3. How To Tackle Sex Trafficking With Rachael Roland, Founder of BeLOVEd Beauty

Hi everyone. Before we begin, please be advised that this podcast does contain adult themes and it is intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised. It's incredibly overwhelming for a woman. Her healing process is, they say, the most complicated, similar to a war veterans, PTSD. She's going through so much. There's usually drug addiction involved, you know, a year of learning life skill sets that she may be missed because a pimps been controlling everything on her body. Her life can become incredibly overwhelming to try to cram into one year. And so we really wanted to offer something that is not a handout, but a hand up so that they really feel I can handle this. I can do this. I have something to fight for. Welcome to another episode of How Are You Helping, a podcast that explores this question by bringing in guests who focus on altruism, activism, and giving to their communities with their work, projects, and the causes that they are pioneering. Like our social media platform, the podcast is going to highlight work that benefits communities with various humanitarian needs, animals, and the environment. The topic of today's conversation is on sex trafficking in the Los Angeles community. Today I have the pleasure of introducing Rachel Roland, the founder of Beloved Beauty, a charitable organization that provides a pathway for victims of the sex industry towards sustainable careers in the beauty and cosmetology industry. Rachel is frequently active with volunteer work. She gives her time to organizations like the Red Eye Empowerment Center, where she encourages young women and children who are in foster care. If you aren't familiar with this organization, it is a successful nonprofit that merges creatives and leaders with humanitarian events in major cities around the world. She constantly gives her time to important causes whenever they arise, like organizing a relief effort for firefighters during the Woolsey Fire that relatively recently caused enormous destruction in parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. I'm sitting with Rachel today to highlight her enormous effort to fight sex trafficking through her organization Beloved Beauty and talk about what drove her to this work, what inspires her to make a difference, and what practical tools she has to share with us, and her personal side just a little bit. So with all of that being said, it is my absolute honor to have Rachel Roland, founder of Beloved Beauty with us today. Rachel, so glad you could join us today. Hi, Sean. Thanks so much for having me. My pleasure. I want to jump in and start off the interview with some questions about the work that you do, and then end the interview with some rapid fire questions. Oh, I'm excited. Awesome. All right. Can you explain what sex trafficking is and what Beloved Beauty is doing about it? Yeah, totally. I mean, there's been a ton of awareness that's come around within the last 10 years with sex trafficking, but I still meet people that are kind of like, well, I know human trafficking and what exactly it kind of explains itself, but the big thing that I hear from people is that, oh yeah, that's over in other countries and the other part of the world. And yes, it is as well, but it's also right here in her backyards. It's underlining in the commercialized sex industry. It is all over the place. Sex trafficking is, and of course, I'm not going to remember like the exact definition right now, but it's a woman that's within the sex industry that maybe fully doesn't want to be the person there was manipulated feels it shouldn't have any other choice. And then it is also those stories or things that you see where people are kidnapped and thrown into cars and chained to walls and basements. It's it's very real and there's a huge spectrum of what it is. But something that I think I always say to people is that no little girl grows up saying I want to be a prostitute. Definitely, I think that's a great description of it. So you've done a lot of volunteering with organizations working to end sex trafficking in your life. Describe what that looks like for people who are curious about that type of work. Yeah, that was that was the first step for me is that when I became interested in wanting to know more about this world, I began googling other amazing organizations that were already in the fight and doing something to be a part of it. And so I will say it is a sensitive area. You know, it's it's sometimes hard to be one on one with such a complex group of men and women that are healing. But there's a lot of ways that you can be involved and can raise awareness and education and use your voice and that if you do choose to go through the steps to be hands on with these incredible survivors. Awesome. So now that we have a great idea of what sex trafficking looks like, what are ways that beloved beauty is accomplishing that goal of ending sex trafficking? Yeah, it's very easy to get completely overwhelmed with when you think of ending it because it's such a massive massive thing that's happening and it's growing rapidly. Our heart is to work with the women coming out of it. So we want to target South L.A. communities within Watts, Compton, all of that area. I have a huge heart for foster care because there's a ton of statistics that talk about that one in four runaways will be approached by a Pimp. They target these kids because they don't maybe have or they have needs that they want met and that's what these PIMS do that they come after the vulnerabilities. And so our