Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.
Speaker 1: And we continue now with part two of our conversation
Speaker 1: with Jessica Lamb. Right after these brief messages from our
Speaker 1: Generals sponsors, we now returned to Jessica on how she
Speaker 1: tried to escape sigh her sex trafficker.
Speaker 2: So I went to the bathroom and flushed the toilet,
Speaker 2: walked downstairs, sat on the front porch, lit a cigarette,
Speaker 2: and I looked across the street and there was a
Speaker 2: Salvation Army that had just opened. And I looked at
Speaker 2: the Salvation Army and I looked back at the door
Speaker 2: of the house, and then I looked back at the
Speaker 2: Salvation Army, dragged off my cigarette, flicked it, and I
Speaker 2: ran ran right into the Salvation Army and I said
Speaker 2: I need to use your phone, and they were like,
Speaker 2: we're not letting you use our phone unless that it's emergency.
Speaker 2: And I was like, I need to call my one
Speaker 2: one and they were like, okay. I didn't call nine
Speaker 2: one one. First first person I called was my dad
Speaker 2: and my dad was like, I was like, Dad, I'm
Speaker 2: in trouble, and he's like, what did you get yourself
Speaker 2: into this? Time, and I didn't even respond. I hung
Speaker 2: up immediately. Next I called my grandmother. I said, memewhile,
Speaker 2: I'm in trouble. I need help now, and she's like,
Speaker 2: call nine one one. So I hung up with her.
Speaker 2: Called nine one one. This is my first time ever
Speaker 2: calling the police for help. The police officer comes out
Speaker 2: and he says, he goes, what's the situation. I was like,
Speaker 2: this guy did this to me last night. I need
Speaker 2: to get my keys, I need to leave. I need
Speaker 2: to get out of here. I'm scared, and he was like,
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. He was like, I just got on duty.
Speaker 2: I really don't want to be bothered with paperwork. And
Speaker 2: he's like I really don't want it to deal with this.
Speaker 2: And he's like, and why are girls like you over
Speaker 2: here anyway? And I was like, what is that supposed
Speaker 2: to mean?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: And like that never really made any sense to me.
Speaker 2: I still still doesn't make sense to me. But he
Speaker 2: gets sigh outside and he's like, she's lying, she's full
Speaker 2: of shit, she's nothing but trouble. And he's like, I
Speaker 2: want her out of here anyway. And he's like, well,
Speaker 2: go get her keys and let her get out, and
Speaker 2: so he goes, I get my keys, traffic her and
Speaker 2: the cop fist bump each other on the front porch.
Speaker 2: I get in my car and I leave. No reports made,
Speaker 2: or I don't there was no report made. Well, actually
Speaker 2: there probably was a report made, but like nothing, like
Speaker 2: he just didn't want to like go through the due
Speaker 2: diligence of doing the entire investigation of what's going on.
Speaker 2: And I ended up going to the guy that I
Speaker 2: was talking to in high school and I went to
Speaker 2: his house and I told him everything, and he's like, well,
Speaker 2: now that you have experience, do you think I cannot
Speaker 2: get some? And I was like, this nightmare is never
Speaker 2: going to end.
Speaker 1: So I ended up Did you ever contemplate suicide?
Speaker 2: Multiple times? It's actually something I struggled with for years
Speaker 2: and years and years.
Speaker 1: Was I mean, you can only get abused so much.
Speaker 2: I carry a lot of heaviness, and it was something
Speaker 2: that always crossed my mind on a daily basis. And
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's just I'm resilient as hell
Speaker 2: or what, but like I'm I'm still breathing and I'm
Speaker 2: still here. But I remember leaving way boyfriend's house because
Speaker 2: of his comment, and I went straight to my me
Speaker 2: Mall's house and she held me and I told her everything.
Speaker 1: You told her everything?
Speaker 2: I told her everything was that hard for you. No,
Speaker 2: my me Mall is my safe haven. In fact my logo.
Speaker 2: I can get into that with air eye when we
Speaker 2: talk about it. But my grandmother loves birds, and so
Speaker 2: she's the one that she doesn't one to save me.
Speaker 2: So she drove my car that she gave me for
Speaker 2: a Christmas present that my trafficker would use to traffic
Speaker 2: me and hit it behind her house and she would.
Speaker 2: I would sleep all day and then I would stay
Speaker 2: up all night because I was so scared this guy
Speaker 2: was going to come for me. Everywhere I went, I
Speaker 2: thought I was seeing him. He had so like even
Speaker 2: away from him. I was terrified that he was going
Speaker 2: to find me. I doubt he ever was looking for me,
Speaker 2: but I remember traumatized. I was obviously terrified. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: was terrified this guy was going to come for me.
Speaker 2: And I ended up staying with my grandmother and my aunt,
Speaker 2: and they made sure that I went and got mental
Speaker 2: health counseling. They would take me to my GED classes,
Speaker 2: which I still was failing. They would help me with
Speaker 2: all kinds of things, And there were times that like
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be invited to like family gatherings, and my
Speaker 2: grandmother said, well, she's not If she can't be there,
Speaker 2: then I'm not coming. And so she would make me
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving dinner or make me Christmas dinner, and I would
Speaker 2: eat with her, and she advocated for me so much,
Speaker 2: and she never turned her back on me. And she's
Speaker 2: I think she turns eighty seven this week, and I
Speaker 2: guess spend Christmas with her.
Speaker 3: But she's my She's my she is definitely my savior
Speaker 3: through all of this, and even this all led to
Speaker 3: a life of addiction homelessness.
Speaker 2: I went and tried to go into the adult entertainment
Speaker 2: industry independently. I didn't work in strip clubs, but I
Speaker 2: would like I was doing my own thing. I tried
Speaker 2: to addition to be a suicide girl.
Speaker 1: What's that?
Speaker 2: Don't google it, but it it's basically alternative looking girls
Speaker 2: that do webcams or different types of like just edgy
Speaker 2: girls that that do sex stuff on video or take pictures.
Speaker 2: And so I was trying to dabble into that. So
Speaker 2: I was like, that's that was the only way I
Speaker 2: knew how to make money.
Speaker 1: Is.
Speaker 2: I was like, well, this is just.
Speaker 1: From you were part of this organic, suburban Christian family
Speaker 1: and hearing these things is it's just gut wrenching. And
Speaker 1: I mean when you were going through all of this
Speaker 1: as a result of being molested in your own home,
Speaker 1: never being able to figure out a way out, and
Speaker 1: then when you when you confronted your blest your father
Speaker 1: didn't believe you, which makes you feel even more lone,
Speaker 1: and then what you ended up with with SIH. I mean,
Speaker 1: all of it I've sat and listened to, and I
Speaker 1: you know, I got to ask you, deep inside that
Speaker 1: brain of yours, there was still a foundation you had
Speaker 1: to have been You had to have been struggling with
Speaker 1: reconciling where your life was and where you started. You
Speaker 1: had to have been dealing with that, right were you?
Speaker 1: I mean you had to have been looking in the
Speaker 1: mirror going what what happened? I guess I'm struggling for
Speaker 1: There's an identity inside you that is not all of this.
Speaker 1: Did you feel that conflict?
Speaker 2: There is a lot of times that I would look
Speaker 2: in the mirror and I'm like, how did I get here?
Speaker 1: That's what I'm asking?
