Episode 017 - Transcript

Leslie: This is Someone Like Me, End Slavery Tennessee's podcast, where we talk to sex trafficking survivors and experts working to fight the crime. I'm Leslie, your host, and today's episode tells the story of one of the ingenious ways members of the community have built restorative and helpful structures to help survivors in big ways. As you might imagine, those who have been victims of trafficking may not have had opportunities to build work experience, so offering ways for survivors to gain this experience is an incredibly helpful way to be involved in their healing and thriving. In this episode, Stacy and I sit down with Lauren Carpenter, the co-founder of Branded Collective, an employer of many of the survivors of End Slavery Tennessee. Branded not only sold jewelry that helped fund survivors in their healing journey but provided jobs for survivors to ready them for the workforce. If you're a business owner or are looking for creative ways to help in the rehabilitation of survivors, listen closely to this episode. It'll give you some important takeaways for developing opportunity for these women. Then stick around after our conversation with Lauren because you'll get to hear from previous employees of Branded, who have special messages from their time there. As a content warning, this conversation has references to subjects that may be triggering or difficult for some, so please use your discretion when listening.

Leslie: Alright! Well, Stacy, start us off with some “Would You Rather” questions?

Lauren: I can't wait.

*laughter*

Stacy: I can't wait to hear what you have to say. So the first “Would You Rather” question for Miss Lauren is would you rather have one wish granted today? Or 10 wishes granted 20 years from now?

Lauren: This is kind of a hard one.

Leslie: Ooo that’s a good question.

Lauren: Am I going to be alive 20 years from now would be the first question I would ask?

Stacy: Wow, she took it really deeply fast.

Lauren: I hope that I am. But maybe I would take the one wish today because you just never know.

Stacy: Hmm. Okay, I like that.

Lauren: Do you answer this too?

Episode 017 - Transcript

Stacy: I'd be happy to answer this answer.

Leslie: Answer it. I’m curious.

Stacy: I'm gonna take it today too, because I'm quite a bit older than you. My chances are lessening all the time. So I think that was a wise choice actually.

*laughter*

Leslie: Yeah.

Stacy: Yoda like, wisdom there.

Leslie: That's only one wish. I mean, boy. It's almost easier to be like, No, I don't want any wishes right now if it’s only one. My gosh, that's very, that's a lot of pressure. I'd rather just continue with everything that's happening. And just you know, but you're right. We don't know how much time we have.

Stacy: That's true.

Leslie: Hmmmm

Lauren: Took it real deep. Sorry.

Leslie: Yeah. Wow.

Stacy: That’s okay, let’s get a little lighter? Let's, let's move it to a lighter question. How about would you rather be forced to sing along or dance to every single song you hear?

*laughter*

Lauren: Well, first of all, probably no one would want me to sing along to every song that I hear. My husband is a professional singer. I am not. I wish I was. I believe I would probably like to dance. Although it'd be very tiring, dancing makes you very happy.

Stacy: Hmm.

Lauren: So I think I would want to be like, wouldn't it be fun to be a backup dancer for somebody like a pop star?

Stacy: Ooo that's an interesting idea.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Lauren: So, if you imagine yourself as a backup dancer, and you could dance, just incredibly, I think that will be fun so I’m gonna pick dancing.

Leslie: It’d be good exercise too if you're constantly having to dance.

Lauren: You'd be so in shape.

Leslie: That's right. That's right.

Stacy: And you could create different dances. I mean so many possibilities. That's a good answer too, Lauren. All right. I'll do one more just for fun. Would you rather visit 100 years in the past? Or 100 years in the future?

Lauren: Well, I know what happened in the past so I'm going to pick future. I think it would be fun to see what's ahead that I will never get to see, right?

Stacy: That's so true.

Leslie: Oh, yeah.

Stacy: And if you can imagine what it was like for someone 100 years ago, how could you have imagined that we would even have these supercomputers in our pockets. That, that would be incalculable.

Lauren: Oh, yeah.

Stacy: So 100 years from now, what would be incalculable for us?

Leslie: Right?

Lauren: Who knows?

Stacy: Wow. All right, thank you.

Lauren: That was fun.

Leslie: Yeah. Okay. So Lauren Carpenter, you are the Founder of Branded Collective. And you actually just announced this week that Branded Collective is shutting down, which we will talk about later on. But what we're here to do today is talk about how Branded Collective works in the lives of trafficking survivors, and the work that you did to form Branded Collective and what it is and all the things. So let's start at the beginning. What brought you to an understanding of human trafficking? And what made you want to get involved?

Episode 017 - Transcript

Lauren: So at the job I was working at, at the time, I think I was 24-25, a friend of mine lent me a book one day at lunchtime. And she just had a stack of books in her office, and it was called Half the Sky, which probably a lot of people that listen to this podcast may have read that book. But it was about women's rights in the developing world. And one of the sections was on trafficking. And I had never really thought about trafficking before, definitely hadn't thought about it existing around me here in Nashville or in the US. And it just kind of opened my eyes and made me think about, well, if it's happening in the developing world, it's for sure happening around me. So that caused me to kind of just do a deep dive into--Are there organizations here that support trafficking survivors? Is it happening a lot? And as soon as I started to do some research, I was just blown away.

Leslie: In what way?

Lauren: Just that, like I had grown up to that point, learning about all these issues about, you know, clean water, and helping orphans and like all of these really noble causes. And I had grown up in church and love Jesus and just didn't know about trafficking. And I think it broke my heart because it was other people doing terrible things to people. And for some reason, I just couldn't shake it. So I didn't really set out to learn about it. It was kind of a happenstance that I read this book that really opened my eyes, and then I couldn't stop ruminating on it.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: And it just broke my heart.

Leslie: I totally hear what you're saying, when we're in college, there's a lot of conversation about organizations tend to focus on college students, because college students are passionate, and excited, and missions trips to help with clean water and going overseas. But it sounds like you came to an understanding of domestic human trafficking, which is not as widely discussed, and doesn't look like third world issues do.