heart is sorry, get distracted because I could go on and on about statistics and the different things but our heart is to work with women, young girls coming out of sex trafficking. Or even women within the commercialized sex industry, you know, there's a huge world within that that they just feel I didn't feel I had any other option and I don't want to be in it. You know, we want to come alongside them and so what we do is we get them licensed in Cosmetology. I really felt that that's an attainable and exciting skill and career that they can go into. It offers an amazing community of a sisterhood in a different way. And I loved the idea of partnering and being able to empower, empower as well every day women. So many women know about sex trafficking. We don't know how to get involved because it is a sensitive subject. And so if I knew that there was a salon or nail place that I could go to get my nails done and support these women, I would for sure go there. That's awesome. That's great. I just love the mission behind your organization. Yeah, that you're taking kind of an unconventional approach towards finding and really empowering and supporting these women in their transition. So I applaud you for that. Thank you. Yeah, so you mentioned some community partners. What type of organizations do you partner with and what do you look for in a partner salon or something like that? Yeah, that's another thing is that something I heard when I was first starting out or even volunteering with a ton of nonprofits is that they can be very competitive. And I was really sad because I'm like, wait, if we're all aiming for the same goal, why are we being competitive? And now I completely get it because it's all my blood sweat and tears. It's like, don't come near my thing that I've created of trying to save the world. But no, I really want to connect. I want to connect a booming beauty industry that we have influencers bloggers, the Kardashians have about million mega blinds. I want to take this world and connect it to these survivors and these women. And I also want to partner with other nonprofits that like Red Eye and they're already down there in lots and in the projects and they are mentoring these kids and loving on them and letting them know that they have worth and that that is my heart. You know, something that I forgot to mention earlier was that a lot of people don't talk about the revolving door within trafficking or the commercialized sex industry. And nothing against these nonprofits that offer either a year long recovery program or coming alongside them. But it's incredibly overwhelming for a woman. Her healing process is they say the most complicated similar to a war veterans PTSD. She's going through so much there's usually drug addiction involved, you know, a year of learning life skill sets that she may be missed because a pimps been controlling everything in her life can become incredibly overwhelming to try to cram into one year. So we really wanted to offer something that is not a handout, but a hand up so that they really feel I can handle this I can do this I have something to fight for. You mentioned Watson Powerman Center. How did you get involved with them and why? Yeah, so I actually go way back with the founder Justin and so the nonprofit that is right now involved in Watson Powerman Center is red eye and he is incredible he has been doing this for over 10 years of just showing up to this neighborhood and investing in these kids and mentoring them. And they actually took over the Watson Powerman Center and so that's kind of just kind of just become a lighthouse for these kids within that area and so I had been volunteering with him and known him since my New York days and all of that. I fell in love with that area in the community and what he was doing and then when I started learning that you know those neighborhoods are a high risk and there is a lot of girls that whether it's through family ties within gangs or it's that oh it's just this is what we do I become a prostitute or I do that or they're being kidnapped from the foster homes in those areas into a very overly saturated sex industry. I wanted to begin partnering not only with mentoring the young girls there but getting below the level of the level. beauty involved there. So I am familiar with the fact that there was some legislation passed in 2018 regarding the sale of sex online called the Fight Online Sex Traffic Act and the Stop and Nabilite Sex Trafficers Act. Has this legislation been helpful at all and what advice would you give to lawmakers? Yes, I do remember this was the big thing with the shutting down of back page which is a massive huge outlet for selling and buying of sex. It's tough because without getting too politically political or saying you know where I stand and as I always try to understand both sides that's a way that I am that I just really like to be. For this one though I would probably say it has been incredibly helpful even though there's a ton of people that would come against that and say no it hasn't they're just gonna go do it somewhere else. Now the FBI or human trafficking units can't search for girls that are missing that they're looking for. Yes I understand there's always those small slivers of that it's not helpful but it was a huge outlet for trafficking and there if anything it's slowed it down. It slowed down the amount that these girls were being bought and sold. My advice to them would be to continue fighting for it to stop. To stop not just oh let's help make it a little bit better but that the overall is to end sex trafficking and you know what