Speaker 4: Yeah, Like like like what that like literally what the hell,
Speaker 4: you know, like like just something just screaming inside of me,
Speaker 4: like like.
Speaker 2: I've got to keep pushing through, Like I don't I
Speaker 2: don't know what it was, but I was like I
Speaker 2: gotta keep going. And and I think I I think
Speaker 2: I owe a lot of that to my grandmother, a
Speaker 2: very praying grandma. So she I think she's the one
Speaker 2: that just really kept me going.
Speaker 1: And uh, well this life stopped at some point, how.
Speaker 2: Well, let me let me can we I'm gonna do whatever, Okay.
Speaker 2: So I basically was, you know, I didn't want to be,
Speaker 2: like I said, a burden on my grandmother, and so
Speaker 2: I ended up leaving her house for a while, and
Speaker 2: I ended up just finding myself living in like dope houses,
Speaker 2: like out of my car. I was dating a guy
Speaker 2: that was like twice my age. We had three children
Speaker 2: together that that I miscarried. He ended up committing suicide,
Speaker 2: and I I just remember like just feeling a lot
Speaker 2: of hopelessness. But even when I was on the streets
Speaker 2: and I was living out of my car with that
Speaker 2: had busted out windows because my ex had thrown a
Speaker 2: piece of firewood through my windows of my car. When
Speaker 2: I try to leave I am. I remember just trying
Speaker 2: to pull myself out of this hole, and my grandmother
Speaker 2: and my aunt continued to advocate.
Speaker 1: For me and true unconditional love.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I even remember my mom like meeting me
Speaker 2: at gas stations because I was hungry, and she's like,
Speaker 2: I know you're hungry, and I know you can't come
Speaker 2: back home, but she would bring me food because I
Speaker 2: was hungry, you know. And I remember being on drugs
Speaker 2: so bad. She took me out for lunch one day
Speaker 2: and I was nodding out and I almost dropped my
Speaker 2: entire head into a bowl soup right in front of
Speaker 2: my mom. I will never forget that. And like I
Speaker 2: was ashamed and humiliated, and.
Speaker 1: That's what I was asking.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I felt I was embarrassed, Like who, Like I
Speaker 2: didn't even recognize myself honestly.
Speaker 1: And I haven't.
Speaker 2: There's mugshots of me on LinkedIn, and you know you
Speaker 2: can see that the light my eye was just completely gone.
Speaker 2: And so I I remember my breaking point was I
Speaker 2: was pregnant with my daughter, Elizabeth, and I miscarried her
Speaker 2: at four and a half five months and I remember
Speaker 2: bringing her. I remember bringing her home. My parents were
Speaker 2: out of the country, and my aunt sat in the
Speaker 2: hospital with me, and I remember bringing her home and
Speaker 2: I and I buried her in my parents' backyard and
Speaker 2: I had a memorial for her. And that was my
Speaker 2: breaking point of I cannot live like this anymore. The
Speaker 2: guy I was dating was in and out of jail
Speaker 2: for drug charges. I was addicted to meth. I was
Speaker 2: just everything was just terrible, and I was like, I
Speaker 2: can't live like this. And I remember my aunt being
Speaker 2: on the front porch one day and she's like and
Speaker 2: she was going through her own hell, and she was like,
Speaker 2: when you're ready to get off this stuff, we're here.
Speaker 2: We're not going to give up on you. So there
Speaker 2: was always a place for me to shower, always a
Speaker 2: place for me to eat, always a place for me
Speaker 2: to sleep. My Mema would make a palette for me
Speaker 2: on on her floor, because she had a small house,
Speaker 2: and she'd make a little palette for me on the floor.
Speaker 2: And sometimes I would sleep in the bed with her
Speaker 2: and she would play a gospel music when she go
Speaker 2: to sleep, and so I would feel so much peace
Speaker 2: and safety with my grandmother. And even to this day,
Speaker 2: like whenever I feel tired or just need a place
Speaker 2: to rest, I can know that I can go there.
Speaker 2: And I used to pull her bed sheets back for
Speaker 2: her every night, and I still do that today whenever
Speaker 2: I go to visit her, I turn her bed back
Speaker 2: for her. But I remember, like my breaking point was
Speaker 2: just losing my last child, and I, uh, I was
Speaker 2: like enough, So I got clean and I uh just
Speaker 2: completely did a one, like a just completely turned everything around.
Speaker 2: And I started getting involved in anti track can work
Speaker 2: through my friend Casey's organization for Sarah and she she's
Speaker 2: the one that was in the strip club across the
Speaker 2: street from when I was in the hotel, so she's
Speaker 2: a survivor from the adult entertainment industry. But I ended
Speaker 2: up volunteering with her org, and so I was working
Speaker 2: with them, and I started noticing we were looking at
Speaker 2: these ads of girls that were advertising online trying to
Speaker 2: extend services, not trying to convince them to, you know,
Speaker 2: do whatever, just saying hey, if you're in any kind
Speaker 2: of situation and we can help you out, let us
Speaker 2: help you out. You know, we have scholarships if you
Speaker 2: want to go back to school, so we'd raise money
Speaker 2: to help them do that. And I started saying, like
Speaker 2: these girls have all matching tattoos, and I was like,
Speaker 2: I recognize these.
Speaker 1: Things all matching tattoos or.
Speaker 2: Match very similar tattoos to Like some of the girls
Speaker 2: had the same tattoos some of the girls. I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: I had a tattoo that was similar to that, or
Speaker 2: I was like, I started just noticing patterns of some
Speaker 2: of the girls on these ads.
Speaker 1: Were they like the ones you had?
Speaker 2: Some of them were similar. Of course they're not gonna
Speaker 2: be the ones. Yeah, like things that were pertained to
Speaker 2: money or to the game or street name or you know,
Speaker 2: dollar signs. People talk about barcodes. It's not that common.
Speaker 1: I got a question. Yeah, now I'm gonna tell a
Speaker 1: terrible joke or ask a stupid question. But I mean,
Speaker 1: is there a pimp school? I mean, how do how
Speaker 1: does this tattooing girls thing go around? Apparently this is
Speaker 1: a thing among pimps or traffickers or whatever. This is
Speaker 1: clearly as I'm listening to you, I'm discovering that I
Speaker 1: guess girls are tattooed as if they belong to a
Speaker 1: pimp or a trafficker, or I mean, is that the deal?
Speaker 2: I actually train on this. I trained in iconography, and
Speaker 2: the identifying icnography.
Speaker 1: What is that word?
Speaker 2: Icronography is basically the study of an image in the
Speaker 2: background of where the image comes from. So I actually
Speaker 2: go when I do trainings around, I've done sixty five
Speaker 2: hundred trainings. I've trained sixty five hundred individuals this year
Speaker 2: alone through conferences and podcasts and all kinds of things,
Speaker 2: and I train people on this isn't a new thing.
Speaker 2: People have been branded since ancient Rome. I take this
Speaker 2: thing all the way back and I go through the
Speaker 2: history of human branding and how it started, and how
Speaker 2: we saw it go through the Armenian Genocide, how we
Speaker 2: saw it go through Holocaust, how we saw it.
Speaker 1: I just swear to you, I was sitting there thinking
Speaker 1: about the inside of the risks that I've seen of
Speaker 1: Jewish Holocaust survivors that were tattooed like their inmate number.
Speaker 1: I don't know the right word for it, but.