Lauren: Oh, and a lot of times with Branded when we would do events here in town, or anywhere in the US, people would say, “So where are the survivors from?” And we would say here with us, they're in Nashville. And they might be from somewhere else in the US, but they have been trafficked through Nashville. And they would say, “what?” You know, just shocked, which is the same reaction that I had. What?

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: I think once you know, it kind of just explodes your head a little bit.

Leslie: So what was the path from discovering it to forming Branded Collective?

Episode 017 - Transcript

Lauren: Well, in the same time that I was reading this book and learning about trafficking, I met a friend at church through my small group. And her name's Emily, who's my co-founder of Branded. And we started just going on hikes and getting to know one another. We really weren't setting out to create a business. We were just learning about one another. And we found a lot in common. We both loved fashion. We both had a heart for trafficking survivors. We were both kind of bothered by the issue. And it was something that we discovered very early on. And I shared with her my idea of eventually creating a social enterprise that would help trafficking survivors. And I'm the type of person that I love the idea but I don't have the, the what is the word, the guts to start.

*laughter*

Lauren: Like I could do this eventually. And I told her, you know, I said one day, I want to start this. And by one day I meant maybe like in my late 30s, my 40s. We were in our 20s. And I’ll never forget, the next time I went to hang out with her, she said, so I've been thinking a lot about what you said, and I want to start this. Like right now?

*laughter*

Lauren: Yeah, I've got a business plan laid out. And I'd love for you to do this with me. And she had designs made up for t shirts. I mean, she'd already kind of like dreamed it up a little bit.

Leslie: Oh my word. Did you know it was going to be jewelry at that point?

Lauren: No, we thought it was going to be clothing, actually.

Leslie: Okay.

Lauren: So we started off with T shirts, kind of as a foray into clothing. We eventually did do some handmade clothing, but it was very expensive to make and sell.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: So we ended up with jewelry because it was something that could be easily produced and a skill that could be easily taught.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: But yet Emily came to me, I'll never forget, it was like a 25-page document that was, you know, here's how I think we could do it. She's very creative.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Leslie: Oh wow, does she have a background in business? Do either of you have a background in business?

Lauren: No?

Leslie: Nice.

Lauren: Emily is an actress. She went to acting school. I have a minor in business, but my focus in college was public relations. And so, you know, neither one of us really knew anything about entrepreneurship, but we both were passionate about the issue.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: And we just said, you know what? If we want to do something, let's start small. Let's do something. And so we were 25 when we started it, and we both were doing other things at the time, and it was a passion of ours. And it just became a larger thing over the years.

Leslie: Yeah. What was the first step? Because one hurdle I see a lot of people having is wanting to start something, wanting to get involved. And we've talked about this, Stacy, is that volunteering sometimes does not look like being on the ground with survivors, because a lot of times, that's a trained professional, you know, that needs to be working with these people.

Stacy: Oh yes.

Leslie: And so sometimes literally, the best thing that you can do to get involved is donating to organizations so they can pay their people. But I see a hurdle there for you all. Because if your goal is to have survivors, making these pieces, I mean, what did that look like for you to start relationships to make that happen?

Lauren: That's a great question. So we started in 2012. And we were making everything ourselves. And actually, the reason we made jewelry is because it was kind of like a capital campaign at the beginning. We sold 100…

Leslie: Oh interesting.

Lauren: Yeah, so we weren't even planning to do jewelry at all. But this concept came to us, which was the Branded bracelet. And so we sold 100 Branded bracelets for $100. And we we call them our first 100, the people who founded our company. And so we raised our startup funds for our website and our T shirts, which is really where we were headed. And then, kind of a few years down the line, we had learned about ethical fashion, learned that perhaps the T shirts that we were selling may have been contributing to the problem. We weren't sure. We couldn't really trace the origin of the shirts.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Stacy: Mmhm.

Leslie: Talk about that for a second though.

Lauren: Yeah, that was kind of a journey in and of itself. A lot of trafficking exists in the labor sector, which is not, you know. Here in the US, it's a little bit less common. It's, I think, a lot more times that sex trafficking survivors that we're working with, but the T shirts that we were selling, you know, some of them they were made all over the place. And the company we were buying them from would say, Oh, yes, they're paid fair wages, and you know, everything's all good. But there was no way we could prove that. We couldn't actually go and see who was making them and see their working conditions. And so we went on a whole journey back in 2014. And we made our own organic cotton tops. We hired two local seamstresses and designers to make some beautiful shirts.

Leslie: Wow.

Stacy: Mmhm.

Lauren: And we started educating people about trafficking in the labor force. And we were telling a lot of stories, you know, it was like, there's trafficking here, there’s trafficking here. Just trying to communicate a lot of ideas.

Leslie: Yes.

Lauren: The Branded concept.

Leslie: Yeah, talk about so on your journey to talking about ethical fashion, getting there, the Branded concept, because you talked about the Branded bracelet. What does that mean? What are you getting at there?

Lauren: Well, a lot of times when people are trafficked, they are branded physically with a tattoo, or marking of some sort like a burn mark. And it's really a way of controlling them, of saying, I own you. And it's something that survivors have to live with. Now, End Slavery Tennessee, this is really cool. I don't know if people know this that listen to the show. But a lot of times, one of the things they do is they take the women to get these removed or to get them covered up.

Stacy: Yes.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Lauren: And many people don't know that survivors have been branded. And so we were talking about that. And that actually was the thing that people were connecting with the most when we would talk to people.

Leslie: Wow.

Lauren: And it really is the thing that hit us the most to you know, to be forcibly branded with the name of someone else that you don't want to be controlled by, is just demeaning.

Leslie: Or to be branded, because I've learned that a lot of these, they look like tattoos of boyfriend’s names. And when you're living under the idea that this person loves you. This is my boyfriend. Of course, I'll get my, you know, that sort of manipulation, in that, living under that without even realizing what's happening is very powerful.

Lauren: It is. And I think looking in the mirror every day and seeing that person's name, not being able to escape it.