that's probably gonna take a really big dent within the commercialized sex industry and a lot of people may not agree with me but there's a huge underlining wave of sex trafficking within the sex industry and I would encourage them to take a look at what Sweden's been doing. Can you tell us about what approach Sweden took and like how we could implement that in the US? Yeah and 2002 they completely criminalized prostitution so if Johns PIMPS they get what we would consider a felony charge and they offer help to the women within the industry and their rate of trafficking and just the overall life and culture there has improved in huge amounts. Wow that's incredible yeah so does beloved beauty take a stance on unconcentual sex at all like do you ever feel like there's any legitimate sex profession or I had a feeling this was gonna come up because it is it's a big topic right now you know I believe there's even a California politician that is really discussing about legalizing prostitution and this one it's it's tough because I do understand that there are women and there are people and advocates that are saying that well we're not protected because we don't have the legitimacy of that it's a job. I just have to go against this you know I read an amazing blog by Harmony she's the founder of Treasures which is a strip club mid-nustry here in Treasures LA and she brought up a really good point that usually the ones that are saying hey we want it to be legalized is a very small percentage of people within the sex industry you know you see blogs and articles all over the internet that are like how to protect yourself when you're going on a run or with a John why you know they may not be saying but because there is there these women that come out of the whether it is a high-end escort or a street prostitute or any type of within the sex industry there is a high level in statistics that show PTSD anxiety their lifespan if there's just so many areas of it and I guess the other part I would bring up is that where I don't fully agree with it I just would say I'm very much against legalizing prostitution because there's disassociation you know when someone goes into something like this they have to disassociate so we we always say you know with child sex trafficking or children getting involved you know she may have gotten in at 13 or 14 but by the time she's 17 she says she wants to be there voluntarily you can't go through something like that without separating our goal is to end sex trafficking how often do you see children in foster care wind up in sex work position is that like a that's a huge thing it's a huge thing a couple different resources is one of them is I believe it's the story dot orgs they have some amazing videos and kind of just outlines of how it's all connected but the statistics show that a woman that gets involved within the sex industry or is trafficked either comes from abusive I think I don't want to say numbers because I'm like I'm gonna butcher the percentages but it's very high that they come from either abuse as a child sexual abuse violent homes domestic violence so these predators pamps boyfriend pamps gorilla pamps all the different types of pamps they see a need and they fill it they violate on that whether she doesn't have a home and she's or she's bouncing from foster home to foster home or she's run away I'm gonna give you the best life ever I'm gonna I love you and they look for that and so usually there's a bait and switch and so foster kids are a huge target because they are vulnerable you know if they're runaways or they they're within the system on the story the I think it's the life story dot org they one of the one one of the women's that they interview is she says that she remembers pamps would come in to the group homes looking for girls wow that's yeah that's crazy I heard some statistic that like 42% of people who are recently homeless get approached yeah to become a social worker that's that that's the exact same statistic as the runaways or whatever it is is they it comes off of a need a survival and that's what exploits it and that's where I would then fight that I'm just like I say that no I don't believe that there's girls that choose to go into this industry and even if there is a sense of that she's chosen there was usually something cracked or broken within the past that led her into that because when you talk to a three to five-year-old little girl she says she wants to grow up and be a Disney princess or whatever she wants to be but you don't hear that she wants to be a prostitute that's so true I hope you're enjoying this interview with Rachel Roland founder of beloved beauty I just wanted to say if you stick around to the end of the interview we're doing a giveaway and I'll be sharing some closing thoughts thank you so much for listening and supporting how are you helping I also want to encourage you to follow our Instagram where we will be continuing to update you on our activities in our future interviews so we could go on talking about yeah you know these types of things systemic issues like all that long but instead let's go ahead and shift gears now and I want to hear more about you know the personal side of you great places start might be you mentioned you took a couple trips to Thailand and Cambodia what did you do over there oh yeah that was amazing that was actually the start of below beauty for me is I had been volunteering within some amazing nonprofits in the LA area and was very interested I forget what was oh it was a breakup went through breakup and was like I'm gonna travel I want to go do some missions