Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dr. Nissi Hamilton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Dr. Nissi, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
The story behind my mission is when I became a survivor of Human Trafficking. I grew up in Foster Care as a victim child and I became a victim of human trafficking at the age of 15. I escaped my trafficker by enlisting in the U.S. Navy. Shortly after, I learned that my mother was murdered, and she too was a victim of human trafficking. On January 20, 2011, Crime Stoppers Houston asked the public for help in finding who murdered my mother Kimberly Lynette Booker and offered a $5000 Reward. In 2019, I became the first survivor of human trafficking to run for a political office in Houston, Tx. I didn’t win but I told my story of survival of human trafficking. Since running, Crime Stoppers Houston has been an impact partner with me to bridge the gap between community engagement and survivors of human trafficking from all walks of life. I worked on a project to develop “Child Safety ID Kits”, which I travel all over the US to distribute to schools, law enforcement agencies, 501c3’s, NGO’s and parents. The Program Director, Sydney Zuiker, listened to my story of survival and together we were able to minimize the vulnerabilities and implement it into strategy for human trafficking prevention. To date, at Nissi’s Network Inc., we have given away over 60,000 “Child Safety ID Kits” and I have been able to give away over one million dollars in food and pandemic relief resources as a crime reduction plan to reduce human trafficking and raise awareness.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am Dr. Nissi Hamilton, and I am a 5-year human trafficking child and adult survivor. I am the CEO of a non-profit called Nissi’s Network Inc. where I work with my community to reduce adultification and human trafficking in high-risk areas of poverty. My impact partners Crime Stoppers Houston and I have given away over 60,000 Child Safety Identification Kits as a crime reduction plan for missing and exploited children. To combat human trafficking, I have given away over $1 MILLION DOLLARS in food and product to relieve parents financially due to the impacts of the pandemic thanks to donations from Proctor and Gamble and The Bread of Life. I own two for-profits called A Survivor’s Voice of Victory and Safe Space Training, where I am known for empowering super learners with ideal tools to have a healthy understanding of parent’s rights and responsibilities while raising children in a metaphysical and data driven world. I am a Kingdom Lifestyle Influencer and a Global Humanitarian. I am currently a Professor at Elevate Academy for survivors of human trafficking where I teach Motivational Speaking. I am also the Human Trafficking Director for Rotary Club Hermann Park #5890, a 2021 TEDx Talk Speaker – Alief, and the former Education Chair for Houston Rescue and Restore Coalition. My story can be viewed on Unfiltered Stories, which has gone viral with a whooping 2 million views. I have a BS in Technical Management with a Minor in Criminal Justice, a Master’s in Business Administration in Accounting and Human Resources Management. I earned an Honorary Doctorates in Global Humanitarianism for my work in other countries such as Africa and Pakistan. I am an 8-year veteran in the U.S. Navy in which I used the military to escape from my trafficker and today I am married with 8 children. I have worked with celebrities such as Jennie Mai Jenkins, Jeezy, Chris Hansen and my attorney Tony Buzbee.