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: Or being out somewhere and somebody seeing you and knowing, you know, that's what that means.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: So we started talking to people about that. And we found the branded concept really overpowered the ethical fashion story we were trying to share. And so in 2015, we said, you know what, if we're going to do something, let's do it well, and let's communicate one singular idea that people can understand so they can understand trafficking, and the nuances and the things that happen and why it happens here and all the things. So we had, up to that point, donated 25% of our profits every year to End Slavery.

Leslie: Okay.

Lauren: And loved working with Derri, knew her through church, actually too.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: And we came to her and said, what about actually training survivors to make something, like, and paying them directly instead of donating. You know, we weren’t, at that point, we weren’t big enough to really be able to help End Slavery Tennessee a whole lot anyway. And so she said, that would be really cool. We've not had anything like that. I would love for you guys to test it out and just come in. So we started going into the office two hours on a Wednesday, every week, I think it was very short. And we would bring these little fishing

Episode 017 - Transcript tackle boxes with hammers and metal blanks, which are what we make the bracelets out of, and we would teach them how to stamp on metal.

Leslie: Okay.

Lauren: And we would have them color and polish them. And then later, we would take them home and bend them. And eventually it came to the point where we would go and polish them at Emily's apartment. I mean, we have all sorts of stories about where we did our work.

*laughter*

Leslie: Yeah, yeah.

Lauren: But we found it was eye opening to come in and actually work with survivors, because that was the first time I had actually even met survivors. I had been talking about them all the time.

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: But I didn't have personal experience working with them. So that was eye opening for us. And that was the moment we said, this is what we should be doing. This is what we want to do. And it I think it made a bigger impact because people were able to directly benefit from working for us. And we were able to help them move forward in their lives in a different way.

Leslie: Mmhm. That's the strategy behind, the business model is remarkable from not just that survivors are the ones making these, but the process of how they're branding them. Tell us about the names on each piece. How does that work?

Lauren: So every time you purchase a Branded piece, it has one initial or two initials on it. And that is the mark of the survivor that made it, which is so cool that we've been able to, over the years, we've had 27 women that have worked for us. And each of them has chosen their own initials, sometimes it's their initials, sometimes it's just a random letter that they like.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: And we've been able to use that concept to communicate who they are a little bit. And so when you wear your piece, you can actually look on our website and read about the survivor who made it, not about her personal story and her journey, or her trafficking, anything like that. But about who she is and who she wants to become. And we do like a little interview process with them when they are hired on, several months after they're hired on once they're comfortable working and everything.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: And ask them if they have advice for people, if they have anything they want to tell the audience that's wearing their pieces. And that really changed our world. Before that, you know, people were understanding the concept of trafficking and like just kind of understanding that it exists here in Nashville and in the US. But they weren't personally connected to a person. After that, they were able to say, oh, this person made my jewelry. And actually the other cool part is you can write a message to the person that made your jewelry on our website.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: So if you look on our messages of hope you'll see I mean, hundreds of people who have written to the survivor that made their piece.

Leslie: Oh, that’s cool.

Lauren: You know, oh, just amazing, uplifting words.

Leslie: Just a quick note, I'm wearing an RO piece today, right now.

Lauren: Aww RO.

Leslie: Yeah. So why did you choose to partner with End Slavery specifically? I know you talked a bit about approaching Derri, because she went to the same church. But what about End Slavery was important to you?

Lauren: Well, it's important to note that when we first started Branded, we were learning a lot about trafficking and learning a lot about the people who were doing anti-trafficking work in Nashville. And we met with pretty much every nonprofit that does that sort of work here at the time in 2012. And funny enough, we saved End Slavery Tennessee as our last meeting, because we thought, that's so obvious. You know, they're, they're big enough, they don't need us. We know Derri. I don't know, we just had this thing in our head, like, maybe they don't really need to have a partner like us. And when we met with Derri, we were like, that's the one.

Leslie: Hm.

Lauren: It's very obvious. Once we learned that people were already doing such valuable work. We are not lawyers, we're not therapists. We're not doctors. We don't provide any of the services that you would think that a trafficking survivor needs when they're rescued. But what we did know about was a little bit about business. We love fashion. We enjoy talking to

Episode 017 - Transcript people, and we love social media. So we were able to take the skills that we had honed, and use them to help survivors in a different way. And I think it's important. There's so many people that want to help survivors and they come in with these big hearts, and we did the same thing. You know, we have big hearts, we want to help them. But it's important to note what you're good at, and to use those skills to partner with people who are already doing great work. And End Slavery Tennessee was doing excellent work.

Leslie: Yes.

Lauren: We knew we couldn't replace that. We just wanted to complement it. And so that's why we chose to partner with End Slavery Tennessee.

Leslie: Right.

Stacy: Yeah. And as End Slavery Tennessee, we love partnering with complementary organizations. We can’t, actually can't do what we do without partners, and a variety of them. You know, some partners help us with working with minors, when we talk about foster care system, some of the people that are working in foster care, that's a big part of helping each other. We go in, and we do prevention groups, and the social enterprise. There's just so many things that can happen, churches sometimes partner with us for awareness events. So it's just really good to hear you say that, we became the number one in the nation for addressing human trafficking issues, at least, according to Shared Hope International, because of our partnerships and our ability to kind of work with each other in the community, with law enforcement, and with the court systems, and in fact that the later episodes you'll be hearing from some of these partners, so you can kind of understand how that all comes together.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: And how the community, I mean, there's so many different roles that you can play. And when you think about traditionally, I want to volunteer, I want to help survivors, how do I do that? Well think about the skills that you're really good at and think about what you do in your own professional life. And how could you use that to help a survivor in a certain way? There's probably a way you haven't thought of that's pretty creative. And I love talking about that, because I think it's so important. And it empowers the people who want to help, and it empowers the survivors as well.

Leslie: Yeah.

