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PODCAST EPISODE 101 WITH MARY DAVID:

SUMMARY:

Mary David, J.D. is an advocate for victims of trauma and  an internationally recognized human trafficking expert. Formerly the United Nations Advisor on women and children for the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Mary is currently a freelance writer and motivational speaker. She helped to draft some of the first laws in Maryland against human trafficking and was named one of the Top 99 Foreign Policy Leaders in the World by the Diplomatic Courier. Mary speaks regularly at conferences, universities, and on radio and television programs. She is the former Deputy Chair of Public Awareness on the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force and recently moderated an American Bar Association panel on domestic violence in Asia. She is a member of the South Asian and Foreign Affairs Association. Mary is a graduate of The George Washington University Law School, where she specialized in international human rights law. She works to unite different sectors of society against human trafficking in policy, fashion, film, and the arts.

People strive to be their best. 7:09

Mary believes that it is important to have people around you who are in your core network to really encourage and support you to be your best self.  Mary also added that a lot of times adversity can really bring out the best changes in us and that we are capable of rising to the challenge.

About her experiences.  9:48

Mary shared an experience from her trip in Cyprus a few years ago. She was there to study abroad and she became interested in learning about new cultures and new people.  But she found that there was a huge population of lower class domestic workers who experienced a great deal of discrimination.  Many individuals thought that Mary, based on her skin tone, was one of those individuals, and she faced much discrimination as a result.  She began to reach out to the workers about their experiences and they told their stories to her.  While it was difficult to see people hurting so much, they also become a source of her strength.  Mary wasn’t yet aware of the extent of human trafficking yet, and she began to piece together that the women and girls on the street corners, and the intimidating men keeping close tabs on them, were in fact slaves.  She decided to come back home to the US and do everything she could to help them.

Her definition of Human Trafficking. 15:25

Human trafficking, according to Mary David, is” someone being tricked or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation.” Human trafficking is kind of a misnomer because it implies that people are being moved but in actuality they may live in one place. Mary said the key aspect is the fact that they are being exploited.

Myths of Human Trafficking 16:36

Some people think that boys are not being trafficked for sex but they are, and the average of entry for boys in the sex industry is between 11 and 13 years old. The numbers on human trafficking statistics reveals are not always accurate, and many people don't want to come forward even when when they have been taken out of that situation because of all of the stigma tied to it.  

The idea of beauty related to Human Trafficking. 34:35

Many people don’t realize that the beauty industry is very heavily tied to human trafficking.  Often, traffickers target women and girls who they think could be potential victims, will tell that they they are beautiful, and those individuals will get lured into human trafficking.  In many ways this ties in to the beauty industry as well as the concepts of self confidence, which play a big role.

Great advice from Mary David: 45:22

Mary advises investing time in building relationships with good mentors: finding people who are doing something you want to do and having them help you get to where you want to be .

Links:

www.facebook.com/public.figure.marydavid

Twitter @MissMaryDavid

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-david/

http://www.diplomaticourier.com/lists/top-99-under-33/2013/1762-mary-david

http://inspiher.me/everyday-sheroes-mary-david/