The Fierce Freedom Podcast

Traffickers across the nation are cherry picking victims from prisons and jails with incredible ease and often never getting caught. How and why is this happening? Hosts John Pulley and Cat Jacoby highlight "The Trap" an investigative documentary by The Guardian, which delves into how female prisoners across the US become victims of human trafficking and pimp-controlled prostitution. Watch The Tra...

Today's episode features Genise Hope, author, foster mom and survivor of childhood sexual abuse. She shares about her book Raising PEARLS ( Prepared, Empowered, Armored, Restored, Loved & Secure Children) and how to best utilize it when talking to your kids about protection from abuse or abduction. Genise explains how dealing with her own childhood trauma as an adult became a necessary part of bec...

Today we hear from John & Jennifer McBride who have used their influence in the business world to not only train their employees about human trafficking, but to intentionally foster an atmosphere that generously gives back. The two share about benefits for businesses who support the issue of human trafficking and their tips for making the most impact through both company culture and financial givi...

This episode is both a past look at some of our favorite highlights and moments from the past year, and an exciting look towards some future developments, including sneak peaks of our new weekly video series Fierce Parenting and a new toolkit entitled "The Faces of Human Trafficking" launching 2021! Our financial partners allow us to continue this work and to them we want to say a big thank you fr...

Victims of trafficking carry with them a combination of severe psychological and physical health problems. Which is why it is almost certain that a victim will interact with a medical professional during their experience at some point. We invited special guests, Nurse Practitioner Paula Fortin, and Fierce Freedom Survivor Advocate Amanda Casey to share their expertise on the subject and recommenda...

As part of Fight the New Drug's campaign #NoPornNovember we wanted to highlight their FREE 3-part series which unpacks porn's effect on the brain, heart, and world. The series does a great job of explaining the science behind porn addiction, and begins a dependency in the individual, leading to disconnection from those around us and ultimately with our world. Host John Pulley relates these effects...

Today's episode shines light on the global entity of Pornhub - the largest purveyor of user-generated porn in the world. Helen Taylor, Director of Outreach and Intervention for Exodus Cry, unpacks the problems with the site, which has been under fire for hosting content that promotes and profits from the real rape and abuse of women and children. She explains how this has become a trafficking hub,...

We are joined by Garry McIntosh, Director of Donor Relations for Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), an organization that e xists to rescue children from sex trafficking and sexual exploitation  and has already rescued over 4,000 victims and assisted in the arrests of 2,300 traffickers around the globe. Garry talks about the unique origins of O.U.R., which was started by former Homeland Secur...

In honor of Indigenous People's Day, we're honored to have Lisa Heth who is the E xecutive director for Wiconi Wawokiya, Inc.  (Helping Families) a domestic violence shelter on the Crow Creek reservation and Founder of Pathfinder Center, a place of refuge for victims of human trafficking. Lisa shares about how the roots of colonialism has led to collective historical trauma and injustice that the...

In less than a year, Precision Pipeline has trained over 1,500 employees to spot the signs of human trafficking in the field, but they're just getting started. Guests Rachel Johnson, Public Relations Manager and Lindsey Mattson, Manager of Creative Services for Precision Pipeline will share how they used their knowledge and passion to influence an entire organization to fight trafficking by partne...

We are joined by Executive Director Jenny Almquist, and Survivor Advocate Amanda Casey who will share a recent story of a successful victim placement - the origins of which took place over 2 years ago at a Fierce Freedom training of local law enforcement. Together we'll unpack why this is a success story rather than a "rescue," what challenges were overcome and how you can partner with us so we ca...

For this episode are joined by Eddi Beaty, who has been going into legal Nevada brothels and porn conventions for the last 6 years. Why? To speak truth and restore value to men and women, painting a picture of what their life could look like. Join this important conversation as we also discuss the rampant "pornification" of our society and find out how pickles helped someone leave the porn industr...