Stacy: I really love your trauma-informed perspective. That was something I think you do so uniquely and so beautifully. The careful, patient relationship, that's just been one of the things I think has been something beautiful that you have done. And I have a story about, I got to visit, do you remember? I visited your operation way back from the beginning, when

Episode 017 - Transcript you were taking that tackle box around. I was invited. Here's how I got invited I, I'm a social worker, a master's in social work. And I was invited to do a support group in the safe house. And one of the women that was in that group told me about her experience working in Branded.

Lauren: I do remember that.

Stacy: Yeah. And she said, you have to come and visit. And I was like, well, I'd love to, but that's a work environment. I'm not sure. But I certainly did want to come and see what it was like to be in the space. And graciously, you guys let me in. And I got to actually try my hand at it. It's not that easy actually. There's a real skill to this.

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: There is a skill.

*laughter*

Stacy: I thought oh, this will be, it was not, it was not as easy as it seemed. But you made the space a safe place. It almost felt like a support group. A work environment that was crafted with trauma-informed ideas. And I just really respected that. And I think the person who invited me wanted me to understand how it felt for her, the place of safety. It's a really unique thing to do as a business. And I just I just want to honor…

Lauren: Thank you.

Stacy: …that careful way of managing trauma.

Lauren: I appreciate that. And I'll say that was learned over time.

Leslie: Oh yeah.

Lauren: Certainly, the End Slavery Tennessee staff helped us through that. We had some bumps along the way, made some mistakes, as everyone does when they start working with survivors.

Leslie: Sure.

Lauren: You know, we did some silly things. And we had such wonderful people that came to work for us. And we had so much fun. We were goofy, we, we still we still do. We listen to music and just be silly. I think it was nice for them to be able to take a break and, sounds funny, to take a break for work, but like to do something with their hands…

Episode 017 - Transcript

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: …that was meaningful, and also just have some time to be in a smaller group of people that really cared about them.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Stacy: And to be productive.

Lauren: Mmhm.

Stacy: And to be able to do something and earn, you know, money, something that they could put on a resume.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: Oh, yeah, that was the coolest part for me is being able to help people say, you know, yeah, she worked with me. She was excellent. This is the feedback I have on her. I just loved doing that.

Leslie: Giving referrals and having employers call you.

Lauren: Yes!

Leslie: That's incredible. Yeah, I can just imagine working with survivors in the early stages of recovery provides a lot of, as you said, bumps and, and mistakes. Was there something in that process that surprised you overwhelmingly?

Lauren: I think one of the things I was most surprised about at the very beginning, is that I had a very naive perception of what the survivor was like. I thought that once she was rescued, she was ready to move on with her life.

*Stacy chuckles*

Lauren: And she was ready, Stacy's laughing at me y’all. She was ready to move forward. And you know, she wanted to get away from the people who were doing this to her. And I found that many times, she was very attached to the person that did this to her. And maybe even had children with the person or maybe it was a family member. And that's even more complicated. There were a couple times that we worked with people, and they would be there that day, and then we wouldn't see them again.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Lauren: And that was always really tough. Because I thought, man, they were so close. They, they just got here. They had a community of people around them that love them, that were cheering for them. And then they left of their own volition. That was something I had a hard time understanding.

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: And still do, but also have learned over the years why, why trafficking can be such a hold on them.

Leslie: Yes.

Lauren: And why sometimes that's all they know.

Leslie: Mmhm. You talked about just a second ago about referrals and talking to employers of people who have worked with you. When you look at other situations for survivors who might be trying to seek employment, what are barriers that you see for them? And how did you try to address that with Branded? And what are some ways that other businesses could remove those barriers or help to make them a little bit more accessible?

Lauren: Well, I think a lot of times the people that we've worked with either have limited education, so they have limited opportunities. Or they might have a federal record, which is a big barrier to getting employment a lot of places. Or they might have never worked before so they don't have experience.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: And you know, the other thing, the other big thing that I should probably, should have mentioned first, is the safe environment.

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: Just being in an environment where they won't be tempted to go back into the lifestyle they've left, or what they won't be around people who are trying to make bad decisions around them. And that was something we really wanted to drive home. We even as Stacy said, we were in the End Slavery Tennessee offices from the very beginning with the girls. We never worked anywhere else. We were always here, which was important, because I think it was a place they felt safe. And somewhere that they knew everybody was rooting for them, and they would never be in danger.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Lauren: So that was one thing that was important to us was to create that safe space. And I think together with End Slavery Tennessee, we really did that well.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: But I think for other employers to keep in mind, one of the things that I noticed over the years is that the women would come to work and whatever they came to work with, affected their entire day. So something might have happened the night before, that was really bothersome to them or very traumatic. And they would come in with that. And when you're making jewelry, it's kind of a dangerous process if you're coming in with a lot of stuff on your mind. So we started doing a daily check-in, and we called it our gratitude time. And so we would go around our small team, normally it was four or five of us. And we would say one thing that we're grateful for. We had a whiteboard, and we would make everyone write it, write it, claim it. And that was one way to actually just kind of reset our minds and to reset the survivors’ minds to say, okay, I might be experiencing something really awful right now. But there's still something to be grateful for.

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: Whether it is my cup of coffee today, or it is I'm in such a great place in my life. I feel awesome. So that was something that I think I learned from and personally use now. I constantly am trying to think of gratitude thoughts, and what am I grateful for in this moment, even if something's really hard. And I think other employers could take on some of that patience and some of the care that we learned over the years from working with survivors. A lot of times they're gonna come in, in a certain state. On one hand, they have to learn that this is a job, and you have to perform at your job.

Leslie: And there's agency to that. That's empowering…

Lauren: Totally.

Leslie: …to know that you, there's a sort of responsibility.

Stacy: Mmhm. Yep.

Lauren: And then on the other hand, they need a little bit of leeway sometimes. Maybe something happens at home. Their kids are at home by themselves, something happens, you know. That's happened with our employees before.

Leslie: Oh.

