories, though that we should remind us why this work is important. Can you share any success stories or a moment that kind of reaffirmed why you do this work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, first of all, it's hard, because this is absolutely why we do this work, so we always love to hear from frontline responders. I'm going to share two cases, if that's okay.
Speaker 3:Please.
Speaker 2:So one of the very early cases that we had after developing Spotlight we'll call her Lily. She was 16 years old. She met a boy online who was also 16 years old. They developed a friendship so this is pretty common, that's happening in today's age and again developed the friendship over time. She went to Bible study one night and he said hey, I can pick you up. She said great. She got into the car and the second she got in she realized he was not 16. He wasering and what happened was that he started to traffic her, and this happened in Northern California, and since she went missing, a detective Detective Nichols got notification that she was missing. He was able to take her phone number and put it into her application, and what he was able to find and see on this map that I kind of told you about, to see the trafficking happening over time was all the places where she was being advertised and trafficked, and he was able to arrange what would be called a date with her. She immediately identified herself as a victim and got connected to resources, but from the time that she went missing to the time that she was recovered is two weeks. That's fast, and so that's one of the things that we're looking to do is reduce the time it takes to identify the most vulnerable and get them recovered and get them connected to resources. So that was one of the first cases and I was like this is why we built this.
Speaker 2:A next case that I will share with you actually just happened the end of last year. We'll call her Vanessa. She was missing for more than two years. She vanished completely without a trace. No phone call, no text messages, no social media posts.
Speaker 2:Despite this the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They never gave up hope and so their child sex trafficking recovery services team worked with a social worker to develop a trauma-informed, victim-centered plan in preparation for the eventual recovery, and this is part of our partnership with NCMEC. Again, I shared with you. We're taking kind of some of those missing kid photos. We're pulling that information into our data. And there was a match, there was a hit for her, and so Spotlight had recognized Vanessa and so kind of a group of people again this is the human trafficking unit of a local police department was able to recover her and they were able to arrest her male trafficker. So it was 780 days of unimaginable trauma and she was found again. It takes a village with Spotlight, ncmec and law enforcement kind of working together, but I had shared with you that I always need to have hope and this is why we do this work.
Speaker 3:And I'm curious for those that are in those type of situations, who may be experiencing signs of potential exploitation situations, who may be experiencing signs of potential exploitation what can they do if they start to recognize that they may be vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking?
Speaker 2:Meaning that they think it's going to happen to them, but it hasn't.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think if there are any ideal I'm going to say ideal relationships in their life, meaning that they might look up to somebody who might have healthy boundaries or examples of relationships, if there is a trusted advisor or a mentor or somebody that you might be able to go to, again, I think it's really important that you can try and qualify that person, because you definitely want to try and go to people who are grounded and can see where maybe somebody is going outside of the lines and probably crossing some of those. So those would be some things that I would think would be really beneficial. Of course, peers, especially for kids, is something that's really critical. It's always hard when you're a kid. I know you can be like a young adult, but if you have a friend that comes to you and you feel like you can't address the situation, go to a trusted adult to help with the situation.
Speaker 3:That's really good information. And finally, I would like to kind of reflect on, like the bigger picture of it all how have these experiences shaped your understanding of what's possible when communities, technology and compassion come together?
Speaker 2:First of all, it's like humbling to be able to do this work, and it's probably the most meaningful work of my career. And again, we don't do it alone. We do it together with others. But in the last 10 years, spotlight has helped frontline responders identify more than 26,000 children. What comes to mind for me is this quote from Margaret Mead, which says never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. Again, I think, wanting to be a part of, of something greater than myself.
Speaker 3:That's beautiful. I love that. And where can people find you online or the work that you're doing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you can go direct to our website. We would love any donations or support. We we provide our application at no cost to frontline responders and the national center for missing and exploited children, so we are completely donor funded. So you can go to spotlightngo for that. On both Facebook and Instagram we are spotlight anti-trafficking, and then on LinkedIn we are spotlight-ngo.
Speaker 3:Amazing. Well, folks out there who are interested in learning more about Spotlight, supporting, donating or just learning more check them out online. Thank you so much, kristen, for sharing all of your insights, learning about your personal journey, the work that Spotlight is doing and just kind of educating people on human trafficking and exploitation. I think this conversation is so important, so I'm so grateful that I've had you to discuss this with. I would like to now kind of transition over to our compulsory questions, which are more, a little more lighthearted, just get to know you better. So I'll start off with the first question what is your go-to anthem? That never fails to get you pumped?
Speaker 2:First of all, I feel like this is a very difficult question to narrow down to one, so I'm going to give you multiple. I am a seventies child.
Speaker 3:Very difficult question to narrow down to one, so I'm going to give you multiple, please. You love multiple, yes.
Speaker 2:I am a 70s child, so one of my foundational songs is I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. Yes, I also love Don't Stop Me Now by Queen.
Speaker 3:Oh yes.
Speaker 2:And then my mom is no longer with us. But one of the things that is a lasting legacy from her is she brought my sister and I to the theater and so big fan of musicals and after going through some court cases around her death, my sister and I saw Wicked.
