Vicki Taylor
Vicki Taylor is a dedicated faith-based nonprofit professional serving as the U.S. Ambassador for Community House Damaris, a safe house and recovery program in Athens, Greece. In her role, she focuses on development, partnership building, volunteer engagement, and fundraising to support the reintegration of women and children who have survived sex trafficking and exploitation. Vicki combines her operational leadership with her passion for mission-driven work, ensuring sustainable impact through long-term strategic partnerships.
Before her work in nonprofit leadership, Vicki had a long career in K–12 education, specializing in choral music. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Central Florida and became a certified K–12 choral music educator, directing high school choirs for many years. Her ability to teach, mentor, and inspire others through music laid the foundation for her current work in guiding survivors and training volunteers, blending education with empowerment.
Vicki’s path to nonprofit leadership was shaped by personal loss and a search for purpose. Following the tragic death of her youngest child, she pursued mission work, participating in short-term assignments in Turkey and working with Leadership Development International to promote cross-cultural dialogue and peace. In 2011, a chance encounter with the founder of Community House Damaris in Athens set her on her current mission, where she now channels her faith, resilience, and educational expertise to serve survivors and foster lasting community impact.
• Certified Choral Music Educator K-12
• University of Central Florida- B.A.
• Leadership Development International
• LifeWork Leadership in Orlando
• Mission Increase
• J4 Leaders in Orlando
• SAFE (alliance of people doing anti-trafficking work in Central Florida)
• Community Health Damaris (volunteering since 2011
• Full-time since 2024)
• Faros (organization ministering to unaccompanied minors in Athens)
• Petaluda (organization ministering to children in the Roma community in Athens)
• Short-term missions in Turkey
What do you attribute your success to?
I'm a person of faith, and I believe that God has taken all of the things from my life, my joys, my sorrows, my triumphs, my disasters, and used them to get me ready for the job that he was calling me to, which was to serve this organization. It's 100% God's calling and guidance in my life and faith in Christ. God has been leading me, calling me, and then equipping me for this work.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Learn as much as you can about trafficking and trauma-informed care, and then also, go. It's so important. Go and visit. Go see. Go see what's happening in the world. It's through going and seeing that you learn and you gain a greater perspective, a greater global perspective on what's happening in the world. You know, there's a lot of trafficking here in the U.S., but trafficking used to be a $150 billion business globally, and that number has changed. It's now $240 billion, and that's just in the last 5 years. The problem is so much bigger. But the benefit to me is you can't fix all of it. You really can only have impact in a few areas. So, to me, it was find the area that you feel that you could be the most effective in, and plug in there. And for me, it was helping this group of women and children in this place in Athens, who have become dear to me. Serve where you are, serve where God sends you, and then help as many people as you can.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The biggest challenge is the expanding global scope of human trafficking, which makes addressing the problem complex and overwhelming; the key opportunity is leveraging networks and platforms to engage more partners and resources for measurable, life‑changing impact.