Lauren: My kids started fighting at home. I've got to go do this. Please go, you know, we're not going to leave your kids out there to just fend for themselves.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: So at certain times, it's a hard line to walk of being lenient enough that you're caring, and you're really supporting the survivor where they are, but also being firm enough with your rules that they aren’t taking advantage of you. And that was really something that I learned early on. I remember when we first started our work, we didn't have any sort of handbook.

Leslie: Okay.

Lauren: We didn't have any work rules. It was just an understanding that we thought everybody would come in, do their job, and leave.

*laughter*

Stacy: Sure.

Lauren: I don’t know. And you know, you have to realize that my experience is not everyone's experience.

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: And I had had several jobs before I started Branded and had learned those things along the way. But we would have people who would pick up their cell phones all the time, want to, oh, can I just text this person back real quick?

Leslie: Hm.

Lauren: Take a smoke break every 30 minutes, you know, that sort of thing. So we actually learned from error, you know.

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: It was trial and error. And we eventually had a handbook that really helped us to set out clear expectations when a person came to work for us. But it also included some of those. I don't know how you say it, but maybe like the touchy-feely part, which is…

Leslie: The trauma-informed part, maybe?

Lauren: Of course, like we love to, to be here for you, we're more than a boss, we really did become friends with so many of the women that we worked with, and still are friends and keep up with many, many of them. So I think it's a different kind of place to work. But also, I

Episode 017 - Transcript want to, you know, Emily and I both wanted to make it structured enough that they would be prepared for the outside world when they went to work.

Leslie: I think that's, that's huge, because I was just listening to a podcast episode this morning with the Founder of Open Table Nashville…

Stacy: Mmhm.

Leslie: …who works with people experiencing homelessness. And she spoke quite a bit about agency and responsibility is empowering. And for these women who probably for large majority of their lives have not seen employment modeled well, maybe. Or who have never experienced, you know, I worked at an ice cream parlor in high school, I wasn't great at it. I wasn't brilliant, I probably didn't do a great job scooping ice cream, but I had the knowledge of… I come in at a certain time, my phone goes away, I serve the customer even though I might not like it, even though they might treat me bad. But, but all of that is learning experiences that these people are not getting.

Lauren: Mmhm.

Leslie: And so if there are businesses listening, that want to be able to make these barriers lower, it sounds like you have to be very intentional, to understand trauma.

Stacy: Mmhm.

Lauren: Mmhm.

Leslie: Trauma-informed, and we talk a lot about that meaning, it's beyond just understanding that everybody's walking through their own battles, which we should all be doing anyway, having that awareness. But it's, it's understanding that there are going to be difficult things that they don't have the tools, but you can help them and empower them by laying out guidelines.

Lauren: That's right.

Leslie: That is huge.

Lauren: It's also helpful for the employer, because we found many times people were wanting to do things or, you know, like, I'm gonna be gone this day. Is that, okay? And it might be for something that they wanted to do that was fun. And our handbook gave us the tools to say, well, these are the things that are covered in the handbook. This is how many times you can be absent. We understand things come up, but it is a part-time job. So you make time to be at your part-time job. And if you aren't at your part-time job, you don't get paid for your part-time job.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: So those sorts of like guidelines that we learned, and we tweaked that handbook, you know, over the years, several times.

Leslie: Oh gosh, yeah.

Lauren: And worked really closely with End Slavery Tennessee to make sure we were being trauma-informed in that because we're not trained therapists, you know? We're just two girls coming into work with survivors.

*laughter*

Leslie: Uh huh, uh huh.

Lauren: We didn’t know anything. That made it a good challenge for us. And it made it such a learning experience for I think everybody involved.

Leslie: Mmhm. You’ve spoken a couple times about the women that you're still friends with, or you said that some people might come in for a day and then, and then leave. Is there like a shining story of transformation that you remember through the years that you carry with you?

Lauren: I think each woman we worked with is so different. I think one of the survivors we worked with early on, she was pretty young. And she already had a little girl, but she wasn't living with her. And she worked with us, I want to say probably about six months. And she's just, she was a bright, happy person, regardless of what she had been through and the challenges she was facing, she would come in, and she would work, and she would be ready to work, which is very unusual. A lot of times, you know, it's a roller coaster of emotions that we go through. And as humans, we're all going to do that. But I remember her bright, sunny attitude. And as people would come and go in the program, which tends to happen, people relapse or they leave. She was always there. And she now is married with another baby. And she has a full-time job. And she lives in place of her own with her husband and, you know, I keep up with her on Facebook. And I just see that as an example of somebody that said, I'm going to do better for myself. And it's simple things like getting a full-time job, having a family. Those are the things that are normal for many people, but not normal for many survivors. And I've watched her grow over the years and really have enjoyed seeing what she's done.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: And there's so many people that we've worked with that do similar things.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Leslie: Yeah, right.

Lauren: That's just one that sticks out in my mind a little bit.

Leslie: And on the flip side of that,have there been any instances that have grieved you particularly?

Lauren: Certainly, there was one survivor we worked with several years ago. And it had been a while since somebody had relapsed in our presence…

Leslie: Okay.

Lauren: …I will say. So earlier…

Leslie: In your presence? You mean like, yeah, wow.

Lauren: In our presence, you know, while they were working for us.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: And early on, we had several instances of that. But later in our journey, we had kind of come up with a way to more intentionally screen the people that were working for us, because we started to work with tools that were sharper and more dangerous.

Leslie: Okay, yeah.

Lauren: So we would wait until the survivor had been clean for a certain amount of time. And then we would interview them, and have a, you know, a formal process. And maybe there were two survivors that wanted to work for us. And we would, we would hire one, both if we were able to. It just depended on what we needed. And this one particular survivor, she was so sweet. But one day, she was kind of nodding off at her desk. And we were thinking, gosh, she's tired today that's odd. And we had three people working for us at the time. And one of them pulled us aside and said, I think she might be high today.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: And I've never been high before. I wouldn't know what it looked like. So I naively, was like, are you sure she's not just tired?

*laughter*

Episode 017 - Transcript

Leslie: That was like when I was an RA in college, and they, I had to like, I didn't know what pot smelled like. I didn't, and I'm the person that's supposed to be enforcing, I don't know what the heck my girls got away with. I have no idea.

