Until All Are Free – Details, episodes & analysis

On this episode of Until All Are Free, Preston sits down with Drew and James, two volunteer investigators with The Exodus Road. The two recount their recent travels to Pakistan, where they assisted a separate nonprofit organization in securing the release of a family from debt bondage in Pakistan's brick-making industry.

Debt bondage is inherently complex, like many of the topics discussed in Until All Are Free. Many individuals ensnared in Pakistan's debt-bondage schemes are suffering from generational enslavement where the possibility of freedom from debt is unrealistic. In the landscape of human rights organizations addressing debt bondage worldwide, conversations often arise about the best tactics for intervention efforts to dismantle systems of exploitation that prop up this mechanism of trafficking. This episode is intended as an educational source about the nature of human trafficking in this region of the world. As an organization, The Exodus Road does not participate in transactional exchanges with traffickers to secure the freedom of a survivor of human trafficking.

Joining Preston on this episode of Until All Are Free is Daniel*, the Asia Regional Director at The Exodus Road. Daniel has investigated more than 1,000 locations in Asia for human trafficking. He'll share with us about what that's like and about the immense sacrifices law enforcement and our national staff make to do this work.

Before transitioning to the international space, Daniel worked as a lawyer in Colorado where he focused on child abuse and neglect cases in Jefferson County. Today, Daniel oversees The Exodus Road's international programs in India, the Philippines, and Thailand.

*Pseudonym used to ensure safety.

Emily Kennedy is a Co-Founder and Advisor to Marinus Analytics, an artificial intelligence company focused on protecting the vulnerable and ending systemic exploitation by serving those who work on the frontlines of public safety by developing technology that disrupts human trafficking, child abuse, and cyber fraud.

Emily previously served as President of Marinus and has been recognized and celebrated as a Forbes 30 Under 30, a Toyota Mother of Invention, and one of Entrepreneur’s Most Powerful Women.

Joining us on this episode of Until All Are Free, Preston had the honor of talking with Emily about the development of Marinus’ flagship ai-powered platform, TrafficJam, which saved law enforcement an estimated 70,000 investigative hours in 2020 alone. We also talked about her journey with the issue of human trafficking, the podcast that she hosts (The Empower Podcast), and what healthy nonprofit leadership can look like amidst the demands of our modern world.

Recorded on site with Arturo* – The Exodus Road's Country Director in Latin America – this episode explores the challenges and joys of the work of intervention through the experiences of a front-lines operative.

To learn more about The Exodus Road's work in prevention, intervention, and aftercare visit theexodusroad.com.

Until All Are Free is a podcast produced by The Exodus Road, a nonprofit dedicated to the strategic fight against human trafficking. The podcast is hosted and produced by Preston Goff. Music heard on the outro of this episode was produced and generously donated by City of Sound.

*Name changed to protect identity.

This episode Preston is joined by DELTA* operative and TER board member, Nate Griffin. Nate is an Executive Producer working within the film industry. His company, Grateful Inconvenience Inc., most recently produced the television series, Connected: A Search for Unity. The series features Monty Moran, former CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill, as he travels across the U.S. and Canada talking with people about their unique perspectives on life, culture, the environment, politics, immigration and social media.

You can follow Nate's work on Instagram at @kanakanate.


*The Exodus Road primarily supports police in evidence gathering for cases of human trafficking. Working with teams of nationals, we deploy trained and highly vetted Western operatives to help with identifying current victims, gathering intelligence, building evidence packages for police, and supporting operations. We call this team DELTA Team.

While the process and work is challenging and daunting, it is also highly effective. Evidence is gathered, cases are delivered, rescues and arrests are empowered on the front lines.

The BR-116 is the second-longest highway in all of Brazil. At nearly 2,800 miles or 4,500 KM long, it winds its way through bustling metropolis cities like Rio de Janeiro and scarcely populated towns throughout the country. While the road contains much beauty, it also holds dark secrets.

On this episode of Until All Are Free, we are joined by Matt Roper, a British journalist and the author of Highway to Hell: The Road where Childhoods Are Stolen.

Matt shares his experiences alongside trafficking victims and at-risk youth in Brazil, as well as the dark nature of the extraordinarily long road that serves as a gateway for the sexual exploitation of thousands of Brazil's youngest.

In this episode, we welcome CEO and Co-Founder, Matt Parker, to share exciting developments about the program work of The Exodus Road in 2021. The Exodus Road is strategically expanding its footprint in the prevention, intervention, and aftercare spaces of the fight against human trafficking. Matt shares about The Exodus Road's vision for its Beyond Rescue Program and the very first aftercare shelter directly ran by TER's team. We also learn about the expansion of TER's Search + Rescue program in Southeast Asia, as well as exciting opportunities for TER to train 17,000 Brazilian law enforcement officers through TraffickWatch, the prevention arm of The Exodus Road.

What are the truths about human trafficking in the United States? What legal protection, or lack thereof, exists for survivors of human trafficking in each of the 50 states?

In this episode, we are joined by Jamie Beck, the President, and Managing Attorney at Free to Thrive. Free to Thrive empowers survivors of human trafficking to be free from exploitation and to thrive by providing them with holistic and trauma-informed, legal and support services in collaboration with our service partners, and by increasing access to justice for all survivors.

Learn more about Jamie and the work of Free to Thrive by visiting freetothrive.org.

In the fight against human trafficking, there are many great men and women advocating for the most vulnerable. At The Exodus Road we believe that when we fight human trafficking together, survivors win.

Ben Cooley is the co-founder and CEO of Hope For Justice, a nonprofit that exists to bring an end to modern slavery by preventing exploitation, rescuing victims, restoring lives, and reforming society.

Ben is known for his encouragement and resolve in the midst of a dark issue, and we're honored to welcome him on this episode of Until All Are Free.

To learn more about the work of Hope For Justice around the world, visit hopeforjustice.org.

How would you respond if met with a potential trafficking scenario face-to-face? In this latest episode of Until All Are Free, you’ll hear the story of Maria, a Kenyan woman, told by Sarah Ray, human rights educator and activist. The two women met in an airport in Dubai early in 2020, as Maria was en route to Saudi Arabia for a domestic job. Maria was traveling with a group of Kenyan women who were prepared to hand over their passports in exchange for work in the middle eastern country. What unfolds is a story of friendship, perseverance, and an intimate glimpse into a labor trafficking situation.