and I found this amazing organization called destiny rescue that offers trips being able to go over they have over 20 recovery homes for these girls that they're going into different areas all over Thailand Cambodia I think they just started opening up some in India and I decided to go and while I was there it was the moment of whether it was being in the red light districts of Thailand seeing girls as young as five in these recovery homes singing just in beaver songs with the 10 and 14 year olds that you would never you would never imagine what they came from I had this just life changing eye-opening moment of where I knew I needed to dedicate the rest of my life to fighting for this and doing it in the States and bringing awareness to it in the States wow such an incredible story where did you grow up and can you talk about like your college years what did you major in yeah so that is where the shift is is that I went to college in New York City I grew up in Pennsylvania I've always had a total identity crisis of that I was born in California but moved when I was one to the East Coast my mom's a Cali girl my dad's an East Coast boy so I was like I don't know what I am in New York they were like oh you're such a Cali girl here in Cali though like oh you're such an East Coaster so I'm just gonna own both but I grew up in Pennsylvania I'm the oldest of six kids it's a party actually technically eight six biological two adopted and I went to school in New York City for acting since I was little I was that girl that was like mom I want to be the person singing with Barney I just always had an entertainer on the world this is my stage and so I was out here in California for six years doing acting before I decided to do a complete life change about three years ago and was like I'm going to start below beauty. Cambodian Thailand was a huge part of that. Wow, yeah that's awesome that was a huge life change. I'm sure you get to use some of the skills that you learned and what you're doing now. Yeah that was something I really had to work through is that I was like okay god like what does any of this have to do with like what I've been called to now like we couldn't reveal this a little earlier but I'm a huge believer of that every season or path that we've taken it's used and I'm not quite sure how it's going to but I truly do believe that some way somehow it will be used. Fantastic. So some of those work that you do takes into more like dangerous places and speaking with people who have been exploited and things like that what kind of risks does the type of work you do present and how do you overcome them. Yeah it's definitely a really tough industry to go within you know whether it's when I'm mentoring a girl in the projects and I'm down in that area my mom's not a fan you know she's always worrying about me or I dated a police officer a couple years ago and he worked in that area and hated it even more he didn't want me down there but for me it's it's one of one of my callings and so yeah I am definitely entering into high gang violence areas but I feel called there and I want to be there and yeah you have to be smart you know I don't encourage just anyone to start running down to the streets to do street ministry it's you definitely want to educate yourself and you want to be wise in these areas but before that I was going into strip clubs with treasures and giving girls gift bags if you make a choice to go into these areas that are a little bit harder and that maybe most people turn a blind eye to or just kind of want to be in denial about be wise about it be wise. Totally where did you get that part of yourself that's like so courageous and bold to be able to do those things like tell me about the why behind your work how did you find purpose and bring meaning into your life. Wow okay there's so many different layers so that first answer the first part of that where did it come from I would say it comes from my dad I grew up you know homeschooled the first half of my life before I went to public high school but I grew up with my dad just taking us cliff jumping walking across old railroad bridges like he just he was just that adventurous dad and so he instilled that in me and he also instilled my love for the vulnerable you know we growing up we didn't live in the best neighborhood and there was four of us at the time or whatever but he would still choose to make extra macaroni and cheese so that he could feed all the neighborhood kids or my brothers friends and just love on whoever was in that neighborhood and that their moms were in home or whatever it was and so I definitely got that that love for people from him as well as the adventurous courageous spirit the why um that one is a very loaded long question but I guess the short version would be I grew up a pastor's daughter and so I was extremely sheltered and then for about eight years of my life I lived a very promiscuous lifestyle and I was like a lot of the girls that you might hear that it's a choice to go into is that I felt that I was empowered by my sexuality I was enticed by the love of it but when you really get down to the root of that it's enslavement I was never a stripper or prostitute and didn't that's not part of my story but I very much identify and connect with the shame I you know I joke and I know you made your announcement that this isn't kid-based but I joke that I was just a prostitute without getting paid you know I searched to find love in all the wrong places and I would never compare my story or my testimony to what these women have gone through but for me there was a huge passion in