Thinking errors, we all have them. But how do we come by them and how are they used to continue perpetuating rape culture? Join us with guest Jess Teresi, who is an advocate, speaker and survivor of childhood sexual abuse, as she unpacks how our learned behaviors give way to a society where dehumanization and desensitization of others is normalized - ultimately feeding into exploitation and traffi...

Join hosts John Pulley, Cat Jacoby, and Fierce Freedom Executive Director Jenny Almquist as they highlight John and Jenny's upcoming breakout session for the 17th International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference, September 23-25. They will share new approaches you as an individual or organization can use to combat demand and invite men to the fight that go beyond old methodologies tha...

As many schools go virtual this year, students are far more susceptible to experiences with cyberbullying, sextortion, and sexual grooming online. Parental Monitoring Software is a great tool to help you keep your kids safe as they browse the web or use their devices. Amanda Casey joins us to explain what to look for when choosing a filter that will best fit your family's needs as well as her reco...

This episode touches on some of the kooky conspiracies that have been saturating social media and circulating our news feeds. Hosts John Pulley and Cat Jacoby unpack why these posts actually do more harm than good and share 5 real safety tips for families as kids go back to school. Recommended resources: Fierce Freedom "Sugaring" podcast , and grooming video . Darkness to Light - Training on preve...

Join us for this episode which features frank and open dialogue with former sex buyer John Pulley and Amanda Casey, sex trafficking survivor, and Survivor Advocate for both Fierce Freedom and Trafficking Justice as they discuss their personal experiences in the church. Listen as they each dive into the most important things they feel churches and faith communities of today need to know when engagi...

For today's episode, we chatted with Alisha Siemens, CEO and Co-Founder of Shema Apparel , a clothing company who is prioritizing sustainable impact over profit.  Alisha shares her company's ethos to empower and employ the most vulnerable and survivors of human trafficking, as well as offsetting carbon emissions through environmentally sustainable practices. She believes that clothing should tell...

Without looking, do you what country the shirt you are wearing is from? The average American now generates 82 pounds of textile waste each year and yet we are so disconnected from who is making our clothing, which is often produced by means of forced labor and environmental devastation. For this episode we are joined by Aaron Brice, Co-Founder & Director of Ambient Inks , a printing company that d...

Listen as hosts Cat Jacoby and John Pulley unpack the Netflix series Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, and discuss 5 important lessons about trafficking we can all take away from it.

As part of our series bridging the fight against the international slave trade with the domestic, we invited Jonah Traaseth, Executive Director for Spero, which is an organization based in Minneapolis that works to fight human trafficking by connecting donors to vetted nonprofits fighting trafficking globally through community and economic development. Jonah recalls taking a big leap of faith from...

For this week's episode, we invited Justice Race Director and Fierce Freedom Office Manager Carrie Swartz to talk about this year's upcoming all-virtual Just Us for Justice Race ! Carrie takes us through the history of the race, how it has evolved over the years and discusses all the exciting highlights from this year's virtual race as well as ways you can get involved.  Sign up to run, walk, or d...

As part of our series linking international trafficking with the domestic, we invited special guest Jeremy Kraus, Co-Founder, President and Chief Development Officer of Thrive Rescue. Jeremy shares about his calling to the streets of Pattaya Thailand, one of the "sex tourism" capitals of the world where children as young as infants are exploited by tourists who are essentially given free reign to...

For today's minisode hosts John Pulley and Cat Jacoby will spill the tea on "sugaring" a hugely popular trend that involves one partner (sugar daddy) financially supporting the other (sugar baby), often in the form of cash, gifts or trips.  We'll discuss the deceptive marketing of sugaring, and how it can quickly escalate to trap vulnerable groups in an exploitative situation. Finally we'll discus...

For many individuals the grooming process of exploitation begins in the home, perpetrated by a family member or another adult who has been given access to the child. According to The Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative nearly half (41%) of victims were recruited into trafficking by a member of their family or a relative. This week we are joined by guest Cheryl Voyles, an author and survivor of...