By Marva J. Sneed
Host of “From Marva with Love”
Bianca Jackson is the CEO of New Friends New Life, a Dallas-based organization that restores and empowers formerly trafficked teen girls and sexually exploited women and their children. Bianca leads the organization’s strategic development, financial operations, and advocacy work, as well as its program initiatives and staff development and she has made it her life’s work to be a voice for the voiceless.
MS: You said that you wanted to be the voice for the voiceless. Tell us about yourself and how you got started on this journey.
BJ: I was born and raised in the Bahamas. I moved here when I went to Temple University in Philadelphia. But a story that sticks out with me. Because of our proximity we got all of our news from Florida. A man had beaten his five-year-old to death because he wet the bed. There was something about that story and that little boy that just sat in my heart. And I knew from that moment that if I had the opportunity to have a career where I could mold my passion and my compassion, empathy, my sense of concern for others, and make that a profession; I would consider that the greatest blessing….So that’s how my journey started. I moved to Dallas and started in a non-profit in Healthcare. I could see the result of my efforts. I knew that when I went to bed every night I made a difference for a patient.
MS: What is the difference between what you did at Genesis and what you are now doing at New Friends New Life?
BJ: So at Genesis Women’s Shelter the service survivors of domestic violence, women and children have experienced violence. I was in development there so leading the efforts that brought resources and money into the organization. Then I transitioned to New Friends New Life where we specifically served women and girls who have been trafficked or exploited. I was the Chief Development Officer which was similar. It is challenging in these times, but people are talking about human trafficking more than ever before. That is so important that people are paying attention to what’s happening in our backyard.
To learn more about Human Trafficking go to www.newfriendsnewlife.org.
To see video of the interview, click here.
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