Dawn Hawkins
Chief Executive Officer
Dawn Hawkins is CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, the leading organization exposing the connections between all forms of sexual exploitation, including sex trafficking, prostitution, pornography, and child sexual abuse. Dawn’s energy, creativity and mobilization skills are deployed to build a world free from sexual violence, with freedom and human dignity for all.
Dawn is deeply committed to bipartisan public policy solutions at the federal and state level. Her issue expertise, visionary initiatives, and innovative strategy have led to groundbreaking change in the legislative arena and in multimillion-dollar corporate policies. She has also envisioned and created a Law Center to challenge sexual exploitation profiteers in the courts.
Dawn has been instrumental in re-imaging the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. She has centered the need to address sex buyer demand for commercial sex, has severely weakened the mainstream pornography industry, and is leading efforts to bring more accountability to technology platforms for child safety.
Dawn has called out and changed corporate entities facilitating exploitation through the annual Dirty Dozen List, fostered a broad international coalition of 600+ organizations, and constantly: advocates for survivors. Her work has sparked change at Google, Hilton Worldwide, Comcast, Walmart, the Department of Defense, Instagram, TikTok, and other influential firms. Dawn has appeared on many television programs, including CNN, Fox & Friends, and Good Morning America. She regularly authors articles and speaks around the country addressing the public health harms of pornography, curbing demand for sex trafficking, protecting children and families in our digital world, and more.
Dawn regularly volunteers for organizations devoted to helping children and refugees. She is a graduate of Tufts University and currently resides with her husband and five children in Virginia.