Lauren: That's the thing, if you, if you haven't done it before, you're kind of like, I want to believe the best in everyone.

Leslie: Sure, sure.

Lauren: So I was like, surely this is just an off day for her. And we found out she had relapsed, and she had been high, probably more than that at work. So that to us was really disappointing that she came, she was hammering on metal that day, you know. It could have been dangerous.

Leslie: Oh.

Stacy: Mmhm.

Lauren: So we learned a lot from that situation. I'm not sure where she is now, I pray for her a lot. And I pray that she is doing better. But I really don't know, because I was never able to connect with her in a way like social media or anything like that. And there are several people like that over the years that I've, haven't been able to keep in touch with, that I know relapsed at a certain point. And some of them are probably doing great. And some of them aren't, it just kind of depends. And that's the hard part about this work because you feel so passionately about each person that you meet. But you don't always know the other side of the story.

Leslie: Yeah, right.

Stacy: Yeah, you know, at End Slavery Tennessee, it is part of the process. And it is a long process to recover from such multiple complex trauma.

Lauren: Mmhm.

Stacy: And so not that we expect relapse, or we, we don't, we don't expect it. But we do take it into consideration that it is part of that process. And one thing I really love about the concept that we use with End Slavery Tennessee is once somebody comes into our fold, once they've been identified and they're welcome, they never are shut out.

Lauren: That’s right.

Stacy: So you can relapse. These are your choices because it's about ending slavery. So there's a, there's a real emphasis on freedom.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Leslie: Mmhm.

Stacy: So you're free to make your choices…even if it's relapse. We don't love it, because we know that that's hindering your progress forward. But we really want to make sure people understand, we're still here for you.

Lauren: That’s right.

Stacy: If you make a mistake, if you fail, if you fail forward is like, what, that's one of our values is that failure, failure can happen, but we're gonna fail forward and move forward from that. So once somebody is here, they're part of us, we care about them, it's not over.

Lauren: You all do such a beautiful job at that.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: And we have learned so much from watching all the case managers here, just how intentionally they care for their clients and the relationships that they build. And sometimes it's hard to build relationships.

Stacy: Yeah.

Lauren: You know, sometimes people are more closed off. Can you imagine first coming into a situation like this, where there are a bunch of people around you that are saying we care about you? But you've never heard that before. It’s like…what?

Leslie: Yeah, or you have, but it looked really different. There was a survivor interview we did where she, you know, in the grooming process, she was told all of these things from her trafficker for two years before she even was, there was any sort of sex act involved. And so then to come in to End Slavery Tennessee, and there's the same words…

Stacy: Mmhm.

Leslie: Right? But for a completely different purpose. And that has to be so disorienting to start to realize who are the people that really are on my team and who are trying to just use words to manipulate me?

Stacy: Right, are you people for real? That’s what they….are you for real? Are you serious?

Lauren: It’s hard to tell the difference.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Stacy: This is who you really are? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. That's how I feel the voice of a survivor, you know, like...

Leslie: Yeah.

Stacy: They're not, they're not sure. And they shouldn't, that, that's actually a very good instinct.

Lauren: It's healthy.

Leslie: Yeah. Yeah.

Stacy: So I'm delighted when we see them act skeptical about what we're offering because…

Leslie: That’s a great point.

Stacy: …that’s a good instinct. The other thing is, when someone begins to really deal with some of the hard work in the midst of their trauma and dealing with stuff, it would be understandable that that is overwhelming. And to get the edge off, sometimes, survivors do relapse.

Lauren: Mmhm.

Stacy: And even though it's not great, it's not the way we want. But you can understand when you are so overwhelmed with the reality of dealing with your trauma, I observed that in my group, I would see people making a lot of progress. I can think one person in particular, she was making so much progress, and really working. I was so proud. And then she relapsed. And I think a lot of it had to do with that. Just needing a break from dealing with it.

Lauren: Mmhm

Stacy: So that's why we always keep an open door, because we realize it is part of the process.

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: They're tilling so many memories and emotions over that time, that they've never dealt with, many of them. And so, can you imagine? I mean, just going through all of your heart, and just really uncovering the pain.

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: It would be a natural instinct to want to soothe that in some way.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Leslie: Yeah.

Stacy: Yeah.

Lauren: But it is still so heartbreaking because they can make so much progress. And we have experienced that. And it's just been like, oh, man, you know, felt like they were doing so well. And you know what, one other thing, like, the holidays can be tough for survivors.

Stacy: Mmhm.

Leslie: Oh.

Lauren: And I noticed sometimes like around Christmas time, it was kind of a tough time because it's a celebratory time for most of us. But many people we work with have never had like a normal Christmas, or family environment. So there can be a number of things that can affect that. Yeah.

Leslie: Yeah. So we talked about this just briefly at the beginning. But this week, you all announced that Branded is going to be closing its doors.

Lauren: We did.

Leslie: Yeah. So I wanted to read actually a little bit from your email because I thought it was beautiful.

Lauren: Sure, thank you.

Leslie: And then we have some questions. So, “Branded Collective has employed 27 wonderful women. We've seen their hope, their resilience, and their struggles. We've celebrated with them over their first apartments, getting their driver's licenses back, reuniting with their children, remaining clean and sober, going to school, getting married, having babies, and all of the amazing things life has in store on the other side of trafficking,” which is just beautiful, and really encompasses what we've been talking about here. Out of all of that what has been the most satisfying thing about founding Branded and working with these survivors?

