Washington, DC (July 13, 2020) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) welcomes Lina Nealon as Director of Corporate and Strategic Initiatives and Dr. Stephany Powell as Director, Law Enforcement Training and Survivor Services.
“Today marks a major step forward in our fight for a world free from sexual abuse and exploitation, as we welcome two powerful women leaders—Lina Nealon and Dr. Stephany Powell—to the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. Both women are longtime leaders in the movement for the abolition of sexual exploitation. We are grateful for this opportunity to partner with them to advance our mission of eradicating sexual abuse and sexual exploitation in all their forms,” said Dawn Hawkins, senior vice president and executive director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
Lina Nealon (full bio) will spearhead NCOSE’s campaigns to hold corporations accountable for profiting from sexual exploitation. Previously, she served as the Founding Director of Demand Abolition, the first national program holding sex buyers accountable for driving the global sex trade. She also designed the Cities Empowered Against Sexual Exploitation (CEASE) initiative: a collaboration between twelve major US cities measurably decreasing demand and disrupting commercial sex markets in their communities. She is a founding co-chair of the World Without Exploitation coalition, co-chaired the Massachusetts Interagency Anti-Trafficking Taskforce Demand Committee and was a founding member of Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Working Group on Modern Slavery. She and her husband are raising four young children in Durham, NC.
“NCOSE has a long history of changing policies, practices, and cultural norms that perpetuate sexual abuse and violate human dignity. Now more than ever, societal norms are largely shaped by powerful corporations and brands, many of which are glamourizing, enabling, and profiting off of vulnerable adults and children. I look forward to working with the incredible NCOSE team, survivor leaders, and movement allies to ensure all companies make fighting exploitation their business,” Nealon said.
Beginning in Fall 2020, Dr. Stephany Powell’s (full bio) will lead NCOSE’s work to curb demand for paid-sex by training law enforcement to focus on sex buyers rather than sexually exploited persons and will walk side-by-side with survivors of sexual exploitation who are represented by the NCOSE Law Center and seeking to sue mainstream entities who profited from and facilitated their abuse. Her unique insight into the world of sexual exploitation and trafficking was gained through her 30 years with the Los Angeles Police Department, where she retired as a sergeant in charge of a vice unit. Dr. Powell is a Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership and utilizes that singular combination in so many ways. She has created and facilitated Team Building and Executive Leadership workshops for Fire and Police, based on positive change dynamics. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Los Angeles Trade Technical College where she teaches classes in Behavioral Science. She has taught human trafficking workshops to law enforcement both nationally and internationally. Most importantly, Dr. Powell uses her considerable skills and insight to educate the community about the complex and often misunderstood world of sex trafficking and to create positive change for its victims.
“The National Center on Sexual Exploitation is a well-respected and powerful organization. I am humbled and excited to be able to continue my work on a national level,” Powell said.
