Keynote Speaker:   Andrea Powell, Co-founder and Executive Director of Fair Fund

Andrea Powell has extensive experience in international advocacy, women's rights, and development. Ms. Powell received her MA in European Union Law and Economics at the University of Bonn, Germany and her BAIS from Texas State University in International Relations and Geography. She provides expert testimony in U.S. human trafficking cases and has trained law enforcement officers, educators, and U.S. diplomats. She is an experienced lecturer and has spoken at over 25 university campuses about human rights and the successful engagement of young women in civic activism. Ms. Powell was also a contributing writer for the San Francisco Women Museum’s “Imagining Ourselves” book and traveling exhibit project, published in 2006. Prior to co-founding FAIR Fund, Ms. Powell worked for the World Cancer Research Fund, the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies at Radcliffe College at Harvard University, Pathfinder International, Greenpeace Germany, and the EcoLogic Development Fund. Ms. Powell currently serves as an advisor to the African Regional Youth Alliance in Tanzania and as a Board member for the Center for Youth Integration in Belgrade, Serbia. Ms. Powell recently received the Texas State Alumni Association's Walter Richter Humanitarian Award for her work in promoting human rights. (Bio taken with permission from Fair Fund.)

Theresa L. Flores LSW, M.S. is a former human trafficking victim who was sexually exploited by a large underground criminal ring of men when she was only 15 years old.  For two long years, she was coerced into debt bondage, all the while living in an upper class neighborhood in Detroit Michigan.  Manipulated, kidnapped, physically and sexually abuse, she lost her freedom and her voice and became a modern day slave. Twenty five years later, she has regained her voice and published her story, “The Sacred Bath”.  The book describes the horrific years she spent as a sex slave, the torture and the secret she carried with her daily. She has also written a poem entitled, “My Definition”. Ms Flores now resides in Central Ohio (Columbus) and is the single mother of three beautiful children. Theresa has been a licensed Social Worker for nearly twenty years. She works with developmentally disabled and medically fragile children. She received her Master’s in Counseling Education from University of Dayton as a Human Development Specialist.

Given Kachepa speaks as a victim, survivor, and recipient of a T Visa. Orphaned at age 9, brought to the United States at age 11, Zambian singer Given thought he traveled to raise money for Zambian schools, his siblings, a salary and an education. Realizing no schools were being built, no money was going to him or his family, singing 4-7 concerts a day, food withheld and no education, Given became a victim of human trafficking. Rescued by INS in 2000, Given sought to make a difference to educate the public about this atrocity. He helped pass a trafficking law for Texas in 2003, has been on ABC Nightline, PBS On The Record, Hallmark Naomi Judd New Morning Show, The Montel Williams Show, CNN Saturday Morning, ABC, NBC, WB33, CBS newscasts, Family Net radio, BBC and AM/FM talk shows radio, Sirius Satellite radio, and helped create a video for an HHS 1-800 number. He has spoken at conventions, Refugee Conferences, Dallas UN Chapter, HHS ORR Trafficking Conference, Free the Slaves Press Conference in Washington, DC, middle schools, churches, a synagogue, colleges, graduation baccalaureates, Mosaic Family Services Fundraiser, and preached a sermon. National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, a web magazine and brochure Slavery Still Exists tell his story. Children’s Voices and Catholic World Report magazines told his story in 2006. Most recently Given represents the character quality of Respect in the Heart of a Champion program. Given Kachepa, Young Hero book has been published for 5th grade and up and is now available. Featured in The Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star Telegram, El Dia, Boston Globe, various nationwide AP articles, and referenced in 5 books, Given, now a survivor, is making a difference in the lives of other victims making the public aware of what is now tied with illegal drug sales weapon sales as the largest money making scheme in the world: the sale of human beings. Given is a junior at The University of North Texas. He has received several high honors including The Prudential Spirit of Community National Award, the Yoshiyama Hitachi Foundation award for community service, Colleyville Women’s Club, The Ronald McDonald Future Achievers for Black Students, the Field Scovell Scholarship, Orphan Foundation of America, Grandmothers for Peace, Grapevine Rotary Club, Sallie Mae Scholarship, Dallas Morning News TACT, U.S.109th Congressional Record, Texas House and Senate recognition and other local scholarships. Given was recognized in the April issue of Teen People 2006 as a “Teen that is Going to Change the World.” He was honored to be the cover story of Christianity Today Magazine March 2007.

Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick is a scholar-activist working on issues of human trafficking, modern slavery and human rights. He is the National Outreach Coordinator of Free the Slaves, the US Sister organization of Anti-Slavery International (the world’s oldest human rights organization). Austin’s current research seeks to answer the questions: What inspires and motivates individuals to leave slavery? What might ‘sustainable emancipation strategies’ look like? His current advocacy work, leading Free the Slaves’ United Against Slavery Campaign, connects people of faith to the best in every religion’s prophetic tradition: a belief in freedom from slavery. Austin is also the co-founder of Free the Slaves’ WarSlavery Campaign, a project calling on the United States government to end taxpayer-supported slavery in Iraq. Previous to his current doctoral work at Notre Dame, he taught in the Political Science department at San Diego State University. While in San Diego he led a human rights education campaign among at-risk communities. Austin received his masters degree from the Graduate School of International Studies.  

Carrie Buchmann was hired by Hope House, Inc. in 2002 and serve victims of domestic violence as a bilingual advocate through Hope House, Inc. In 2006, she was hired as the human trafficking case manager for the Human Trafficking Rescue Project Task Force for the Western District of Missouri. Through public awareness and community collaboration, The Human Trafficking Rescue Project has saved lives since its inception in January 2007. She works to align forces within the community to support the fight to uphold and protect the civil rights of voiceless victims within our neighborhoods and communities.

Suzanne LeLaurin, LCSW, is the Senior Vice-President for Individuals and Families at the International Institute of St. Louis.  She oversees strategic and operational programs in four departments: Social Services/Mental Health, Education, Employment and Youth/Elderly.  These departments provide services to immigrants and their families from all parts of the world now making their home in St. Louis.  She has her Masters in Social Work from Brown School of Social Work, and recently completed a 6-month Masters Certificate program in Global Mental Health. She is an adjunct instructor with the Brown School and has taught previously at St. Louis University.  In addition, she serves on the Community Advisory Board of the Regional Health Commission, and is active in several community-based coalitions.  She was named 2005 Social Worker of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers - Missouri Chapter.

Heidi Miller, a graduate student at Central Michigan University (CMU), is a motivated and enthusiastic leader on her campus and in the student grassroots movement to stop modern-day slavery. She successfully founded an anti-trafficking student organization at CMU called the Campus Coalition Against Human Trafficking, which has now spread to four college campuses in the Midwest. Heidi also organized and implemented the Great Lakes Regional Conference on Human Trafficking and is the Student Spotlighted Activist for the national chapter of the Campus Coalition Against Trafficking. Heidi has done extensive research on human trafficking and serves as a member, and research intern, on the Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force.

Suzanne Koepplinger has been the Executive Director of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center since December of 2003. She has a background in international project development and management, communications, domestic violence advocacy, and fundraising. Suzanne serves on the State of Minnesota Children’s Justice Initiative/Alcohol and Other Drugs (CJI/AOD) Core Team, Metro Urban Indian Directors (MUID) Group, MACC Alliance of Connected Communities Board of Directors, and the Greater Twin Cities United Way Council of Agency Executives - Executive Committee Treasurer and CAE Representative to the Success by Six Committee. Civic/volunteer activities include serving on the Steering Committee for the Sheila Wellstone Institute, on the FBI Civil Rights Advisory Group, and as international team leader for Global Citizens Network, bringing volunteers into indigenous communities around the globe. Suzanne is of Canadian Mohawk and European ancestry, holds a Masters degree in the Art of Leadership from Augsburg College and is a Certified Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist. Recent presentations include Trafficking of American Indian Women for the Fond du Lac College Minnesota American Indian Institute of Alcohol and Drug Addition Studies, for the Minnesota Conference on Trafficking in St. Paul, MN, and for Crimes in Indian Country Conference for law enforcement held in Sioux City, NE. In February she will co-present at the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) National Conference in Washington, D.C. on new program development and corporate/non-profit partnerships; and on trafficking in Indian country to the University of Minnesota at Duluth, MN.  