Speaker 2: I go through. I go through this whole training for
Speaker 2: like an hour, and I train people on the indicators
Speaker 2: and the tattoos and all that kind of stuff. So,
Speaker 2: but that's kind of jumping way ahead of how I started. Atlanta.
Speaker 1: I get it, and we've got to go back and
Speaker 1: stay chronologically in order. But the point is you started
Speaker 1: noticing these girls having similar looking tattoos. Yeah, which we're
Speaker 1: talking about brands. Yeah, we're talking about human ownership, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Pretty. I mean it's not always. Sometimes I've worked with
Speaker 2: women that have had these tattoos and men that have
Speaker 2: had tattoos, and it's not nobody's like sitting on them
Speaker 2: making them get him. Sometimes it's the manipulation or are
Speaker 2: they are truly like in love with their traffic, or
Speaker 2: there's like a soul tie there or there there's that
Speaker 2: trauma bond there, and so they're wanting to show that
Speaker 2: they're loyal. I've covered up tattoos or our artists that
Speaker 2: we work with have covered up tattoos on women that
Speaker 2: were like, I loved this man and I wanted to
Speaker 2: show him that I was loyal to him and I
Speaker 2: wanted the touch, although.
Speaker 1: The love was completely perturbed wrong. So we did a
Speaker 1: We talked to deb Ellinger, who is in Detroit and
Speaker 1: she works providing food and clothing for women in the
Speaker 1: street of Detroit, very much in the same situation like
Speaker 1: what you're talking about. And she's just constant, consistent and
Speaker 1: she will rate for three or four years for girls
Speaker 1: that finally want to get out of the life, and
Speaker 1: then they provide everything for them. And you talk about
Speaker 1: a grassroots cow. She's unbelievable. She's from the opposite. She
Speaker 1: was a cop and then started doing this. But every
Speaker 1: time she pulls up to the street corner or the
Speaker 1: house or the drug house or the trafficking house, whatever,
Speaker 1: and it's two three times a week, the same girls
Speaker 1: come out, and she says to them, every time, you
Speaker 1: are worthy, you have value, you are loved. She's trying
Speaker 1: to counteract the sick stuff that's been putting these kids head.
Speaker 1: And when you're ready, I will take you from here.
Speaker 1: And I ask her, when these people are often living
Speaker 1: in homes without running water, without electricity, and they're being
Speaker 1: pimped out for food and oftentimes drug use and everything else.
Speaker 1: And you pull up and you've been there for two
Speaker 1: or three years, you have to develop some type of
Speaker 1: relationship and report these folks. Why wouldn't they jump in
Speaker 1: your truck and run like Ellen, she said this. They
Speaker 1: are affixed to that trauma and they really don't know
Speaker 1: a way out. And the truth is, the fear of
Speaker 1: the unknown, of a clean life is worse than the
Speaker 1: fear of the abuse that they're living in, because at
Speaker 1: least they know those rules. So it's just I want
Speaker 1: you to hear me. I do not want people to think, well,
Speaker 1: these are adults, they can always get away. There's this
Speaker 1: grip of this lifestyle that holds people that don't even
Speaker 1: want to be in it, and they're almost wrestling with
Speaker 1: themselves to get out. And I've learned that through people
Speaker 1: I've met and everything else. And your story is yet
Speaker 1: another illustration of how that trauma affects somebody and how
Speaker 1: phenomenal your story is that you did get away from it.
Speaker 1: So tell me that you did get away from it.
Speaker 1: Let's get to the good part of the story, and
Speaker 1: we will right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors.
Speaker 2: So, like, I was working with my friend's org, which
Speaker 2: is a survivor led organization, and we were noticing the tattoos,
Speaker 2: and so we started documenting them, and.
Speaker 1: You started documenting the girls tattoos that you saw.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because if we found out that they were like
Speaker 2: in need of like law enforcement help, or they were
Speaker 2: in need of getting out of the situation like we
Speaker 2: were like hey, or if there was somebody that was missing, Like,
Speaker 2: we've actually recovered children that were like being advertised on
Speaker 2: back page when back page was the thing set back page.
Speaker 2: Back Page is kind of like Craigslist. So there used
Speaker 2: to be the adults for people. Yeah, you've never heard
Speaker 2: of back page.
Speaker 1: No, ma'am.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, I'm sorry. So back page. You could buy
Speaker 2: a car on back page. You could sell car on
Speaker 2: back page.
Speaker 1: It's okay. I was thinking the farious stuff. Yes, back
Speaker 1: in the day, there was a website they would advertise
Speaker 1: you could like it was like a groag cell online.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but there was also places where you could also
Speaker 2: purchase or find a date or you know all, so
Speaker 2: there was all. So we would call these girls that
Speaker 2: were working online when backpage was up and running, but
Speaker 2: it ended up getting shut down, so I mean they
Speaker 2: just moved to different platforms. It's still out there. But
Speaker 2: I started like, we've recovered missing people like that were
Speaker 2: missing from their families in ways that we were able
Speaker 2: to do. It was we would notice, like there was
Speaker 2: one young lady that had her street name tattooed across
Speaker 2: her claviical and trafficked. Yeah, and her grandmother was like,
Speaker 2: we can't find we can't find the girl, and Casey
Speaker 2: was able to find her. We were able to get
Speaker 2: her recovered and return back to her family. But like
Speaker 2: she had she had a tattoo, and I was actually.
Speaker 1: On identified her from her street name on.
Speaker 2: Her shoulder she had it on there, and then her
Speaker 2: the way she looked like. I I didn't identify a
Speaker 2: Casey founder, but we were able to. I actually got
Speaker 2: the the honor to cover that up for her several
Speaker 2: months ago. So but yeah, we were able. Like I
Speaker 2: started documenting these and we started putting in on the
Speaker 2: sheets of different tattoos that we were seeing. And I
Speaker 2: remember one day the founder of the org called me
Speaker 2: and she goes, you're really into tattoos and all that.
Speaker 2: She's like, I have this young lady. She's got REV
Speaker 2: tattooed on the back of her neck because her trafficker
Speaker 2: called himself the Reverend, so she had r EV tattooed
Speaker 2: on the back of her neck. And she's like, can
Speaker 2: you get her connected to a shop? And I was
Speaker 2: like on it. And so like I got on Facebook
Speaker 2: and I was friends with a tattoo artist on there,
Speaker 2: and I asked him he was really like down the
Speaker 2: street from where I live, and I said, uh, would
Speaker 2: you be interested in helping me cover up this tattoo
Speaker 2: for this young lady that's been through some some hell
Speaker 2: of stuff, you know, And he was like absolutely, I'm down.
Speaker 2: I didn't have organization, I didn't have a nonprofit, I
Speaker 2: didn't have fifty dollars.
Speaker 1: So I name you also had your own tattoos.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I still have my own tattoos. I hadn't even
Speaker 2: covered up yet, right yeah, And so I was like, yeah, cool,
Speaker 2: I'll do that, Like I'll love to help her out,
Speaker 2: bring her to the shop. We covered it with this
Speaker 2: gorgeous rose with a butterfly, and I remember her looking
Speaker 2: in the mirror. I'll never forget it, and she literally
Speaker 2: fell to her knees crying. Again. Casey was there with me,
Speaker 2: the shop shop artist was crying and she was like
Speaker 2: thank you. And then like something inside of me was
Speaker 2: like this is my niche like I found it. I
Speaker 2: found it, Like I loved working with for Sarah and
Speaker 2: I actually was their outreach director for a long time.