my own walk of finding the empowerment not through sexuality and finding love through community and my faith and wanting to offer that within the healing process of these women that are coming out of an incredibly hard set of circumstances in their life. What would you say to someone who's looking to develop their confidence like a woman who is in a hand up? Wow I would tell her to start with herself I think we so often try to find our confidence and our worth in exterior in outside things and that it starts within us it starts with something that I really struggled with was self-love you know I was very performance-based I felt that I had to earn my love it was I couldn't just accept it so to start with herself and a community a community that builds you up and really truly is pioneering for you and encouraging you and lastly you know if whether you're faith-based or not that was that was a huge huge game changer for me was finding that unconditional love within Christ and I would encourage that. Awesome that's great how did you encourage others to work through their trauma when they're in the middle of it? Oh that's a tough one it's a very I think the tough thing is it's a broad answer is that there's so many different outlets and just like there's different personalities you know this one way might not work for someone else but the first thing I encourage people to do is awareness and not stuff I think so much within our culture is to just ignore and go into denial and stuff and you know there's studies that even show like as when abuse happens to us as children we can literally black it out so we just didn't even know that it happened but what we don't realize is that when we stuff or try to ignore something it grows and develops outcomes in other areas of our lives that we may not even be realizing of that for me you know whether it was my own personal learning disabilities as a child and not feeling good enough I then stuffed that and tried to find love within men I had you know and if I would have looked back and told you that oh wait hold on I'm doing this or that because I was sexually abused as a young girl that that sexuality and that innocent innocence had been stolen that then as I got older I was trying to find the empowerment in it because it wasn't something sacred to me it's it's connecting the dots of usually the choices that we're making now have been affected by something that's happened to us in the past and so I guess my biggest thing of advice for someone healing through trauma would be to find people you trust you know women are verbal processors or most of us you know not everybody but most of verbal processors and and finding the people that are really going to be there for us and not use it against us that's great oh and sorry one of the community community is huge sometimes the battles within our mind is that we're trying to change the way we've been thinking for so many years you need people and community around you to help break that so that when I was self-loathing or not having self-lover care I had an amazing group of women that came around me were like no rage you're incredible amazing where's your confidence and I like had them that they had faith when I didn't have faith that's amazing yeah it's a great thing to be able to have like you know that strong support system around you and helping you you know to really fulfill your your life's work and your mission so that's great that you found that and you're able to pass along to others what film has most changed your life or your perspective on life okay personally or career wise because personally it would be miscongeniality that is one of my all-time favorite movies and I think seeing that movie as a young girl I've always kind of been quirky weird make funny faces and show just seeing her be completely herself and own that really just really embrace something within myself as for career wise I would probably say all the incredible documentaries that these companies have been making to bring awareness to sex trafficking and human trafficking and that was what started all of it for me is I remember years ago I saw a documentary that I remember thinking this is a terrible feeling I hate this but is this really happening within the states I can't remember I think it was like some undercover special that they were talking about it within massage parlors but it was in the states and it sparked that fire within me that then caused me to want to search out more which then led me to finding out in profits within the area to volunteer with and then most recently I think it was Netflix's hot girls wanted and that's you know not specifically sex trafficking it's the porn industry but they followed three girls that were supposedly by choice entering into the porn industry and it showed they're where they came from their past their life and then their current as they went through it and I just remember I was I was completely wrecked by it it it just completely broke my heart so what's like the strangest thing that has happened to you on your journey towards finding a nonprofit you remember anything in particular I don't know I have adventures for days, but I don't know if it would be considered strangers. I guess it would just be a very interesting turn that I think really helped shape and define why I was doing what I was doing is that when I decided to start below beauty and I was still shaping the idea of what I wanted to be and I wanted to save house but just really diving into the details of it. When I began bouncing the idea around different people to just get their feedback and what