I’ve always been a giver, but I didn’t understand that in order to truly give you have to do it with blind trust. You have to do it and know that you are at risk to feel hurt, pain, anguish, discomfort, ridicule, disappointments, unrealistic expectations from others; I mean the list could go on. Here’s the deal, too much convenience for anyone is enabling. Convenience is the enemy of intelligence. When I decided that I wanted to give back; I had to be clear on my messaging and to make sure that I wasn’t handicapping the communities that I was giving to or insulting their intelligence. I would never make someone feel like, “If it wasn’t for me, then this or that couldn’t get done.” So, I made sure that my message of giving or giving alms is and has always been, “No one in the Father’s House fights alone”. I started to give to issues that were important to me in 2015 when I was standing in a Family Court room and I was asked by a judge a question that I had asked myself for a long time and the question was; “Why doesn’t the mom have her children?” When she had asked me that question, I immediately said, “I want to know the same thing!” But right after the moment of silence and the attorney ad litem who is a children’s attorney began to respond – a Child Protection Service Caseworker interrupted him to read my arrest record. And that’s when I learned that I had not given enough. I had not given enough thought to someone listening to my story of survival from child sex trafficking, to someone helping me get my children back from my traffickers, or to someone believing in me because I had suffered so much abuse. I was given a court appointed attorney by the name of Julie A. Ketterman. She called me in her office and told me tell her my story. So, I did. From the beginning. She waited about 3 weeks and she called me and she asked me to come and work for her. And I said, “Ok – Doing what?” Because I had no idea what I could do in law office? She said, “Come work for me and be my para-legal!” I was happy, sad, excited, mad, all at the same time with frustration because I didn’t know what being a para-legal was. I told her that I had no idea what I was doing and she simply said; “Don’t worry, I will teach you”. I went to work for my court appointed attorney and the same system that failed me as a child, as an adult, and my children was the same system that I went against to not only get my children back, but to tell my story of human trafficking. I didn’t give to charity, I didn’t give to my job, I didn’t give to my hurt, anger or defeat, I gave to motherhood. I could have done a lot of things without my children, but I didn’t start to give to issues that were important to me until I gave to something that was bigger than me. And their freedom was bigger than me. I am one of the first known cases in Houston, Texas, where I was sued for child support by my traffickers: I fought back, created my own defenses and I won. And I am one proud Momma and Survivor!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
My advice to those who are interested in giving back is to be willing to work in places that people don’t see. Like your character, your principles, your attitude, your emotions, your time, etc. Most importantly have boundaries! A boundary is a preventative line on what is and isn’t your responsibility. Your cause is your cause, and your giving is your giving. You can give to whatever charity and support whatever cause that you want your tax dollars to support, and this should be done without you feeling obligated, pressured, or pulled in a direction with your giving that is outside of the scope of your understanding or your private interpretation of what the funding will be used for. Ultimately, giving back is a sacrificial offering to fund the work that you would have otherwise chosen to do fulltime if you had the time to do it. I’ve been in venues where I have had to raise $20,000 and I have been in venues where I have had to raise $400,000. Who will give is an uncontrollable variable? Sometimes you can gage a room and think ok – I can raise $100,000 but only raise $35,000 or you can be in room and raise $100,000 when you were only looking to raise $35,000. When you are giving, you are telling your money to give authority to the person that’s asking for it (blind trust) and you set in motion for your money to do what you gave it instructions to do for the person who is representing the cause that you support. This is why giving back is so powerful. The authority, the strategy, the goals, and the weight of responsibility is consciously too rich to not inspire a community of cheerful givers. That’s character, principle, attitude; all the things that describes your feelings towards your money and what you need it to do the reason why you are giving back.
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What moves me to give my time, talent and financial resources is my ability to be an effective leader. In this 21st century, I wouldn’t recommend serving anyone who has never been through anything, you can’t see their scars, etc. What people give their time, talent and financial resources to; will let you know what that person has personally suffered through. The greater the suffering the greater the leader. The seat of leadership has moved women into prophetic and strategic positions of authority that would usually be ascertained by men. I’ve seen men and women spend all of their money on looking successful instead of being successful. So, strategically the ball is in the court of leadership. We live in a day and age where you can’t fake knowledge; you either know it or you don’t know it. Studies show that a woman will not even apply for a job if she is not 100% capable of doing the work. But a man will apply for the same position while only qualifying for 40% of the criterion. As I became the leader that I am today, who can give people my time, talent and financial resources; I learned that I cannot spend all of my money and resources on looking the part; I had to become the part. I had to become the part that I was applying for and there was no application process for being a survivor of human trafficking. My suffering qualified me. When you give your time, talent and financial resources; as a leader you have to ask yourself, “Do you want the look or do you want the being?” That’s what makes me a Kingdom Lifestyle Influencer.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nissihamilton.com
- Instagram: thereal_nissihamilton
- Facebook: Nissi Hamilton
- Linkedin: Nissi Hamilton
- Twitter: hamiltonnissi
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykUHvAHofTw&t=7s
- Other: https://fb.watch/etTlURflhk/ https://www.kvue.com/article/news/advocates-want-to-raise-the-minimum-age-for-strippers-to-21/269-a9e5aa48-ac5f-40b6-a14a-59d34c4327fc
Image Credits
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