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.

Cheers to you, listeners! You've journeyed with us throughout one of the toughest years in recent history, and we're so grateful. We have one more episode in 2020, so keep an eye on your feed and take a listen here to get a sneak peek.

Oftentimes, the stories that we share focus on one single individual. One story. One Case.

Episode 27 is a little different in that regard. We're bringing you a glimpse into the exploitation of the Rohingya Muslim people group of present-day Myanmar.
In 2015, The Exodus Road had a unique opportunity to assist in a case that garnered international attention, thrusting the Rohingya's plight into the spotlight again.  Responding to the request of law enforcement and another nonprofit organization in Thailand, The Exodus Road was able to provide cyber-forensic technology developed by Cellebrite that would eventually work to crack open a case resulting in the arrest of more than 100 and the successful rescue of hundreds more from a large trafficking ring in SE Asia.

Joining us to recount the story on this episode is The Exodus Road Co-founder, Matt Parker.

Episode Sources

Digital data helped take down a Thai General in the country’s largest human trafficking case
The Survivors of the Rohingya Genocide
Thailand: Mass Graves of Rohingya Found in Trafficking Camp
Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya in Burma
Documentation of Atrocities in Northern Rakhine State
Muslims of the Land of Arakan - A Rohingya Song

In this episode of Until All Are Free we are joined by Cheryl Kosmerl, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 16 years of experience working alongside minors with hands-on sex offenses or boundary offenses.

Her experiences in the clinical field led her to the creation of Sexting Solutions and co-creation of Hashtag Parenting. Sexting Solutions is a class-based (cohort modeled) option that serves as an alternative for minors who would otherwise be caught in the legal system. Hashtag Parenting is an online resource that equips parents with the tools they need to help their kid(s) with healthy digital practices from the earliest stages of their childhood.

In the world of systemic human trafficking, there are major crime syndicates that provide the mechanism and framework for sexual exploitation to take place. In this episode of Until All Are Free, Matt joins Preston and Isaac and shares the story of Cindy, a mother who finds herself stuck halfway around the world in a reality far from what she would have imagined.

A survivor's journey through rescue, aftercare, and integration requires the coordinated effort of many people who are committed to restoration. In this episode of  Until All Are Free, Laura Parker, the President and Co-Founder of The Exodus Road, shares an interview with Courtney Skiera-Vaughn, the Executive Director of Free the Girls. Free The Girls trains and equips female survivors of human trafficking in El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Mozambique to become entrepreneurs in the business of selling bras in their local markets.

"It wasn't the only alley I was going down, it was just the alley I couldn't figure out how to get back to." - Matt Parker

Seven years ago, Matt Parker was in a taxi speeding toward his hotel on an unknown route through Bangkok at midnight. He glimpsed a flash of an obscure back alley where he saw young girls for sale. As soon as he realized what he had seen, it was gone.

Seven years later, Matt returned to this back alley in a chance encounter on another taxi ride. Listen to the episode to hear the full story, and learn about the operation in progress to rescue these trafficked victims.

Laura Parker (TER President) talks with female Delta Operative, Sarah, about her experience on the front lines of the fight against human trafficking. Sarah shares details from the vulnerable moments with trafficking victims and explains the extraordinary sequence of events that led an ordinary woman to become a covert operative with The Exodus Road.

The Exodus Road is a global organization fighting human trafficking by gathering evidence, facilitating rescue missions, and empowering aftercare for survivors. Learn more about our organization by visiting theexodusroad.com.

Want to be the first to know when a rescue takes place? Sign up for our Rescue Texts by texting "ER" to 51555.

Host: Preston Goff

Producer: Isaac Leigh

Internal Themes: Lucas Leigh

Intro & Outro Recordings: City of Sound

Drew, an Army Special Forces soldier turned Delta Operative, sits down with us to give exclusive stories of his experiences in investigation and rescue. He shares the details from his very first successful rescue operation (the story of Phim).  Delta Operatives at The Exodus Road are volunteers who have been vetted and trained to support the national operatives who live and work on the front lines of the fight against human trafficking.

The Exodus Road is a global organization fighting human trafficking by gathering evidence, facilitating rescue missions, and empowering aftercare for survivors. Learn more about our organization by visiting theexodusroad.com.