they thought, you know, some of the feedback I got was, well, okay, why a cosmetology degree? Like, why not a four-year college degree? And I remember the first time I got asked it, it shook me to my core. Then I'm like, oh my gosh, why not? What if they want to be doctors and nurses or whatever it is? And it helped define and remind me of what I'm doing? I come from a history of that when I was in the acting industry, I was also a makeup artist. And so I love the makeup industry and it was an industry for me that even with my learning disabilities and not having whatever you want to call a real degree, having an acting degree, I never felt looked down upon. I never felt that I wasn't smart enough. It was a very safe and empowering community for me that I actually really did build myself up the ladder of the cosmetology world. And I also then learned that there are some amazing nonprofits out there that are offering four-year degrees. And that if the girl has that goal and wants to go after that, then saving innocence or treasures or whoever it may be will come alongside her and offer that. But what beloved beauty is going to do is offer a cosmetology degree. Yeah, I like how you are taking that kind of unconventional approach and that you're willing to partner with these other organizations as well in the community so that you're really tackling this problem like full-on with lots of options out there for these victims. Yeah. That's great. What's the greatest obstacle or challenge that you have faced personally or professionally? Hmm. Personally, you know, as I stated earlier is my learning disabilities. You know, I grew up homeschooled and then when I went to high school and being homeschooled was the greatest thing ever. I look back at it and I even remember telling my mom that I'm like, "Why are some of these homeschooling kids so weird?" Because our family was not like that. It was just really fun. We did horseback riding, rock climbing. We went to Williamsburg, Virginia to do our studies of Williamsburg and all of that. And so our colonial history, whatever it's called. But when I got to high school, that's when they began doing testing of that. Oh, she's not just a little bit behind the learning curve. She actually has a lot of learning disabilities and that for me became a label for quite a while. You know, just made me believe that I wasn't very smart. So almost failing out of high school, I finally hit a stage in my life where I shed that label of what I thought I was and began owning who I am and what I bring to the table. And that what I bring to the table may not be the greatest book smarts in the world, but I bring what I bring to the table and that is needed. And so that's just probably kind of led into, below beauty of that there was many times that when I was starting it, I was like, "I can't do this. I'm not the girl to do this. I have an acting degree, what the heck am I doing?" And had to just kind of each step know that I can do this. And it just maybe takes me a little extra time of researching something or preparing or educating myself and owning that it's part of my purpose. What do you love the most about helping others? The joy it brings. I think overall the true happiness it brings. I think as a culture and a society we become very self-reflected. It can become all about us and it can become what was me or FOMO or whatever it is or I don't know if I'm not followers. When you're helping someone else, you're putting your attention and your priority on someone else. And I do think there's balance, you know, because I'm also the queen of burnout. But putting your attention and love onto someone else brings you the type of fulfillment and joy that I just don't think you can find anywhere else. Alright, well then let's dive into a couple of questions about how your leadership style works. What are three of the items that you prioritize the most within your value system that may be valuable to some of my listeners? I guess the first one would be humility. I always try to walk with humility. I don't ever want to be, have that place of that I know best, my ways, the best way or the highway or whatever you want to call it. I try to always walk with humility that I can learn something from somebody else. I can grow in some way. Second, I think I would say my faith. You know, I know I keep bringing it back to that, but that was a huge game changer in my life of that I took it off myself and what I wanted and what my purpose and calling it. You know, it kind of brings us back to what we were talking about at my purpose of that it's not all about me and it's not about me just living a life to fulfill here for me. There's more to it. I have a calling and I have a purpose and it kind of takes the pressure off of having to feel like you have to obtain something. And so with status I guess and so it brings me to just loving people well. Third one, have fun. I think have fun. I feel to myself, I sometimes get so caught up in what I want to do and how I want to change the world and I forget to just enjoy the moments and be present and love the journey. You know, I think we so often look for, oh my gosh, this is where I want to be. This is what I want to get to. This is my goal that if I could just be here, if I could just be married, whatever it is, if I could just have a million dollars, enjoy where you're at. Enjoy the journey because you only go through the journey once. So. Yeah, so life is short and there's so many things that we want to do that don't really matter that much. Yeah. Yeah. Let's definitely enjoy the process of it and yeah, that's great. That's