Lauren: I think providing hope to survivors has been probably the most satisfying part. I love doing this work. It was something that I never imagined myself doing. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I left college. I was kind of just like, I was working at a bank, and was good at some things detailed sort of work, operational work. And I thought, well, I could do a lot of things. But this issue was just one that tugged at my heart so much and meeting people in person who have experienced this just changed my life in such a way. And being

Episode 017 - Transcript able to give back to them in even a small way, and be a steppingstone in their journey has been so rewarding for me. And I know Emily would say the same thing. We set out to raise awareness about trafficking, and I think we've done that. I think there's so much more to do. And I think when we founded our company in 2012, many people didn't know that trafficking was a thing. And now here in 2021, it feels like a concept that is much more known in the world, which is great. I mean, the fact that it is known. However, the fact that it's still happening so much is just heartbreaking.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: But we always said, we want to change the world, we want to make, you know, everybody wants to change the world in some way. We want to make a big difference. We want to stop this, we want to stop this from happening. But if we could help people that have been through it, and one by one, really intentionally build relationship with them, and help them through a time where they needed it the most. That means the world. So I think that, for me, was the most important and the most satisfying part of the work that we did. And to be honest, working with your hands is a really satisfying task. So I think even learning that about ourselves that we enjoyed creating. That was not something I ever saw myself doing, but that we enjoyed making jewelry and making something beautiful that someone could wear forever. It's just kind of a neat thing to imagine that something like the lariat you have on.

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: RO made that, and you wear it. And it's part of your daily, you know, in the morning I'm going to put on my jewelry and this is a piece that I put on. And you guys can't see this but Stacy's wearing earrings too that are made by a survivor and um….that's a pretty powerful thing when you think about it. When you're a survivor, and you can make something that means something to somebody. That's pretty neat.

Leslie: Yeah. What did the journey look like? It probably wasn't easy to decide to close. What did that look like? And what did that decision mean?

Lauren: Yeah, it was a tough decision for sure. I think there were so many small businesses that closed last year.

Leslie: Yes.

Stacy: Mmhm.

Lauren: In 2020, it was probably not a super surprising thing that we were struggling through it, because, so to help the audience understand, 80% of our sales are in-person sales. So only 20% was from our online store.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Leslie: And where are you in-person at?

Lauren: So normally, we, 50% of our business was wholesale. So these are small shops, some online, but a lot of them are local shops. And people are purchasing product from us to sell to their customers in their towns. And then 30% of our business was in-person events.

Stacy: Mmhm.

Leslie: Okay.

Lauren: And of course, overnight, pretty much all of that disappeared. Nobody was going anywhere. And jewelry is not really the first thing you want to buy in a pandemic, because you're not going anywhere, and you're not wearing any jewelry.

Leslie: Yeah, yeah.

Lauren: So it's a great product. But it also wasn't like a, it wasn't food, you didn't need it to survive.

Leslie: Right.

Lauren: So I think at the very beginning, that was what we saw, from about March to September, we had a really just kind of like, slower period than we normally would. And then that whole time, we were able to continue paying the survivors that we had on staff.

Leslie: That's great.

Lauren: Which was excellent. We were really grateful to be able to do that.

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: Because we did not want to call them and say, you know, sorry, we can't pay this month.

Leslie: Yep.

Lauren: I just can't imagine doing that. So we were able to do that through the entirety of 2020, which I'm very grateful for. At the same time, the metal market, probably not a lot of people know this if you don't pay attention to the metal market, but the price of gold was skyrocketing.

Leslie: Oh, wow.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Lauren: So the materials that we use to make each of our pieces, they were becoming way more expensive. So our materials were more expensive. We didn't have survivors in the studio for safety for a long time, because we have a small studio space.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: And we were all being very COVID aware, and we didn't want to put anyone at danger. And the decrease in sales, it kind of just all compounded and created this hole for us, which was we could scale back and try to figure out how to do this on our own again.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: And we could start where we did before back in 2012. And be a small two-person business. But that wasn't where we were anymore. You know, we had overhead, we had a studio space, we were employing two people who depended on it for their livelihood, and all of those things. We didn't want to give up our mission in order to just continue the brand.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Lauren: So it felt like the right move for us to say, we've done some good work here. And we have changed some lives, 27 women and over 50,000 numbers sold. we have, which is insane. We started with number one.

Leslie: Oh my goodness, yeah, cuz each piece also has a number, not just an initial, but a number,

Lauren: Which is your number in the collective. So each person that gets it gets a unique number. So we had reached, I don't remember the exact number, but over 50,000. And, you know, our lives have changed over the years, too. We both have had children, Emily and I, she just had a newborn baby.

Leslie: Awww

Lauren: And I have a three-year-old. And life just became more complicated for us.

Leslie: Sure.

Lauren: And we said, you know, I think it feels like the right time, instead of scaling back all of this and trying to figure out how to grow it again.

Leslie: Mmhm.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Lauren: …that we've done good work here. And the women's lives have been changed and, and people are aware. And we made the announcement yesterday on social media. So everybody knows, and we've had such kind words, and so many people have come and said, you know, you really changed my perspective. And that's really valuable to us, because we set out to raise awareness and to help people. And I think we were able to accomplish that.

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: And it feels like a good closing to our chapter. While we were forced into it, it feels like the right time.

Leslie: Absolutely, and that's such a great lesson, I think, especially when you're working with survivors and trauma-informed care. That's a great lesson is ending chapters, you know, because I would think I'm not an expert. But Stacy, I would think that what you don't want to do is ask survivors to forget everything that happened.

Stacy: Oh no.

Leslie: That's a chapter. You can't ignore the fact that this happened, but what is the next chapter? And so the ending of a chapter well, is very important.

Stacy: Yeah, even that stands as a model for how to do this well. Um I think we teach survivors about saying no to certain things. And not just bad things. But even good things, saying no to some option, it makes space for more options to exist. And so it's just a, it's just a great model all around that you guys have been able to put out there in the world. I'm so glad you existed, because you did change lives. And you, and those lives are forever changed.

Leslie: Mmhm. Mmhm.

Lauren: Thank you.

Leslie: Is there anything you would have done differently?

Lauren: Mmmm.

*laughter*

Lauren: Probably not?

Leslie: Yeah.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Lauren: Cuz I think everything that we learned is part of the journey. And I can't think of any big things. You know, we talked about, so we're an LLC, which is limiting in the time of a pandemic, because you can't raise money. You have to sell your product in order to make more.

