We recently connected with Alexandra Stevenson and have shared our conversation below.
Alexandra, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business
Very early in my solo speaking career, my first well-paid speaking gig, my contract involved 2 trainings approximately 6 months apart. I was so excited to have booked a gig that I didn’t pay close attention to the details like how much travel was involved (2 flights across the country and a 4 hour rental car journey across a border!) and how much that cost would eat into my profit. After my first training, I knew immediately the mistakes I had made but thought, ‘well, lesson learned, however I still have to fulfill my contract so I will make the best of it.. what’s the worst that could happen?!’. Dumb question. After my second training, the crowd was asking questions as they do and I was breathing a sigh of relief that, after the long journey home, I wouldn’t have to do it again. That breath of relief came too early. As people began to filter out of the now-closed-for-the-night library where my training was held, others came up to speak to me directly. That’s not an issue, it happens often. The issue was, the organizers of the event left and left me alone in a dark library trying to manage increasingly invasive and aggressive questioning. That is problem enough, however, it’s also crucial to know that I speak and train on human trafficking and exploitation, and I’m a survivor of trafficking myself. The organizers knew this, and after asking me, specifically, to speak because I am a survivor/lived experience expert, they still left me in an extremely vulnerable position with increasingly agitated locals. Once I finally extricated myself from the situation, my drive home consisted of a downpour so intense I had to pull off the road in backcountry, rural New York and wait for it to pass. The entire experience shook me up and left a really bad taste in my mouth for speaking in general for a while. After I processed the feeling of danger, vulnerability and overall mishandling by the organizers, the experience taught me a valuable lesson: consider ALL details. Listen to your gut. Have safeguards in place BEFORE you need them. And no gig is worth your sense of well being or security.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My journey as an anti-trafficking activist began at the young age of 11. However, 10 years later, I found myself a victim of trafficking. It would be another 10 years, during a coffee meeting with a new friend (Terri Markham!) before I understood that what happened to me wasn’t just domestic violence and a series of my own bad decisions – it was, in fact, human trafficking.
That realization lit a spark. By that time, I had been exited from my situation for 10 years. I had gone through a criminal investigation against my abuser-cum-trafficker, I had a bachelor’s degree in Criminology, an honors diploma in Community and Justice Services and a post-graduate certification in Victimology. I had worked in women’s shelters, in the court system, with law enforcement, with offenders and with victims. And I had *no* idea that what happened to me was human trafficking. And if I didn’t know, with all my schooling, personal and work experience, how the hell is anyone else supposed to be able to know!? It was this spark, along with Terri’s knowledge and experience, that resulted in us creating Uprising, a nonprofit dedicated to trafficking prevention education.
When I moved back to Canada, I thought long and hard about whether I wanted to found an Uprising 2.0 in Canada but I knew I didn’t. I wanted to continue to speak and train but I believed that I could operate as a for profit business. Shortly after moving from Wyoming to British Columbia, while pregnant with my second child, raising my 1 year old, finishing my master’s degree in psychology, and continuing to support Uprising as best I could, I founded The Laughing Survivor.
These days, I train, speak and consult from my brand, The Laughing Survivor. I am also nearly finished writing my first book, a memoir that details how I went from a seemingly ‘picture perfect, normal’ kid to an 11 year old anti-trafficking advocate, to a victim of trafficking, to an anti-trafficking advocate once again. My absolute favourite thing to do is start hard conversations about difficult subjects (like trafficking!) in easy to digest ways. I love when I see my audience chuckle at some bad joke I’ve made and then catch themselves, thinking, ‘Oops! This is serious topic, I shouldn’t be laughing’. Laughter helps us learn. It brings us together. And it makes hard things easier.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
Born and raised in Canada, my husband and I had decided to move to Wyoming, where my mother had been living for about a decade. Due to visa restrictions, I was unable to work. However, I’ve never been one to sit around so I started knocking on different agency’s doors, trying to find a place I could volunteer. I had been working and getting extensive education over the previous 10 years in the ‘helping’ or social services field, so that was my area of expertise.
A local friend heard a woman speak briefly at a meeting, saying she was going to be doing some anti-trafficking work and if anyone was interested they should reach out. Knowing that was up my alley, my friend got that woman’s contact info for me, her name was Terri Markham and she was also reasonably new to Sheridan, WY.
I emailed Terri, letting her know of my educational qualifications and that I was only available as a volunteer since I legally couldn’t be paid. She thought I was punking her! We met for coffee the next week. It was at this meeting that I told her I knew nothing about human trafficking… only to find out through the course of that conversation that I had actually been trafficked myself 10 years prior. We began working together that day, and decided to found Uprising a short while later!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
My entire life has been an illustration of resilience.
I was a regular kid, born into a white, middle class family, in a movie-perfect suburban neighbourhood – they even filmed The Santa Clause with Tim Allen a few streets down from where I grew up! I learned about child labor and exploitation as a preteen and immediately became a vocal advocate for the issue. However, a few short years later, my friends uncle began sexually assaulting me, and through the years this went on, I became embroiled in a world of drugs. It was there that I would meet the boyfriend who trafficked me.
When I escaped him, I restarted my life using post-secondary education as my foundation. I excelled at school and was healing and working through my issues when he found me just under two years after I escaped. I went to the police and my life fell apart as I spend the next 2 years entangled in the criminal legal system against him. After that was over, I once again, applied to return to school and pick myself back up.
From escaping drugs to escaping my trafficker, I have had to restart my life and pick myself up from rock bottom several times. And each time, it’s been a journey. And while some days I dream of never having to be ‘strong’ again, I am deeply proud of the resilience I have shown throughout my life.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thelaughingsurvivor.com
- Instagram: @thelaughingsurvivor
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelaughingsurvivor
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandratls/
- Other: tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thelaughingsurvivor
Image Credits
RideMyRoad Rozalind Photography