great advice. What are some like practical steps that you've taken to enhance your everyday life? Well, that's tough because I'm still currently working on it. I'm a total night owl. And when I was in the acting industry, that was fine because I could just be up till two in the morning studying my script, but also as I get older and I near my 30s, I'm not as productive in the evening. You know, it's hard that I want to become more of a morning person. I know that I'm sharper and I get things done and I got that coffee kit going on. So personally, currently, right now, working on becoming more of a morning person, but some of the other things that I've done was working out. I, you know, I'm not that person that's ever going to have that six pack abs going on, but I also love to eat, but I really learned that working out for me helped with my stress, helped with just balancing out as a woman, my hormones. It just released those natural endorphins. It was a huge part of my life of realizing that, you know, I don't always have to go in and do a three hour wait session, but just getting out and going for a walk or a hike and staying active and staying moving was really important. And community. I would say community became a huge part, good community, you know, whether it's that you find it within a church or a group or a hobby community became a huge part of my life of that, you know, we can't always be on and perfect all the time. It's just no matter how much we want to be, we have our bad days, we have our e or days where we're just like, and community is a good thing to have around us to remind us that it's an off day and it's not who you are. And we're going to get up and move forward. That's great. Looking at like life as a whole, how should we view what we are put on earth to do? Without going to ultra spiritual, which I am and I could, I think it's purpose. And I've said it many, many times is that you have to have purpose. I feel like if we lose purpose, then what is the point? So whatever you want to find or however you want to begin moving towards the process of what your purpose is, but you need to have a purpose. And I find that people that usually have a purpose that is outside themselves, those are the people that we meet that you really want to be around. They are like, what is it they have? And for me, it was, you know, my faith. I got my faith right and I really felt that God was like, I want you to fight for my daughters and I want you to not make it all about you. And through that, you're going to be truly blessed because the skill set, how I've made you, who you are, is needed within this. And so I think it helps us own who we are truly. And see, you know, we all have a special skill set. We all have quirks or things that we're either really good at or that make us us and finding. And some that we sometimes have to work a little harder to really hone, but find what you're passionate about, find what that purpose is and do something about it. That's great. All right. Well, I think that's a great place to end those types of questions. I'd like to jump into some rapid fire questions really quick and just get your, oh gosh, okay. And be able to respond to these questions here. All right. What is the best piece of advice that anyone has ever given you? Ooh. I had a mentor when I was first, first really digging into starting below beauty. I don't even think I had it named below beauty yet, but he was a salon owner in Pasadena and I actually met him through volunteering with another nonprofit. And I was kind of just sharing with him. knew he had done some work in some other areas and clearly had an idea of what he was doing because he owned his own salon and as a celebrity hairstylist by the way, he kills it. Niko was amazing. He came to me and I was sharing with them all the different things I wanted to do and outlines and he really explained to me the Nike outline that he had said you know what Nike did best was they decided that they were only gonna be sneakers and he goes even when everyone else started doing like oh let's do wedges and let's do dress shoes like they stuck to we're gonna do sneakers and what he encouraged me on to as he says right you're gonna want to change and save the whole world but you got to pick one area and choose to save and work on the change in that area and do it well. Awesome yeah I think that's great advice definitely I think that will definitely end with some people and probably change their lives and their ability to be successful so thank you for sharing that with us. Let's see on what city did you grow up in? Technically Claimant Delaware which is near Wilmington but then when I was in high school we moved out to Avondale, Pennsylvania which was like in the middle of nowhere so I went from growing up in the suburbs to country land and it was very fun but I was like what the heck. All right where did you go to college and what was in major? I went to school in New York City and my major was film and television. Awesome what book are you most likely to recommend to someone? Oh that's a tough one. I am like the queen of self-help books. I would say too that I really really unashamed by Christine Kane changed my life and recently the burden is like by John Tyson which talks about being performance based and just learning to be okay resting within not having to perform and feel like we do a bunch of things and so that one wrecked me I was really good. And what is the number one tray of a leader? Oh I don't know how it word this but I guess not forced. Like you know you see those people that like want to be a leader