Speaker 2: But I was like, I I just felt this fire
Speaker 2: like I can't even describe it. I just got like
Speaker 2: super excited, and some one thing inside of me was like,
Speaker 2: this is my thing, hold it.
Speaker 1: Why does this matter?
Speaker 2: Why does this matter? Well, I had my own I
Speaker 2: had my own stuff, right, and I knew the feelings
Speaker 2: that I felt with mine. And then when I went
Speaker 2: and tried to go get mine covered up, the artist
Speaker 2: was a complete douchebag. Just being honest, man like, he
Speaker 2: was like making like just just off, just disgusting comments,
Speaker 2: like the music he was playing was like giving me
Speaker 2: a freaking headache. He was not trauma informed or sensitive.
Speaker 2: He was rude and like he covered up my tattoos
Speaker 2: and did a crappy job. And I remember sitting in
Speaker 2: that tattoo chair and thinking, I don't ever want to
Speaker 2: see another survivor have to deal with somebody like this,
Speaker 2: and come hell or high water, I will make sure
Speaker 2: that they don't.
Speaker 1: And the point is by getting rev turned into a
Speaker 1: flower with a butterfly.
Speaker 2: Yeah it's beautiful, all right.
Speaker 1: Turned into a beautiful flower the butterfly, it changes from
Speaker 1: a reminder of the worst part of this young lady's
Speaker 1: life to something pretty and metaphorically literally metaphorically breaks the
Speaker 1: proverbial chains of her bondage to.
Speaker 2: Her pimp or TRAFFI absolutely.
Speaker 1: And she no longer has to look in the mirror
Speaker 1: and be disgusted a boy what she sees on her
Speaker 1: own body. Yeah, and you.
Speaker 2: Felt that, yeah, And I was like, and I was like,
Speaker 2: I want to make sure that I connect people with
Speaker 2: shops and artists that are going to be trauma informed
Speaker 2: and trauma sensitive and caring and loving. And I have
Speaker 2: found some of the most incredible artists on the planet
Speaker 2: run this whole country. It just started in my own
Speaker 2: hometown down the street from where I live now. And
Speaker 2: you know I did, like, I didn't have any kind
Speaker 2: of fancy fundraising teams. I don't have an office like I.
Speaker 1: Literally, you're a normal, average person that found a place.
Speaker 2: I found a place that I found a need that
Speaker 2: wasn't being met in my met in my community, and
Speaker 2: decided to meet that need. Andyank, go ahead.
Speaker 1: The two tattoos that you got when you were being trafficked,
Speaker 1: one was on your wrist and I think one was
Speaker 1: on your leg.
Speaker 2: It was on my butt cheek, your yeah, help whatever.
Speaker 1: Right after you finally got away and we're working with
Speaker 1: your friend, then that was three year period that was
Speaker 1: still there before you got it covered up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was literally still I was working in anti
Speaker 2: trafficking with my own tattoos on me?
Speaker 1: So what did you think when you saw that on
Speaker 1: your wrist or looked in the mirror and saw that.
Speaker 1: What was your initial reaction when you saw that? You're clean. Now,
Speaker 1: you're getting your life back together, you're working, and you're
Speaker 1: helping and anti trafficking, so you're aware, you're no, what
Speaker 1: did you think when you saw those?
Speaker 2: Like my old tattoos? Every time I was looking at them,
Speaker 2: I was like, every time I took a shower, change
Speaker 2: my clothes, or you know, I was intimate with, you know,
Speaker 2: my kid's dad, I was like, I don't want this
Speaker 2: on my body, you know, like I don't want to
Speaker 2: see this anymore. And it was a constant reminder.
Speaker 1: Of that's what, Yeah, of the most desperate time of
Speaker 1: your life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm like, I don't want to look at this.
Speaker 1: You move on when every time you look at yourself
Speaker 1: you're reminded of that time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so I was like, it's it's time. And
Speaker 2: then I had some self harm scars and I was like,
Speaker 2: it's time. It's time for me to stand up for
Speaker 2: Jess and do something for Jess.
Speaker 1: And so I So you got rev fixed. Ye, while
Speaker 1: you have your own, but now it's time. Now you say, well,
Speaker 1: you know this works, I'm getting rid of my own. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you think there's a need that needs to
Speaker 1: be methods not being filled for probably a population or
Speaker 1: community of some of the most traumatized and abused women
Speaker 1: on the face of the planet.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I was like, I'm I was like, this
Speaker 2: is where I'm going to what I'm going to do.
Speaker 2: So I remember going home, and that's why I brought
Speaker 2: my pamphlets so you could see them. I remember going
Speaker 2: home and sitting at the computer, and I was sitting
Speaker 2: on the floor of my apartment and I opened up
Speaker 2: clip like word clip art, and I was like, birds
Speaker 2: symbolize my grandmother, because my grandmother was my biggest advocate
Speaker 2: and she helped me through so much. Both of my
Speaker 2: grandmothers loved birds. I was like, I took a bird,
Speaker 2: and then I took a tattoo machine and I put
Speaker 2: them together, and I was like, there's my logo. I
Speaker 2: didn't have some fancy marketing.
Speaker 1: If you can, if you could see it, I'm holding
Speaker 1: it now and I'll describe it to you. There's a bar.
Speaker 1: It looks a lot like a dove. I think, I
Speaker 1: don't know, this is some bird in the center, and
Speaker 1: then there's a tattoo tool in the image. It's okay,
Speaker 1: And then behind it is this vibrant mix of color
Speaker 1: assume tattoo ink, and the whole symbol is I think
Speaker 1: that you're changing the darkest ink on your body to
Speaker 1: the most vibrant ink and you're being as a bird.
Speaker 2: I get really excited talking about air.
Speaker 1: You're allowed to, you know what.
Speaker 2: I went from crying, you.
Speaker 1: Shared gut wrenching with this. It is so nice not
Speaker 1: to see you cry and see you smile, you every
Speaker 1: beautiful smile. It's great. So but yeah, so you're now
Speaker 1: you're like, Okay, here's this thing that needs to be filled.
Speaker 1: It's worked for me, it's worked for the girl that
Speaker 1: had rev And you decide at your computer to make
Speaker 1: a logo of this bird with a tattoo thing and
Speaker 1: his talons with this cool color, and you decide you
Speaker 1: need to name it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I was actually sitting with my friend again
Speaker 2: and I was at one of her things. She was like,
Speaker 2: can you come and speak with me at this event?
Speaker 2: And I was like, sure, I'm getting up there. And
Speaker 2: when I first started working in this field. I'd be
Speaker 2: like him, I'm Jessica. I you know, I'm like real shy.
Speaker 2: I would look at the floor and hold her bag
Speaker 2: with her logo from her company, and I'd be like,
Speaker 2: I'm just you know, I'm a survivor and I help
Speaker 2: people like I was afraid to share anything, and she's like,
Speaker 2: it's time to share your story. You've got to share
Speaker 2: your story. This was almost seven years ago, but I like,
Speaker 2: I was sitting and she was speaking at this church
Speaker 2: and this song came in and it was like, I
Speaker 2: am redeemed. You've set me free. I shake off these
Speaker 2: heavy chains, break away everything. I'm not who I used
Speaker 2: to be. And I was like redeem hm and I
Speaker 2: was like Atlanta Redemption or like I was like Redeemed ink,
Speaker 2: Redemption ink. I was trafficking in Atlanta. I was like
Speaker 2: Atlanta Redemption ink. And it stuck and I felt my
Speaker 2: heart start racing every time I would say Atlanta Redemption ink.