Leslie: Oh.

Lauren: So until the pandemic happened, we were like, we're so grateful to be an LLC.

*laughter*

Lauren: Now I'm thinking like, well, maybe if we were a nonprofit, but even that, I really think it was the right move to be a business and to have that as our model because we were able to grow it in a way that we may not have been able to as a nonprofit.

Leslie: Yeah.

Lauren: And we had to be innovative and make beautiful products, that would sell regardless of the story.

Leslie: Yeah. Right.

Lauren: Which is a challenge in and of itself and a learning for us. So I would say no, I think in each thing that you do in life, there are lessons to learn and wisdom to take.

Leslie: Lauren, this has been wonderful.

Lauren: Good!

Leslie: Thank you so much. And thank you for all the work you've done in the lives of these women. And I hope whatever's next is just wonderful. And you continue to get to do good work.

Lauren: Thank you all so much for having me. I love you guys.

Leslie: You’re welcome. Awww

Stacy: Love you too.

Leslie: While Branded has announced its closure, the impacts it leaves behind will be felt for a lifetime, especially for those who've been employees of the organization. So we wanted to let you hear the actual voices of some of these employees who have been personally impacted by Branded. As these survivors have worked on their healing and restoration,

Episode 017 - Transcript

Branded Collective became a really important steppingstone for personal and professional development.

Survivor #1: If I had to say anything about Branded Collective, it would have to be thank you for the opportunity to have me. Thank you to Emily and Lauren, for a great business that they had put together. Thank you for having me as part of their family, because we was just not employees or coworkers or a boss and an employee. That is, we was more like family at the Branded Collective incorporation. And I love the fact that I was doing something with my hands, that was giving back to show awareness of sex trafficking, as well as there is a second chance in life as being a survivor. And with the survivor, you hear of all the bad things that has came with that territory, or the bad things that the survivor went through in life, even if it was by choice, we was never judged or looked at, or downgraded. So that was a very big thing for me, as well as, we can go to Emily and Lauren, talk to them about anything, any troubles in life, anything, and they never looked down on us, never judged us. And so it was more of a family oriented place to work as well as to get the benefits and everything like that donated to help other survivors out there that may have been going through the same thing that we have been going through. As well as helping with caring for them, providing a safe place for them. And as well as showing awareness of out there, that people didn't know anything about that this kind of crime was happening sometimes in their own backyards. So it was a way of showing the world awareness, not just for the United States, but also that this goes on in the world in other countries. And some countries doesn't have a voice like some of us has in the United States or have the laws that are set in place. So to me, it was like being the voice to the voiceless to those survivors that didn't know how to use their voice or was scared to use their voice. I was actually using my voice as an ex, survivor to be that voice to the voiceless. So it was a great organization, like I said, I was saddened when it had to close. I was the last standing. But also my time there was short I started in March, then came the tornado. So like the first week of training, I had to start working for a little bit because of the tornado and rebuilding Nashville. Then came COVID. But we just still kept pressing, kept praying, and kept moving forward. Until we could go back in and do hands on jewelry making. So it was sad and bittersweet to have to leave because of it was just so closeness there. We loved each other. And every day we checked in and this is something that I have taken with me. We did a gratefulness, and we had a grateful board of what we're grateful for, for the day. And so many times we forget to say like each day, when we wake up or before we go to bed, what we are grateful for. So this was a time to sit there and, you know, interact with one another about our mornings in, or about what was going on in our lives that night before, whatever, what we're grateful for. And so that was something that I love, and I take with me and I even share with other people to always be grateful for the time that we have in the morning and the days that we are given. So I just want to say to Emily and Laura, you made a great business incorporation. I just wish blessings and more blessings. And a special thank you to you two. And thank you for having me as part of the Branded Collective family.

Episode 017 - Transcript

Survivor #2: There's so many stories and so many different instances and things that I could talk about concerning Branded. I think some of the coolest things were how most of us in the safe house, originally, when we first got in there, we didn't have jobs, a lot of us couldn't get jobs initially, due to just the cases that we had, and whatnot. And first of all, it provided like a way for us to, to make money to be able to have, you know, like even just makeup or clothes or stuff like that, or just things that we wanted. But I think the more important thing besides that was just, it was the relationships. It was whenever we’d go in there to make the bracelets, Emily and Laura, they were just always so just full of joy and happy. And they completely just accepted us for who we were. They didn't see us as victims. They didn't see us as anything like that. They just saw us for who we were there. They also probably got to hear a lot more of our stories than a lot of people did. And they never once, like, gawked at us or anything like that. But um, I just know like Emily, Emily and I had this shared love of, like, movie soundtracks and stuff and we'd play that and, and then other times, it'd be like her rap music playing. And we would just be, we would just kind of exist, we would just sit in that moment. And just, it was just enjoyable. And I know we would vent about so many things that were going on that we wouldn't necessarily tell our case workers and everything and they just listened and they laughed with us. And, you know, they would listen to the bad things that we had to say, they listened to the funny things. They, you know, and I think that was the biggest part is just having that relationship not only with other survivors, but was somebody that was, you know, kind of providing you a way to do something, make a little money but like I said, the biggest thing was just the relationships that were formed. And it was priceless, you know, and I think back to those times, it’s probably some of the most important, of what, probably an hour that we would spend in there every time that we went or something. And it was just, it was always good. Like, I don't think I ever walked out of there without a smile on my face and without feeling a little bit lighter. Even if things were just crazy outside of that room where we'd made the, made the jewelry. Once we got in there, it was just different. It was always, we were always met with kindness with happiness, you know. It was awesome. And it's just really, it was a really awesome experience.

Leslie: We want to thank Jones Legacy Group for their continued support of this podcast. We are so grateful. Our production staff is Gregory Byerline, Stacy Elliott, and Marissa Brownell. Claire Bidigare-Curtis is our Engineer. The original music you hear is by Zach and Maggie White. I'm Leslie Eiler Thompson. Thank you for listening.