and so they try to like force their way into being the leader but I think the number one I guess following. Like that they naturally inspire a group or people to follow them because they inspire them. That's great and what is the last selfless thing that you have done for someone else? Oh that's tough. I don't know that's weird I don't know I don't want to be like here's my own horn. I am 2D my own horn or whatever they call it. I currently am mentoring an inner city girl through a partnering nonprofit that needed to move on and so I've been taking time each week to drive about an hour to her to spend time with her and I have been coming through Craigslist and offer up like crazy this week trying to find her a punching bag at an affordable price per birthday. Wow that's very cool. I really admire like you go out and you do those things for those people and just like out of nothing but your commitment to serving them and being generous towards them so that's really beautiful I like that. It's my honor as well. Who's your biggest hero? Ooh not to like sound like a rapper but like God seriously. That guy seriously just did such a work in my heart. Like I know I have friends that have known me 10 years to 10 years and they're like it's black and white and then people that currently know me they're like we can't even imagine you're like that and I'm like trust me she was a hot mess. But like someone actually currently I would I know this is so cliche but I would say my parents you know my mom has given me the charisma and passion for life that I have and my dad has given me my heart to love people and adventurous spirit. Wonderful. How can listeners get involved and get connected with your organization? Oh that would be amazing. We have a website that we just finished or we're still wrapping up a couple of things but we have a website below beauty.org and there's a ton of different ways whether it's awareness starting something on if you're an influencer or in your school. We also have we don't have any fun things of like going out and doing street ministry or anything like that just yet hopefully in the future but anyone that wants to get involved and dive into a startup you know we are technically a startup organization and so whether it's wanting to come in and being like I have an idea for a campaign or I want to help with your social media because you don't know what you're doing right? So yeah there's tons and tons of ways or if they just have questions and want to chat and learn more about this industry they can my emails on there and you guys can reach out to me. So cool. Alright well thank you so much for spending time with us today and thanks for having me. Really appreciate it. Alright so my last question is are there any nuggets of wisdom or pieces of advice that you'd like to pass on to my listeners? I guess be yourself. I know that's so like PBS kids but seriously be yourself because no one else can be or what is a doctor's use and own it you know there's such a beauty with confidence and it's contagious you know. You encourage other people to own who they are when you are yourself and there's no one else like you and lastly I would say if you're passionate about something do it do it you know there's so many things that people are like oh don't do that because it's so this and we just live in this scary cautious place sometimes in society and I would say go after it and do it and go after it with all your heart. Wow it's totally alright well thanks again for spending time with us today I really appreciate it. Things are having me. Hey guys thanks so much for tuning in. I just want to send a special thank you out to Unisma Kindi Houston Bradley Alexandra Benheim and Weston St. James it wouldn't have been possible without their help so thank you to each of you for your generous contributions to this podcast. I really hope that this conversation with Rachel sparked your interest in sex trafficking if you aren't already part of the fight so please if you enjoyed this podcast please feel encouraged to share this podcast with family and friends and to top it off I'm giving away copies of three books half the sky turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide by Nicholas Kristoff and Cheryl Wu Dunn a book written by two Pulitzer prize winners covering stories of sex slaves from developing countries like Cambodia Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. The second book is called Sex Trafficking inside the business of modern slavery by Siddharth Kera. Kera is the first fellow on human trafficking with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and a portion of the proceeds gets donated back to an anti-slavery organization and the third book is called Doing Good Better by William McAskill a co-founder of the Effective Altruism Movement. I'm giving away one of these three books to the first three people to share this post on their Instagram stories just tag @howareyouhelping and post about us in your Instagram story or feed and the first three people to do that will receive a copy of one of these books sent directly to your mailbox again just tag @howaua re yo u h e l p i n g how are you helping and post about us in your Instagram feed or story and the first three people to do that will receive a copy of one of these books sent directly to your door lastly if you enjoyed listening to this podcast please post a positive review on app podcasts it would mean a great deal to us to get the word out to as many people as possible and reviews are the best way of helping us find new listeners and of course thank you all so much for listening