Speaker 2: And I know it's a mouthful, which is why we
Speaker 2: shorten it to ARII or ri, but I remember just
Speaker 2: feeling this this sensation inside of me of this is
Speaker 2: where God wants me, or this is where. This is
Speaker 2: where I need to be. And like I said, like
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't have a marketing team. I don't
Speaker 2: have fancy cameras. I don't have an office. I sit
Speaker 2: at my computer on my floor of my house with
Speaker 2: my two kids.
Speaker 1: Do you have a cool pamphlet, I'm looking at it.
Speaker 2: I made a pamphlet. Yeah, and Ari was and Ari
Speaker 2: was born. And in the news, actually, my friend, my
Speaker 2: friend Casey, had told the news about me, the local news,
Speaker 2: that I was covering up these tattoos, and they came
Speaker 2: out and interviewed me. And then it was like overnight,
Speaker 2: I started getting questions, Like I made a little Facebook
Speaker 2: page and like we had like two followers, and then
Speaker 2: I started like it started getting bigger, and then like
Speaker 2: the news started asking me more questions. And then I
Speaker 2: called a friend of mine that makes websites and uh,
Speaker 2: he's actually runs a coffee company in Covington, Georgia, and
Speaker 2: he's a roaster and he's like I looked at him
Speaker 2: and I said, dude, I think I knew website. I
Speaker 2: was like, I don't have money for a website. And
Speaker 2: he's like, don't worry about that right now, And like
Speaker 2: within like, forty eight hours build me a website.
Speaker 1: So I love it so wely.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm like, so it didn't cost me anything.
Speaker 1: And Okay, it doesn't need to be lost on anybody
Speaker 1: that only three years before this you were being trafficked
Speaker 1: and you were on drugs.
Speaker 2: Oh no, I had been out of that life. I
Speaker 2: got out of trafficking in two thousand and four. And
Speaker 2: then again did Alriay start already started in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: Okay, fine, it doesn't need to be lost on anybody.
Speaker 1: It doesn't number the number of years twelve or thirteen
Speaker 1: years earlier. You were desperate, You shared that you had
Speaker 1: suicidal thoughts, you were being manipulated. You were the survivor
Speaker 1: of molestation in your own home, you were a survivor
Speaker 1: of trafficking, and now you're sitting at your computer building
Speaker 1: out a program.
Speaker 2: Ari.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and nobody is beyond redemption. It is never ever
Speaker 1: too late.
Speaker 2: Now everybody has an ability to do something in their community,
Speaker 2: and knowing something and putting action to it are two
Speaker 2: different things.
Speaker 1: We will be right back, I say. Often amazing things
Speaker 1: happen when somebody's passionate and talent intersect with opportunity. That's you.
Speaker 1: You're passionate about helping people. You're passionate about understanding girls
Speaker 1: that have gone through the same trauma that you've gone through.
Speaker 1: And you saw an opportun unity just like you said,
Speaker 1: you said out of your own mouth just a few
Speaker 1: minutes ago, I saw a place of need that nobody
Speaker 1: was filling. And so your passion and your discipline about
Speaker 1: opportunity and ari was born.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I do want to say that there are
Speaker 2: artists around this country that probably do this, and I
Speaker 2: know one personally am in Chicago that has been doing
Speaker 2: this for years out of his own shop. And there
Speaker 2: are people that are doing it. But what I did
Speaker 2: was I built a network. So I started talking to
Speaker 2: tattoo shops and training tattoo shops on my lived experience,
Speaker 2: and then like indicators, and then we became we started
Speaker 2: making them safe place sites. So if you ever like
Speaker 2: go to like a Quick Trip, I don't know if
Speaker 2: you guys have them here in Memphis, but like you
Speaker 2: go to Quick Trip or like a YMCA, they'll have
Speaker 2: those big yellow signs that say safe place.
Speaker 1: So that's somewhat sho tattoo shops that have the yellow signs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like so we started, we started the first one
Speaker 2: to have the first tattoo shop to become a safe
Speaker 2: place site is in Covington, Georgia called iron Clad Ink,
Speaker 2: and we actually help them become a safe place site
Speaker 2: so youth can go there at any time and say
Speaker 2: I need help, and then they know exactly what to
Speaker 2: do and who to call, and then they get youth
Speaker 2: advocates out there to help before they because sometimes they're
Speaker 2: afraid to call the police because they're thinks they're going
Speaker 2: to get in trouble. Right, So we started trying.
Speaker 1: To bumping your captor on the front porch.
Speaker 2: So I just a whole another story. Yeah, and I'm
Speaker 2: and I'm not anti law enforcement at all, but like
Speaker 2: law enforcement need to be trained and they are actively
Speaker 2: being trained, which is great. So there has been a
Speaker 2: lot of.
Speaker 1: Also fifteen years ago different mentality towards somebody.
Speaker 2: Absolutely there would come a long way and there's still
Speaker 2: a long way to go. But I just I remember
Speaker 2: I still sit in my apartment and I do our website,
Speaker 2: I do everything.
Speaker 1: So tell me how you get somebody to help. How
Speaker 1: does that happen? How does somebody come to you? Like,
Speaker 1: where do yeah, because these girls or guys. I see
Speaker 1: a picture of a guy actually, which I'm interested in
Speaker 1: that story, but I'm for the listeners. I'm looking at
Speaker 1: the pamphlet and what Jess has. Here are pictures before
Speaker 1: and after tattoos of girls or I assume, guys who've
Speaker 1: been trafficked, and you see what they had and then
Speaker 1: what it becomes. And just so everybody knows, I don't
Speaker 1: have a single tattoo in my body. I'm not a
Speaker 1: tattoo guy, never have been. But I'm also not one
Speaker 1: of these anti tattoo people. I mean, if you like tattoos,
Speaker 1: good for you, you know, that's great. But what I'm
Speaker 1: looking at is like a risk that has the word
Speaker 1: cash on it and the S is a dollar sign,
Speaker 1: and it's incursive and it is not attractive, and it.
Speaker 2: Is cash only.
Speaker 1: What's up? Cash only? It's too risk when you put
Speaker 1: them together, say cash only, which I assume I can't
Speaker 1: believe I'm saying this. What I assume is a prostitute
Speaker 1: is basically saying to the John, cash only. That was
Speaker 1: probably put on there by her pimp or trafficker.
Speaker 2: Is that right, Yes, so she was a trafficking victim.
Speaker 2: That had that on her, and then you're touching on
Speaker 2: the guys. We actually do more than just tattoos from
Speaker 2: exploitation in trafficking. We cover and remove gang tattoos from
Speaker 2: former gang members.
Speaker 1: Awesome.
Speaker 2: We also cover up self harm scars. We all show
Speaker 2: people that have been using IVY drugs that are left
Speaker 2: with scarring and bruising from IVY drug use. We help
Speaker 2: cover those of us.
Speaker 1: Regardless of the trauma of the depths of desperation, these
Speaker 1: people in you are trying to cover up the things
Speaker 1: that they have to look at on themselves so they
Speaker 1: can change the ugliest time of their life into something pretty,
Speaker 1: so that they can get past the daily reminder on
Speaker 1: their own bodies of their own trauma. Yes, it is phenomenal.
