We were lucky to catch up with Rebecca Cary recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rebecca, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I am a survivor, or Overcomer, of domestic sex trafficking. I was trafficked in my 20′ s by a man that was twice my age. It took me 15 years after my abuse to come to terms with what happened to me and to try and change my life for the better. When I started looking for help, I found that there was simply not any, or very little, services for someone like me. The term “human trafficking” was still so new, and many services just had not been developed yet. This was just 6 years ago.

During this same time, I had the opportunity to start sharing my story publicly. The more I shared my own story, the more I met others just like me who were also having trouble finding services specific to their needs. This is what made me decide to create a place where Overcomers, from all walks of life, could come together and do life, together. Working alongside other Survivors and organizations, I designed services for Overcomers that touched on ongoing support. These services included: educational scholarships, case management, advocacy, trauma therapy, economic empowerment, and nationwide survivor led support groups. I also continued to educate the community on the realities of human trafficking by sharing my story and hosting educational seminars and trainings.

I now speak and consult on a national level and am in the process of designing a nationwide program specific to Overcomer Leaders within the anti-trafficking arena.

Rebecca, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am the founder of Hands of Justice, an anti-trafficking nonprofit located in Texas. I am a Consultant, Educator, Author, Producer, Speaker, and Overcomer Leader. I recently graduated with a Masters in Victim Studies with Sam Houston State University and taught Problem Analysis in Victim Studies for the same department for two years. I am certified in Global Injustice Response Training, formally held the Co-chair and Survivor position on the board for the Montgomery County Coalition Against Human Trafficking and served on the Survivor Council for the state of Texas for over 2 years. I have been featured in a PSA and small film produced by Goya Foods for their Goya Cares initiative and been headlined on NBC and several other small films. I am also a public speaker, consultant and educator on Human Trafficking, and I speak on a national level.

As of April of 2022, I wrote and released my first book, “When Silence Ends” featuring the stories of over 20 other Overcomers. The second volume was released in June of 2024. I, also, opened an economic empowerment and resource center for Overcomers in the summer of 2022.

In December of 2024, I moved to Alabama to expand my vision nationally. I am currently working alongside Call to Freedom, a national organization located in South Dakota, in order to design a program specific to the needs of Survivor Leaders choosing to work within the anti-trafficking arena. I continue to speak and educate on human trafficking and share my story wherever I am asked to.

I am married to a wonderful man and we enjoy traveling, hiking and spending as much time outdoors in the sunshine as possible.

One of the proudest things I have ever done is choose to push past all the pain that I’ve endured and use it to help others just like me. It’s not been an easy road, but I truly believe that some of the lives I have touched will go on to touch others in a positive way as well. To me there is just not any better purpose in life.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A very huge lesson I have learned working within the anti-trafficking field is that rest is not only needed, it’s important. Burnout, or compassion fatigue, is real and it can happen very fast. I had to learn quickly that I could not be available to everyone at all times. I also had to realize that I could not save everyone no matter how much I wanted to or tried. I had to teach myself that taking time for myself was not only okay, but in order for me to continue to help others, I needed to take that time. This allowed me to focus on myself, my family and others without bringing the subject of anti-trafficking into everything. I needed to be able to separate the two so that I wasn’t always “working”. I learned this the hard way.

Two years ago, we had two young teens at our center for a support group. During that time, these two decided to run away. They were gone in less than two minutes. These two girls ran straight back to their traffickers and for months disappeared off the radar. I was very close to one of these girls and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was scared for them, but I was also angry. It was during this time that I realized that without rest, or time to myself, that I was allowing my job to consume every ounce of my being. Although I continued to help as I always had, I did start taking a few weeks here and there to decompress and focus on my own continued healing journey. This change was needed, and it helped me be a more effective leader.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I feel like the last 24 years of my life has been a testimony of my resilience. I was trafficked for 2 and a half years by a man who did not care about me at all. The things that I endured during that time would go on to haunt me to this day. The aftermath of my abuse affected me physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually and the ways that I coped with my trauma, in all honesty, were not helping me either. It took me 15 years to come to terms with the fact that what had happened to me was considered human trafficking. It took me longer to understand that it wasn’t my fault, or something that I deserved.
Taking that trauma and using it to help others is the ultimate testimony of my resilience. It took me a long time to be able to admit it, but being trafficked, as dark and evil as that was, was the things that led to my greatest purpose in life. Sharing my story and educating others is not something I ever thought I would find myself doing. But I realize that the realities of what was done to me is happening to millions of other men, women and children, and I feel tasked to help. My resiliency can be found in taking the darkness I faced and turning it around as light for others still out there.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Rebeccacary.com
• Instagram: Adventure_bound39
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.cary.7