We were lucky to catch up with Susan Norris recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Susan, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

It is the mission of Rescuing Hope to enlighten the public about sex trafficking in America, educate potential victims and first responders and empower advocates and survivors. Our Enlighten events are Reality Check and Play It Safe. Reality Check presents the issue of sex trafficking, how it happens and what people can do to fight it. People won’t fight a problem if they don’t know it exists or how it connects to them and their community. Play It Safe is a similar program but for students. While the same information is presented, they then unpack each of the scenarios and brainstorm with students ways they can make smart choices to be a less likely target. Potential victims need to learn the ways traffickers groom, recruit and lure as well as safety measures they can implement, especially with technology. Our middle school curriculum, No Longer Hidden addresses these issues in an in-depth way. It is in the pilot stage of development.
We identify first responders as educators, medical personnel and law enforcement. Research shows they all are front row witnesses to those being lured, groomed, recruited or even exploited and may not know it. We work with them to train them on the indicators, suggested protocols and ways to administer trauma informed, victim centered approaches to service.
We empower those who come to our events by helping them plug into an organization that fights this issue. We empower survivors through using individual action plans to help them work through their trauma and work towards the life they desire.

Susan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am an educator by trade and taught in the public school and taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro while working on my Master’s Degree there. Upon moving the Georgia, I substituted in every grade K4-12th. Once my children reached middle school, I served as a sponsor for the school club FCA where I worked with middle school students for over 4 years. At the end of my last year of working FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) I learned about trafficking and the average entry age of sex trafficking victims in the United States was 12-14 years old. That wasn’t okay with me. I began digging deep, trying to learn all I could about the issue and that led to the writing of my debut novel, Rescuing Hope. It is fictional on purpose so teens would read it and learn the dangers of trafficking; however, what happens to Hope happened to individuals that I interviewed in Atlanta. Once the book was published, the women I interviewed began reaching out to me for assistance. After six years of doing so on my own, we formed the nonprofit, Rescuing Hope, so we could serve more individuals.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I believe Rescuing Hope has developed the reputation we have in the market by being authentic and consistent. We are who we say we are. We do what we say we will do and we are real with those we serve.

Have you ever had to pivot?

We started out working with individual survivors and there was never any crossover between those we served. One Christmas we invited them all to attend a Christmas tea at a local church and had our Christmas celebration with them following. One of the young ladies said, “We need this! We need to have a community of girls who understand one another, a place where we fit. We don’t fit with people our age because they haven’t been through what we have been through.” That comment led us to institute monthly survivor dinners and gatherings, the girls have called it their Sisterhood. It is a time when they come together over a meal, we pay for the meal in a nice restaurant, and they can talk about what they’re dealing with and get advice for each other. It has been a life changer in our organization for those we serve.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rescuinghope.com
• Instagram: @RescuingHope
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/rescuinghope
• Twitter: @RescuingHope