I grew up in a quintessential small town in the heart of America, tight-knit, and safe. Yet even here, where parental involvement and family-orientation were the norm, sexual abuse and exploitation touched nearly every person I knew. Growing up I slowly learned that this friend was targeted and groomed online by a stranger, another struggled with compulsive pornography use from a young age, and another was coerced into sexual abuse.
Years later as a college student I remember walking by the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, and being struck with a strong conviction: these issues were connected to each other. And I needed to do something about it.
The conviction was strong but at first I felt dismay. Who was talking about the connections between these different kinds of sexual harm and trauma? Did this even exist? Thankfully, before long, I found the answer: The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE.)
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation affirmed what I had witnessed and experienced: all forms of sexual exploitation and abuse are connected. Sex trafficking, pornography, child sexual abuse, prostitution, intimate partner violence, sextortion, etc—none of these issues exist in a vacuum. They overlap and reinforce one another. And when our culture or our policies fail to recognize this, it leads to gaps, inconsistencies, and failures. We cannot fight sex trafficking while allowing sex buyers and pimps/traffickers to operate without consequences. We cannot give children safe online spaces without addressing the public and mental health harms of pornography. We cannot ignore image-based sexual abuse when trying to combat sextortion or coercive abuse in relationships.
But if we can advance these truths, we can achieve a more holistic approach to ending sexual exploitation.
I needed to be a part of advancing these truths.
I connected with NCOSE, and after graduating college I joined their Communications team. After that, I went on to thankfully grow and learn through many roles over the decade I’ve been with this wonderful organization. I soon led the Communications department, then moved on to lead Corporate Advocacy and the Dirty Dozen List. I received honors for my thesis on online commercial sexual exploitation at Johns Hopkins University, served on the DC Mayor’s advisory council for child abuse and neglect, then grew into a new role to spearhead international coalition work for NCOSE, before leading strategic initiatives and programs departments, until gratefully accepting my latest position as Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer.
Over the past decade, I’ve collaborated with executives at companies like Google, Visa, and Instagram, I’ve spoken at the UN and have educated policymakers in Columbia, Rwanda, Denmark and more. But I’ve been most honored to be a part of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation’s commitment to being a unifying force, fostering a global movement that insists no one should be sexually exploited, and no one should profit from it.
Because of NCOSE’s leadership, people from all walks of life—across political, religious, and cultural lines—have found common ground and joined forces. What once felt like fragmented efforts now feels like a shared mission.
At its core, NCOSE stands for human dignity. And it does so without a partisan or sectarian lens, because exploitation doesn’t discriminate. The harm of sexual abuse touches lives across every background—regardless of age, gender, race, or belief. This work is for all of us.
I truly believe that if we have courage and speak the truth, victories against systems of sexual abuse and exploitation are not only possible, they are inevitable.
This is why I am at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. And time and time again, I have seen this proven true.
- NCOSE has led successful campaigns pressuring major corporations—including Instagram, TikTok, Hilton Worldwide, Walmart, Visa, and more—to change policies that previously facilitated or profited from sexual exploitation.
- NCOSE has filed historic lawsuits on behalf of survivors against mega-corporations that enabled their abuses, from Pornhub to Twitter (now X) to Nevada brothels, and more.
- NCOSE has pioneered commonsense, bipartisan legislative solutions at the state and federal level including the Take It Down Act, FOSTA-SESTA, improving state accountability for sex buyers fueling sex trafficking, and more.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation stands on a strong foundation of 60+ years, and I am confident that even greater things are ahead in the next 60+ years.
Looking forward, the cause of human dignity and living free from sexual exploitation faces many threats—emerging technology and online platforms taking careless risks with real lives, political polarization slowing commonsense solutions, confused court systems that fail to give survivors justice or hold exploiters accountable.
But that is why the National Center on Sexual Exploitation stands in the gap.
Our mission is to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation at mass-scale by eliminating institutional practices and societal norms that perpetuate these harms.
At the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, we believe we have to go to the source. Direct services, crisis care, and healing is vital and done well by many organizations and advocates. Yet too often our culture focuses only on recovery without recognizing the need for prevention before that harms happens. That’s why NCOSE focuses on changing the policies, practices, and cultural forces that make sexual abuse and exploitation so common in the first place.
That means holding corporations accountable when they profit from exploitation. It means closing legal loopholes on Capitol Hill and shaping court decisions that can protect millions. It means pushing society to recognize how all forms of sexual abuse—from pornography to prostitution to online child exploitation—are connected, and that real prevention requires confronting those links head-on.
We want to build a world where systems are set up to protect, not exploit. We want a world where children, no matter where they grow up, are unincumbered by sexual harm and can simply focus on thriving. When we change what’s culturally normalized or accepted, and when our institutions reflect the inherent dignity of every person, we don’t just respond to harm, we prevent it.
You can help advance this mission: become a monthly supporter through the Defender Coalition, or sign up for our newsletter to receive action alerts that equip you to stand up to Congress and corporations alike. Together, we make a difference!