Speaker 1: Just so the cash only thing turned into like this
Speaker 1: big rose with a bee and I'm not sure what
Speaker 1: that is, but it's pretty and it's cool looking. And
Speaker 1: then there's another one that is I'm not even reading it,
Speaker 1: but it looks like a hip or the small of
Speaker 1: a bout. I think that's a small, small lower back
Speaker 1: and it is egregious what it says. And it is
Speaker 1: now a purple pretty bow that you can't even see
Speaker 1: what it was, and it's phenomenal. Okay, so hold it.
Speaker 1: So I'm sorry, I got to get out of your brochure.
Speaker 1: You you make ari And this is how long ago.
Speaker 2: I started it in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: Okay, so six years ago. Now you've started it. You
Speaker 1: got a website, you got an email address. How do
Speaker 1: you get people?
Speaker 2: We started getting the word got out. Like I said,
Speaker 2: we were on the news and there was just one
Speaker 2: news segment, and then people started learning about us, which
Speaker 2: is why I called my friend Jason up and I
Speaker 2: was like, dude, I need a website now, you know.
Speaker 2: And he got on it and he's like, I'm behind
Speaker 2: this one hundred percent. And so he created the website
Speaker 2: for me. And then now we get referrals from drug courts,
Speaker 2: we get referrals from probation officers, the GBI. There's actually
Speaker 2: a young lady, the one that with the bow. We've
Speaker 2: gotten referrals from GBI, FBI, Homeland Security.
Speaker 1: Law enforcement sends you people trying to help them.
Speaker 2: Yes, we get over. We get a lot of referrals
Speaker 2: from law enforcement and a lot of referrals from programs.
Speaker 2: There'll be women that are in long term programs that
Speaker 2: will call us and or contact us for help, and
Speaker 2: so their advocate will go with him to get help
Speaker 2: and they'll meet us at the shop if they're in Atlanta.
Speaker 2: I'm always I do my dead level best to always
Speaker 2: be present for their appointment.
Speaker 1: And these people don't pay a dime.
Speaker 2: They do not have to pay us anything.
Speaker 1: If I have a friend that's a real actually a
Speaker 1: god do business with who's a furniture builder, he is
Speaker 1: literally tatted, I don't I've never seen him nicked, so
Speaker 1: I can't say it. And Daniel, if you hear me,
Speaker 1: I don't want to see you naked. Literally the dude.
Speaker 1: I've seen him during the summer in shorts and T shirt.
Speaker 1: There's not an ounce of his body that doesn't have
Speaker 1: ink other than his face, including his head. All right,
Speaker 1: And he's just a tattoo guy, right. Well, he was
Speaker 1: telling me what he pays for some of these tattoos,
Speaker 1: and I mean this tattoo work is expensive.
Speaker 2: Yes it is. And we actually work with some incredible
Speaker 2: artists that either donate their time or they discount it
Speaker 2: for us. So we raise just through ordinary people. We
Speaker 2: raise money or try to raise money, and then I
Speaker 2: speak to raise money to be able to afford to
Speaker 2: do some of the cover ups for these young ladies.
Speaker 2: But we also go even further than just the tattoos
Speaker 2: tell us about that, Jess. So we have our Beyond
Speaker 2: inc program. So Beyond INC is where we provide holistic counseling.
Speaker 2: So we have a licensed therapist that works on our
Speaker 2: team that will do zoom calls and do therapy sessions
Speaker 2: with people that want to have them, so they can
Speaker 2: choose to go to a therapist if they're not able
Speaker 2: to go through insurance or like any other company, and
Speaker 2: so it's at a discounted rate. We also work with
Speaker 2: an organization called Tears Free Academy who actually helped me
Speaker 2: get my high school diploma and I was able to graduate.
Speaker 2: And I did not realize this, but I was only
Speaker 2: one credit shy away from graduating when I couldn't even
Speaker 2: pass the GED no kidding, yeah, So yeah, I went
Speaker 2: through her program and I was pregnant with my son,
Speaker 2: and my daughter was three years old, and she's in
Speaker 2: the audience and she's screaming, yay mommy as I throw
Speaker 2: my cap and gown or I threw my cap a
Speaker 2: few years ago. Actually, I was able to get my
Speaker 2: high school diploma, and then I became a peer support
Speaker 2: counselor and I teach art therapy so I can do
Speaker 2: art therapy at safe homes with the young ladies. And
Speaker 2: then we have someone that does holistic job readiness job
Speaker 2: training skills, so we have like a team that all
Speaker 2: worked together and beyond inc so we're able to it's
Speaker 2: not just an outward change, but it's an opportunity to
Speaker 2: do an nword change as well. So it's just this
Speaker 2: whole program centered around redemption and new opportunities. And I
Speaker 2: had somebody one time ask me. They were like, oh,
Speaker 2: so you're just basically changing somebody's identity and I was like, nah,
Speaker 2: because that wasn't their identity to begin with. Their identity
Speaker 2: was who they were along before someone even put that
Speaker 2: on them. Their identity is what was breathing to them
Speaker 2: from birth or from conception. So I am yeah, I
Speaker 2: just I get super excited talking about it. I could
Speaker 2: probably talk about AARI for like five hundred hours.
Speaker 1: Well, you know the thing that's amazing is is you
Speaker 1: started just trying to get tattoos covered or removed that
Speaker 1: are horrible reminders of desperate times for people because you
Speaker 1: certainly identified with and empathized with that reality. But now
Speaker 1: you're using this beyond inc to actually, once people are
Speaker 1: able to get rid of the physical reminders and get
Speaker 1: over that, you're actually helping them move on with life,
Speaker 1: in with therapy and with job readiness and all of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and remember you're the bad girl in the family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they don't think that now, I know. I can't.
Speaker 1: I can't wait here that part. How many girls over
Speaker 1: the last seven years or girls ain't guys? Sorry? How
Speaker 1: many people have you helped get ink off of and
Speaker 1: or covered or whatever and gone through programs? How many
Speaker 1: people have you.
Speaker 2: Served as of today? We had to last week and
Speaker 2: then a couple a couple of weeks ago, but as
Speaker 2: of today, I think we are right at six hundred
Speaker 2: and thirty five people served since twenty seventeen. Cool story,
Speaker 2: because I'm I'm almost I'm all about a year. Yes,
Speaker 2: we get an eight a month. We get a lot.
Speaker 2: And it's not just in Georgia. We get applications from
Speaker 2: Georgia to California and everywhere in between. Like we we
Speaker 2: just covered up a tattoo on a young lady in Texas.
Speaker 2: A couple of days ago, the day before Thanksgiving. This story,
Speaker 2: this has never happened in the seven years that I've
Speaker 2: been doing this. I actually met her through a program
Speaker 2: in Atlanta. It was like a drop in day center.
Speaker 2: What it drop in day center? So it was like
Speaker 2: a place that they could go to get help during
Speaker 2: the day and then they would sleep somewhere at night.
Speaker 1: And usually the people they still in life.
Speaker 2: Or I don't know. I went there just to talk
Speaker 2: to them and let them know about our services.
Speaker 1: Okay, but it's a drop in day it's.
Speaker 2: Like a day center. Yeah, they don't sleep there.
Speaker 1: You don't know if they're still in alive or getting
Speaker 1: out of the life. You don't know what stage with
Speaker 1: the world these folks directly.
