Her Story
About Roxanne
I am a survivor of labor trafficking who broke into high school by registering myself without documentation, creating my own report cards to convince a counselor to let me attend. After graduating high school, I earned my bachelor's degree from Trinity DC University in Psychology and Arabic literature, then obtained my master's in IO Psychology from their DC campus. I intentionally built my career by touching every sector - spending six to seven years in mental health and behavioral health, working as an operations manager in a nonprofit legal entity, serving as a financial manager in a startup, doing training and curriculum development, and conducting grant review work. I founded the Exodus Project 10 years ago to educate my community about human trafficking, which grew from a sticker campaign into partnerships with the Attorney General Task Force in DC, schools, juvenile justice systems, and the mental health community. I even walked into the Attorney General's office and put myself on the task force, eventually chairing a department. Now I use my IO Psychology background to provide technical assistance to organizations serving survivors or hiring survivor leaders, helping them transform their organizational culture to be truly trauma-informed. I currently work with a small organization in Baltimore, ensuring their structure can support trauma-informed theory in ways that benefit both those they serve and their staff. I co-chair the Maryland Survivor Network and previously served on the board of Araminca. My approach is rooted in the belief that every time someone told me something was impossible, I found a way to do it anyway.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Roxanne
01What do you attribute your success to?
Every time I heard that something wasn't possible, I found a way to do it. I'm not the obedient woman that I'm expected to be, so when I see a challenge, I see it as a strategy. When I attempt something, I don't just hope it will work - if I choose to attempt it, I already know that I won. I already know I'm going to be successful. Throughout my educational and professional journey, many people said things were impossible. When I wanted to get into high school without documentation, they said it was impossible, but I did it. When I wanted to educate people about anti-trafficking, they said it was impossible, but I did it. When people said I couldn't walk into the Attorney General's office and put myself on the task force without an invite, I did it anyway - and I even chaired a department inside the task force. That defiance in the face of impossibility is my motivation. I don't wait for permission, and I never sacrifice my autonomy for someone else's comfort.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I ever received is that your lived experience is the exact roadmap you will need to get to every desire that you have. This wisdom came from one of my favorite movies, Slumdog Millionaire. In that film, the main character goes on a game show, and every answer he knows is based on his lived experience - that's how he knew the answers. It wasn't because he had a master's degree, it wasn't because he had a title or a position. It was because he had the courage to acknowledge those experiences, and those experiences made him a millionaire. That principle has guided my entire career - understanding that everything I've been through, every sector I've touched, every challenge I've faced, has given me exactly what I need to create the change I want to see in the world.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Never, never, ever wait for permission. And never sacrifice your autonomy for someone else's comfort. Throughout my career, I've learned that when the world challenges you and tells you something is impossible, that's exactly when you need to push forward. Don't be the obedient woman you're expected to be - when you see a challenge, see it as a strategy. If you choose to attempt something, know that you've already won before you even start. The world will try to make you wait for invitations, wait for approval, wait for the right credentials or the right connections. But I walked into the Attorney General's office and put myself on that task force without waiting for an invite, and I ended up chairing a department. Your lived experience is your greatest asset, and you don't need anyone's permission to use it to create change.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge right now is the immense amount of fear - valid fear - around the changes in laws that we are collectively experiencing in America. One of my main challenges is guiding organizations into a space where they can actually see an opportunity within this change. Institutional harm is real, and it impacts everybody - the people working for the institutions, the people who benefit from them, and the people who don't benefit from them. It's part of our community. Because of the immense amount of harm that has taken place, trust is broken, and I constantly ask myself how we restore that trust. Acknowledging the harm while actively restoring trust sounds simple in words, but it does take time and, most of all, effort. However, I believe the biggest opportunity right now is to see things from a different perspective and recognize that right now, where we are now, this is where we build. This is the building season, whether individually or within communities. That may look different than business as usual - it might mean that organizations need to be working together instead of competing against each other. It's a great time to be creative, because you might be able to stop the funds, but you can't stop the creativity. You can change the laws, but you can't stop the creativity. And one thing about us as humans - we will create.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are humility, compassion, integrity, and courage. These principles guide both my professional work in helping organizations become trauma-informed and my personal life as a parent and survivor leader.
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