Nola Ruth recently retired after 25 years in arts management.  She served for seventeen years as the director of the Missouri Association of Community Arts Agencies, a statewide service organization that provides training and consultant services to art councils including planning, program development and fundraising.  Other experience includes instructor for arts management institutes in South Dakota and Kansas and consulting for various organizations in Illinois, Kansas and Kentucky.  Volunteer experience includes founding president of the Arts Resources Council, now the Office of Cultural Affairs for the City of Columbia.  She was also founding president of the Statewide Community Arts Association, a national arts organization.  In both instances, responsibilities included planning, fundraising and program implementation.

Angela Harper is a senior studying International Studies and Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her interest in the issue of human trafficking began four years ago as a freshman at UNC, when she became involved with her campus anti-human trafficking group, "Free the Slaves." Free the Slaves aims to spread awareness on campus about the grotesque and underrepresented issue of modern day slavery. Since her joining the group, they have brought in three speakers, all survivors of slavery, to address the student body on their experiences: Jean Robert Cadet from Haiti, Francis Bok from Sudan, and Beatrice Fernando from Sri Lanka. They have also shown various documentaries and held roundtable discussions. They have been effective in their efforts, and have increased the discourse about the topic. Currently, Angela is writing her undergraduate honors thesis on child trafficking in Ghana based on research which she conducted in the Volta region during the summer of 2007. 

Marceline White is the President of Americans for Informed Democracy (AID).  She is a committed and passionate advocate, organizer, and policy specialist. Marceline brings more than seventeen years of experience in management, fundraising, advocacy, and organizing. She is an expert in the fields of international trade, gender and development, labor rights, environmental justice, non-profit management, and youth engagement. She is committed to grassroots organizing and to empowering citizens to engage with policymakers to achieve a fairer world.

Prior to joining AID, she served as the Deputy Director of the Greater Access to Trade Expansion (GATE) Project funded by USAID’s Office of Women and Development, where she developed and led trainings to integrate gender into the USAID/Bangladesh and USAID/Peru Economic Growth programs. She was the lead author of “Pro-Poor Growth, Gender, and Markets,” a report which was disseminated to incoming Peruvian government officials. She provided comments on USAID’s Economic Strategy, which led to incorporation of gender considerations in the final government strategy.

Marceline came to the GATE project from the Women’s EDGE, where she served as Director of the Global Trade Program. She developed Women’s EDGE programs and positions on global trade issues and represented the organization to policymakers, funders, and the media. Working with women around the world, she advocated for fair trade policies and programs.  She developed the Look FIRST Campaign and a collaborative research agenda with organizations in Mexico and Jamaica  for the Trade Impact Review, which led to media coverage in Dow Jones, the Washington Post, CNN, and other media. Her advocacy efforts led to the first amendment on gender and trade introduced in the Senate as part of the Fast-Track debate in 2002. She also designed the President’s InterAgency Council on Women’s strategy and advocacy on gender and trade, which led to the first U.S. guidance to federal departments on integrating gender considerations into all economic policies in 2001. She was also instrumental in ensuring that Department of Labor trade analyses included a gender-specific review and in securing the appointment of a gender and development expert to the ACTPN.

Marceline’s other leadership experiences include serving as Board President for the Fair Trade Federation; as Director of the International Population Campaign at the Sierra Club; as a Development Associate at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research; as the Vice-President for Development for the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador; and as Environmental Organizer with MASSPIRG.

Marceline has presented on her work to Congress, at foreign embassies, to the media, and at conferences from Mexico to Bangladesh. She has also authored many articles and contributed to numerous books and journals. She received her Masters from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and her Bachelors of Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Marceline is also a published poet and visual artist. When not writing poetry and creating art, Marceline enjoys spelunking and chasing her son around playgrounds and pools.

Jennifer Kimball is co-founder of Stop Traffic, the University of Missouri’s Anti-Human Trafficking Organization. Jennifer’s work with the organization has focused primarily on the 2007 “You Can Stop Traffic in these Clothes” fashion show, lead-up events, appreciation, The Org, and application committees.  She has emgaged in grant writing for the organization.

Jennifer is a junior majoring in Women’s and Gender Studies with a minor in Leadership and Public Service.  

Jennifer feels particularly passionate about the gendered dimensions of human trafficking, the health and psychological consequences of trafficking, trafficking and the European Union.

When not working on Stop Traffic Now, Jennifer volunteers as the director of the KOPN Reel-to-Reel Project, the president of Students As Neighbors, and the president of the Women's and Gender Studies Undergraduate Student Group. She is also interested in disability rights issues, and plans to pursue graduate education in rehabilitation counseling and public policy.