Speaker 2: It's all confidential with their program. But she she had
Speaker 2: some tattoos, and she actually had one of a trafficker's
Speaker 2: name that I've seen on multiple women. So we're gonna
Speaker 2: be working on that one too shortly. But we're sitting
Speaker 2: in the tattoo shop the day before Thanksgiving. I had
Speaker 2: just gotten in a car accident a few days beforehand,
Speaker 2: and I'm sitting there pushing through the pain of the accident,
Speaker 2: and I'm sitting there and I'm holding there. I got
Speaker 2: a picture of it, and I'm holding her hand and
Speaker 2: she's like talking about her story. She's in pain because
Speaker 2: it's in a painful area and she's getting it covered
Speaker 2: up and she says some things to me, and I go, WHOA,
Speaker 2: she's still in the life. This girl needs help. Like,
Speaker 2: so I immediately get on the phone and she's like,
Speaker 2: I can't find a bed anywhere. She's like, there's no
Speaker 2: open beds for long term. So day before Thanksgiving, I
Speaker 2: get on the phone with a friend of mine and
Speaker 2: I'm like, this girl said that she tried to call
Speaker 2: and there wasn't beds, and he was like, on it.
Speaker 2: We had her bed within an hour and she within
Speaker 2: two hours. They had a team that came out from
Speaker 2: the program to pick her up from the tattoo shop
Speaker 2: and got her into a program. So like, she got
Speaker 2: help immediately. So like, I don't just share stories of
Speaker 2: seven years ago. We have stories that are happening just
Speaker 2: a few weeks ago, and these people are coming through
Speaker 2: and are getting all around.
Speaker 1: Care are you when you said that she had a
Speaker 1: tattoo that you've seen before. Yeah, it's interesting because you're
Speaker 1: kind of the keeper of the tattoo. Information you gotta
Speaker 1: I would think law enforcement, we want to know what
Speaker 1: you want to know what you know?
Speaker 2: Well, I actually work with an organization I actually started doing.
Speaker 2: I'm a survivor hunter with School Games.
Speaker 1: A survivor hunter or like I'm.
Speaker 2: The survivor, Like I'm a survivor and I hunt with them.
Speaker 2: And it's called school Games and their website is Schoolgames
Speaker 2: dot io and I volunteer with them. And so when
Speaker 2: we're looking for women, we're actually looking for people that
Speaker 2: are trafficking them. And we'll see tattoos and they'll ask
Speaker 2: me like, hey, Jess, can you tell me about tattoo?
Speaker 2: And these are like veterans and law enforcement officers and
Speaker 2: analysts and we all meet together and we work together
Speaker 2: as a community, and they'll ask me about these tattoos,
Speaker 2: and so I'm able to assist with that. I get
Speaker 2: a lot of phone calls from people asking me about
Speaker 2: you know, can you help me identify this? What does
Speaker 2: this mean? I work with gang investigators and they're like, hey,
Speaker 2: if I have a question, is something I don't know about.
Speaker 2: I don't try to be misnow it all. I literally
Speaker 2: will call up people and be like, hey, help me
Speaker 2: out with this because I don't know what this one is.
Speaker 2: So do you know?
Speaker 1: Phenomenalists, you're helping people. You're getting their shame off their
Speaker 1: bodies so that they can move on mentally and spiritually
Speaker 1: and emotionally. You're helping them move on literally and physically
Speaker 1: with their lives. And you're working with people to identify
Speaker 1: the perpetrators of this evil. From where you wore fifteen
Speaker 1: years ago, from where you are.
Speaker 2: Today, it was a totally different person.
Speaker 1: And where would you be without your grandmother?
Speaker 2: I love that woman. I can't ever talk about Ari
Speaker 2: without talking about my memal. I know it's such a
Speaker 2: Southern term, but you know I'm from the south Side.
Speaker 1: I'm We'll be right back. Do you have a favorite
Speaker 1: story of somebody you ever worked with to get covered?
Speaker 2: They're all my favorite stories.
Speaker 1: Whack get that?
Speaker 2: I can't I can't think a favorite. It's so fush.
Speaker 1: I hate that question. But this jack ap bitting over
Speaker 1: here always likes me to ask it, you know, the
Speaker 1: producer type. But let me just ask this. I get
Speaker 1: asked that about the kids. I get asked that about
Speaker 1: the kids that I coached. No, I don't have a favorite.
Speaker 1: They're all different, but there's a story under every ailment.
Speaker 1: I'm certain there's a story behind every piece of ink.
Speaker 1: But give us one that people will go wow when
Speaker 1: they hear.
Speaker 2: I. She's actually on the pamphlet. There's a young lady
Speaker 2: who I love very dearly. I talk to her often.
Speaker 2: There's her, My god. I love all of them. I
Speaker 2: love everybody that I've worked with. They all have a
Speaker 2: special place in my heart. But this one right here,
Speaker 2: I will never forget what she told me. So she
Speaker 2: she was with her trafficker, and I said, what was
Speaker 2: it like when you got that covered up? Share it
Speaker 2: with me? And she said, I no longer see the
Speaker 2: girl I used to see in the hotel mirror. And
Speaker 2: that has I no.
Speaker 1: Longer see the girl I used see in the hotel mirror.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that stuck with That has stuck with me forever.
Speaker 2: And I usually like to say that when survivors tell
Speaker 2: me these things, that those are always going to be
Speaker 2: tattooed on my heart because it's it's beyond it's beyond me.
Speaker 2: It's it's the tattoo community that are stepping up.
Speaker 1: And which now you have like eighty you.
Speaker 2: Know, we have eighty shops across the country that work
Speaker 2: with us, and there's several people in the shop, and
Speaker 2: then if we have like one artist in one shop,
Speaker 2: the other artists get win of what we're doing and
Speaker 2: they're like, hey, I want to get on board, and
Speaker 2: I want to get on board. But we vet these shops.
Speaker 2: We want to make sure that they don't have any
Speaker 2: kind of sex crimes or domestic violence crimes in their backgrounds.
Speaker 2: We want to make sure that when these survivors go
Speaker 2: into their shops that they are going to be taken
Speaker 2: care of and respected, which you know, I've yet to
Speaker 2: run into a shop where that has been a problem,
Speaker 2: and I don't think I will ever run into that issue.
Speaker 2: But I just have an incredible team of artists.
Speaker 1: That Jesse Rollins, an owner and artist Ironclad, Inc. Said,
Speaker 1: I've seen self harm scars that go from the wrist
Speaker 1: to the elbow, branding that I've been put on by
Speaker 1: pimps and seff draffers. Women abused by father from five
Speaker 1: to fifteen years old that had not shed a tear
Speaker 1: since six and said, we gave her back her life.
Speaker 1: It's the best thing I've ever done.
Speaker 2: I love Jesse Jesse's actually the one that repaired my
Speaker 2: tattoos from the ones that were messed up. He had
Speaker 2: to go back and fix them all for me. So
Speaker 2: he's a great guy and he's also a firefighter that
Speaker 2: works in the community that I live in.
Speaker 1: Have you taken a deep enough breath in a little
Speaker 1: bit of time to take stock of you?
Speaker 2: What do you mean.
Speaker 1: You're changing lives? Jess?
Speaker 2: I don't know if I can answer that.
