Social Impact Heroes: Why & How Helen Taylor of Exodus Cry Is Helping To Change Our World

Never compare your journey or timeline to anyone else’s. Your story is unique and beautiful and the right path for you. Build your garden and don’t envy anyone else’s.

As part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing ​​Helen Taylor.

​​Helen Taylor serves as the Vice President of Impact for Exodus Cry, a California based international organization committed to abolishing sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation through award winning-films, activism campaigns, outreach and services to survivors. Originally from London, England, Helen has been involved in the fight against sex trafficking since 2007 when she first became aware of the global scale of commercial sexual exploitation. Before joining Exodus Cry in 2013, Helen worked as an art therapist with trafficking survivors in Cambodia. She oversees Exodus Cry’s outreach department, leading trainings and regularly reaching out to those trafficked in every part of the sex trade, including the streets, strip clubs, brothels, porn conventions, online and at-risk women in jail.

Thank you so much for joining us on this interview series. Can you share with us the backstory that led you to this career path?

When I was 16 I saw a young woman being exploited in prostitution in London (where I’m from). The inequality and exploitation of their vulnerability struck me in a profound way. After university I got a diploma in art therapy and worked for an organization in Cambodia with survivors of trafficking. At the London premiere of Exodus Cry’s first film Nefarious: Merchant of Souls, I connected with someone from their team who invited me to join their outreach department they were pioneering in Kansas City, and that was almost 10 years ago.

What would you advise a young person who wants to emulate your success?

Do what you love, to fight what you hate!

If there’s an issue or cause that lights a fire in your heart like no other, offer to volunteer your time to serve in whatever ways are needed, and in the meantime, get the experience, education or degrees you need to be useful, as well as passionate, in this area. I volunteered for 4 years before a paid opportunity in this field opened up and by that time, I had the experience needed to do the job well.

How are you using your success to bring goodness to the world? Can you share with us the social impact causes you’re working on right now?

I wrote a training manual on how to reach trafficked and exploited women, designed for communities and teams to learn how to make an impact in their areas and it’s currently being utilized in 28 countries!

Right now, Exodus Cry is focused on trafficking and image based abuse in pornography. Our Traffickinghub campaign sought to hold Pornhub accountable for hosting videos of underage and non-consensual abuse, and our film Raised on Porn and new docuseries Beyond Fantasy, shine a light on the public health crisis and human rights violations in porn.

With our current campaign #ENDTEENPORN, we are calling for the age of entry to porn to be raised from 18 to 21, for multiple reasons, but ultimately to reduce the number of vulnerable teens exploited in porn.

Can you share with us a story behind why you chose to take up this particular cause?

When I worked with trafficking survivors in Cambodia, one girl told me she was trafficked at age 11. Throughout her teen years being sold in a brothel, men from the US and Europe would show her porn on their phones and computers and force her to copy the sex acts depicted.

We know that pornography fuels demand and creates a fantasy that leads, many times, to real exploitation. We’ve interviewed many women who were trafficked into porn, or videos were made of them while they were being sold and abused, and uploaded onto porn sites all too easily. We see that porn and trafficking have multiple intersections, and that there is a horrifying lack of online regulation protecting people from abuse which is why we are addressing pornography as an anti-trafficking organization.

Can you share with us a story about a person who was impacted by your cause?

In 2018, I led an initiative in Moscow Russia during the World Cup. Wherever large groups of men gather, like major sporting events, sadly, traffickers anticipate an increase in business. Our team conducted several undercover operations meeting with trafficked girls in hotel lobbies which led us to discover a Nigerian trafficking ring that was exploiting multiple girls. Their passports had been taken and they were being sold for sex online. Some were underage. We worked with the police and media to raid the brothel which ultimately led to the shutting down of the trafficking ring and increased national awareness.

One of the girls we had met with, (who was underage), “Destiny” contacted me when she was safely back home in Nigeria and I was able to connect her to an incredible program there. After she graduated, they helped her apply for university and her whole life has changed forever!

Are there three things or are there things that individuals, society, or the government can do to support you in this effort?

Individuals: watch our films (some are on Netflix, others on YouTube — all links can be found on https://exoduscry.com) sign our petitions, follow us on socials @exoduscry, and become an activist.

Society: stop watching the real abuse and exploitation of people on porn tube sites, stop buying sex/consent from vulnerable, marginalized people, and instead, choose a real relationship based on equality, mutual agency and love. Become an abolitionist who supports the abolition of commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking.

Government: pass laws that force porn sites to verify age and consent for those depicted in the videos and also verify the age of those accessing the websites in order to protect children. Pass the Equality/Nordic/Abolitionist model (which decriminalizes prostitution for those being sold and provides exit services BUT increases penalities to sex buyers and third parties/traffickers).

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started”

1. Self-care is prevention of burnout and it will save your life.

2. Learning to effectively journal and process second-hand trauma in a healthy way is essential for anyone in this kind of work.

3. People will misunderstand you, judge you and criticize you. Feel grateful for them and bless them, as then they have no power over you and you can get on with the work.

4. Petty offense towards colleagues and leaders throws many off course. Cultivate gratitude for and focus on their best qualities, pursue peace with them and forgive easily.

5. Never compare your journey or timeline to anyone else’s. Your story is unique and beautiful and the right path for you. Build your garden and don’t envy anyone else’s.

You’re a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

If men stopped buying women and children for sex, trafficking would ultimately end. Supply exists because there is a demand. I would start a movement inviting men to completely abstain from buying sex for a month and instead, find a hobby, work on themselves, be a better partner (most sex buyers are married) and donate the money otherwise spent on exploiting vulnerable women to the organizations on the frontlines assisting them. Studies show that sex buyers can change their mindsets and behavior make choices that don’t involve harming people.

Can you please give us your favorite life lesson quote? And can you explain how that was relevant in your life?

Mother Tereasa said: “Maybe if I didn’t pick up that one person, I wouldn’t have picked up forty-two thousand….The same thing goes for you, the same thing in your family, the same thing in your church, your community. Just begin — one, one, one.”

Fighting a global injustice such as trafficking sometimes begins with a small yes to the opportunity in front of you. And our lives are composed of just that — forty-two thousand yeses to small opportunities in front of us, which lead to bigger ones we have to bravely pursue.

We are blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Currently, Joe Rogan’s podcast is the most listened to podcast in the US, especially by men. I would love to talk through with him our findings on exploitation in porn and what he thinks about abolishing trafficking through addressing demand. Until men choose to become part of the solution, sadly this injustice will only continue. But I am filled with hope that cultural and legislative change is possible in the coming years!

Thank you so much for these amazing insights. This was so inspiring, and we wish you continued success!