Speaker 3:Wicked.
Speaker 2:Yes, and so Defying Gravity by Idina Menzel is also one of my anthems. But so many good songs out there, it's so hard to choose. Thanks for letting me share a couple.
Speaker 3:Yes, oh my God, we need to have a dance party. You have great music choices. The next question I have for you is if your identity came with a warning label, what would it be?
Speaker 2:Caution maybe hot. I love that so much.
Speaker 3:My next question is if you could have a superpower, what would it be?
Speaker 2:Okay, again, these are very I know, getting to know me questions, but it's hard to give just one. So I do travel a lot. So if I had to say just for me, a superpower, I would love to be able to teleport, just be able to get back and forth really quickly. But if I were to say something that would benefit the world which is probably a better avenue to think about I would love for there to be a superpower for people to be able to feel a little bit what others feel, but also just to feel loved, connected and valued, because honestly, that's why we have issues. It could be association with a gang, it could be again running away. If people could feel that way, I think our world would be so much better.
Speaker 3:I love that, yeah, and I think in general, this is a good reminder for people that to remember to love yourself, love those around you. When you see people who are vulnerable, sad, just you know not doing good, to support them and show them love, cause a little love can go a long way, which I think. That may be a song, but it still rings very true, do you know what I mean? So that's, that's fantastic. So, for the next question I have for you is what is your favorite piece of content? It could be a film, a show, a book, anything that really you think people should check out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, anybody who knows me, one of the first things I'll say I've heard on a podcast. I listen to a lot of podcasts, but one of the ones that I find really amazing is learning from other women who have gone before me, and so Julia Louise Dreyfus has a podcast called Wiser Than Me, and I love learning from other women who have blazed trails, um ahead of me and um paved the way, so that's one of my faves.
Speaker 3:That's fantastic. Yes, no, we love podcasts and we love learning from our elders and just anybody that's willing to share, you know knowledge, cause remember what we said earlier knowledge is power, folks. And then the last question I have for you, kristen, is if you could give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be?
Speaker 2:Okay, I'll preface this that I am a recovering perfectionist, and when I say that, I feel like sometimes I'm afraid to make mistakes, and one of the things that I would encourage my younger self to do is to be curious. It's okay when you're young you are not expected to have all the answers. In fact, when you're older you are not expected to have all the answers, and it's okay to say I don't know, but be curious about things. And to that end, I would also say take more risks. Again, I was kind of afraid of failing because to me I thought it was complete and utter failure, but I have learned that when you take risks and when you fail, you are not failing if you are learning from those. And so to me, it's about being curious and learning and taking some of those risks.
Speaker 3:I love that. I think that's something that everybody should take heed of, because being scared to fail, I think, is the most crippling thing that people can really experience in experiencing life Like not being able to try something new, something that's they've never done before, because they're fearful of not meeting their expectations. I think that's it prevents you from living life in the most meaningful way, and I think that's fantastic advice.
Speaker 2:And that's kind of where you you grow is on the edge of discomfort, and I've also learned that if I don't know how to do something and then I start practicing and doing it, I may not be an Olympian but I'm going to get, I'm going to get better at it, and you figure some of those things out, and that's a part of learning.
Speaker 3:Absolutely agree, and I think it's like the fear of not being perfect is. I think that not being able to allow yourself to fail prevents you from being able to see what your potential is, and I think people need to continue to push the envelope, be comfortable with discomfort and go outside of what you are familiar with, because in those spaces of discomfort you're able to find that you may love something new, a new interest. You may learn that you're actually great at something that you didn't know. You may learn just a lot about yourself, and we're always constantly learning about ourselves every day, especially when we're doing stuff that is outside of our comfort zone. So all really good stuff, and I want to say, kristen, thank you so much again for sharing the life-saving work you're doing, sharing your insights, your journey, the work that your team at Spotlight is doing, because today's conversation made it very, very clear that LGBTQ plus youth are not only overrepresented in homelessness and trafficking cases, but they're also at a higher risk of online exploitation. And yet their needs are being erased from national child safety conversations, which is really, really disappointing. But erasure does not make them safer, it makes them more vulnerable. Through technology, advocacy and policy change, we can ensure that LGBTQ youth remain visible, protected and supported. And when we shine a light or a spotlight on these issues, we take real steps towards preventing exploitation, trafficking, promote justice and a future where no one is left behind. Kristen, again, I appreciate you so much, all the work that you do and, to our listeners out there, thank you for being a part of this conversation, staying engaged, staying informed, and let's keep advocating for the safety of our most vulnerable community members. And thank you again, kristen, thanks, and that's a wrap for this episode of our most vulnerable community members, and thank you again, kristen.
Speaker 4:Thanks, and that's a wrap for this episode of the Queerest Podcast. Thank you for joining us on this cosmic journey through the queer universe. If today's conversation resonated with you, be sure to like, subscribe and share it with your chosen family. Your voice helps grow the queerest community. Until next time, stay curious.