Speaker 1: Well, I can for you, you're changing lives. But the interesting
Speaker 1: spart interesting part, and this is universal on this show.
Speaker 1: This is universal on this show. You're not just changing
Speaker 1: the lives of the girls and the guys who are
Speaker 1: getting the gangs and the trafficking tattoos set up. You're
Speaker 1: changing lives of the artists. You're changing the lives of
Speaker 1: the community, of the quote network that you talk about building,
Speaker 1: because now they're able to use their passions and their
Speaker 1: talents and an opportunity to need because you created that
Speaker 1: for them. And for someone to say, a firefighter to say,
Speaker 1: this is the best thing that I've ever done. He
Speaker 1: wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for you. He
Speaker 1: wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for Ari. He
Speaker 1: wouldn't be doing this if you didn't decide to get
Speaker 1: rev off the back of a girl's neck one day
Speaker 1: and you became energized where your passion and your abilities
Speaker 1: met opportunity. And you're changing lives of girls, but you're
Speaker 1: changing lives of the community of people helping the girls.
Speaker 1: And you're just a kid from Atlanta who was abused too,
Speaker 1: fell into a crazy set of circumstances, who's now a
Speaker 1: mother and is changing lives for people. And I just
Speaker 1: want to know if you ever take stock of yourself.
Speaker 3: I.
Speaker 2: Usually just keep going I don't. I don't know what
Speaker 2: you mean by take stock of myself?
Speaker 3: Like, I don't.
Speaker 1: Do you ever sit there and look like I don't
Speaker 1: know what that means to take stock. If you go
Speaker 1: down the aisle of a grocery store and there's people
Speaker 1: putting empty cartons back on empty shelves, it's because they're
Speaker 1: taking stock. They're looking at what that owlist is. Now
Speaker 1: you know how empty the owl was, and then they
Speaker 1: put it up and it becomes restocked. Look at what
Speaker 1: your life is, I mean, it's phenomenal what you're doing.
Speaker 1: And to come where you've come from and who've had
Speaker 1: to build. This is just so redemptive and so inspiring,
Speaker 1: and you know, I just I hope you take a
Speaker 1: second to take a deep breath and realize the blessing
Speaker 1: you now are in other people's lives, much like your
Speaker 1: grandmother wasn't yours?
Speaker 2: Okay, I I feel like if I try to go, well,
Speaker 2: look what I did, I feel like I feel like
Speaker 2: that looks arrogant, I guess, and so I I try
Speaker 2: not to do that, but I do look back and go, dang,
Speaker 2: I've come a long way, and I am honored to
Speaker 2: be able to sit with the people I get to
Speaker 2: said with and meet the people that I meet. But
Speaker 2: I very rarely will go look at me. I just
Speaker 2: I can't.
Speaker 1: I get that. That's also universal among almost everybody we
Speaker 1: interview with me. I get it, but you know you can't.
Speaker 1: You can't do anything about me saying hey girl, look
Speaker 1: at you. You should be so proud. And all of
Speaker 1: this work, where's money come from?
Speaker 2: So, like I've said, we don't have I don't sit
Speaker 2: in a fancy office. I'm just a young lady that
Speaker 2: sits at home and a homeschool. My daughter and I
Speaker 2: work from my house on my computer, and I have
Speaker 2: people that volunteer. We don't have huge donors, but we
Speaker 2: have some that have been very gracious to give. And
Speaker 2: we depend on just people that hear our story and
Speaker 2: are moved by what we do to donate so we
Speaker 2: can continue to do the work.
Speaker 1: So how do people that are moved by your story donate?
Speaker 2: They can do that on the website as soon as
Speaker 2: they go to aaronline dot org. It is bag and
Speaker 2: massive at the very top, and it says support ARI.
Speaker 1: We will thank you money and put it to good use.
Speaker 1: Is that's the thing.
Speaker 2: What goes into ARI goes into direct services. It doesn't
Speaker 2: go to a high paying CEO, doesn't go into marketing teams,
Speaker 2: it doesn't go into a fundraising coach. It goes directly
Speaker 2: into direct services. And then when I share and I train,
Speaker 2: that's how I also bring in funding to the org.
Speaker 1: So if somebody's listening to us today and they need
Speaker 1: your service anywhere in the US, or they're tattoo artists
Speaker 1: who wants to be part of your service.
Speaker 2: Or.
Speaker 1: Or knows somebody that needs your service, how do they
Speaker 1: get in touch with you?
Speaker 2: They can go on our website, which is ARII online
Speaker 2: dot org, or they can call us at six seven
Speaker 2: eight nine two six nine nine four six and they
Speaker 2: can reach out and we'll do our best to help.
Speaker 2: We have our provider application on our website, so if
Speaker 2: you're an artist or removal specialist or scar revision specialist,
Speaker 2: you can apply on there. If you're a survivor or
Speaker 2: in former gang involvement or self harm, there's a survivor
Speaker 2: application you can imply on there. Or somebody wants to
Speaker 2: book me to train, to come out and train an icronography,
Speaker 2: that's icronography, they can book me as a speaker on there.
Speaker 2: I travel all around and share my lived experience in
Speaker 2: the work that we do at AARI and it's an
Speaker 2: honor every time I get to do that, and it's
Speaker 2: actually healing for me when I get to share my story.
Speaker 1: I think it's healing for people to listen to it.
Speaker 1: And you know, if you tune in and listen to
Speaker 1: this whole interview and here the first twenty minutes of it,
Speaker 1: you got to be going, holy crap, where's this going?
Speaker 1: And it's ending at a beautiful place that is full
Speaker 1: of redemption and grace and love and unconditional love. An
Speaker 1: amazing work. I am. I am so inspired by the
Speaker 1: work you've done. And you know, like we talk about
Speaker 1: a lot, you know, we don't go around interviewing a listeners.
Speaker 1: We're going around and interview normal folks who are seeing
Speaker 1: places in Eden. Fillett and you, my friend, are are
Speaker 1: an unbelievable example of no matter where you come from,
Speaker 1: what you've been through, how you are, you can always
Speaker 1: find redemption. You can always make your life work, and
Speaker 1: then you can always be a shining light for other people.
Speaker 1: And you are, my friend. You are certainly a member
Speaker 1: of army of normal folks, but maybe you're like a
Speaker 1: captain or a lieutenant or something, because you're amazing. I
Speaker 1: can't tell you how much I appreciate you joining us.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, and I appreciate all of you for
Speaker 1: joining us this week. If Jessica Lamb or another guest
Speaker 1: has inspired you in general, or better yet, to take
Speaker 1: action by donating to Atlanta Redemption, Inc. By joining their
Speaker 1: network of tattoo artists, or something else entirely, please let
Speaker 1: me know. I really want to hear about it. You
Speaker 1: can write me anytime at Bill at Normalfolks dot us
Speaker 1: and guys, I will respond and if you enjoyed this episode,
Speaker 1: share it with friends that on social, subscribe to the podcast,
Speaker 1: rate and review it. Become a Premium member at normalfolks
Speaker 1: dot us. All these things that will help us grow
Speaker 1: an army of normal folks. For premium members, we will
Speaker 1: have bonus content from this episode, and it's me asking
Speaker 1: Jessica if she's been able to forgive her trafficker, and
Speaker 1: I promise you what she says is powerful. If you
Speaker 1: don't want to miss it, become a premium member today.
Speaker 1: I'm Bill Courtney. We'll see you next week.