Want to be the first to know when a rescue takes place? Sign up for our Rescue Texts by texting "ER" to 51555.

Host: Preston Goff

Producer: Isaac Leigh

Internal Themes: Lucas Leigh

Intro & Outro Recordings: City of Sound

You have discovered the inaugural episode of the podcast! CEO and Co-Founder, Matt Parker, shares the genesis story of The Exodus Road and the events that led to our very first rescue of a human trafficking victim. The Exodus Road is a global organization fighting human trafficking by gathering evidence, facilitating rescue missions, and empowering aftercare for survivors. Learn more about our organization by visiting theexodusroad.com.

Want to be the first to know when a rescue takes place? Sign up for our Rescue Texts by texting "ER" to 51555.

Host: Preston Goff

Producer: Isaac Leigh

Internal Themes: Lucas Leigh

Intro & Outro Recordings: City of Sound

In this episode of Until All Are Free, Preston is joined by Joel Karum of Ezekiel Rain.

Joel is the co-founder of the Thai nonprofit Ezekiel Rain, and he’s also on the board of The Exodus Road Thailand. Through over a decade of working with Ezekiel Rain, Joel Karum has become a leading expert in building resilient communities to prevent exploitation in Thailand. The organization emphasizes models that center around building strong families, including combating pornography’s role in perpetuating cultural and individual harm.

Joel has also been a friend of The Exodus Road since its inception, and the podcast proved to be inspiring and enlightening!

In this episode of Until All Are Free, Preston is joined by Amber Van Schooneveld to discuss what ethical storytelling looks like for nonprofits.

Amber Van Schooneveld is the Senior Marketing Director at The Exodus Road. She has an extensive background in nonprofit marketing and storytelling, having worked as Managing Editor (among other roles) with Compassion International for nearly 13 years. Amber leads the Marketing Department in the process of identifying stories from our countries of operation in order to share updates and celebrations with our community.

Preston and Amber chat about what it means to commit to ethical storytelling at The Exodus Road and why we have chosen to not use real imagery of survivors from raids in our communications. They also discuss a few specific cases and the opportunities that they presented to our team at our U.S. office. All of this and more!

UPDATE EPISODE : In EP 11 of Until All Are Free, we introduced you to the story of Maria, a young Kenyan woman who was exploited in a labor trafficking scheme that saw her separated from her family and living in Saudi Arabia.

The big news is that Maria is now back home with her family in Kenya and employed as an elementary school teacher as a result of The Exodus Road's Survivor Fund! This episode features more exclusive audio from Maria and also looks back on the circumstances of her story as told in EP 11. 

"Making trafficking dangerous." It's a phrase that we often use to describe our work at The Exodus Road, and it refers to the way that the process of investigation, intervention, arrest, and prosecution discourages traffickers by making the crime riskier.

The guests on this episode of Until All Are Free are doing just that. Preston had the honor of hearing from Gabriela Aquino, Chief of Investigation of Organized Crime with the Brazilian Federal Police, as well as Cintia Meirelles de Azevedo, the Brazilian Liaison for The Exodus Road.

Gabriela is a lead presenter in TraffickWatch Academy, a training platform developed by The Exodus Road and deployed amongst law enforcement in Brazil. The curriculum of TraffickWatch Academy is actively helping to train law enforcement to see and respond to the crime of human trafficking throughout the country and is already having tangible effects as several successful rescue operations have occurred as a result of the training.

Learn more about TraffickWatch Academy by visiting: theexodusroad.com/traffickwatch

EP 22 in two acts: First, Preston introduces you to Karn, Country Director of The Exodus Road's operations in Thailand. Karn shares stories from his teams' experience in the fight against human trafficking on social media in 2021 –– including investigations that have begun on Twitter and Facebook and led to successful rescue and arrest operations.

Then we bring the conversation back to the United States and talk with The Exodus Road CEO and Founder, Laura Parker, to hear about one practical step that everyone can take to help protect those vulnerable to human trafficking in our families, neighborhood, community, and world.

On this episode of Until All Are Free we are thrilled to welcome Devisara Hannah Badi and Sarah Davison-Tracy, the authors of No Longer Untouchable: A Story of Human Trafficking, Heroism, and Hope.

No Longer Untouchable brings you into the appalling reality of modern-day slavery in Nepal as Devisara Hannah Badi and her sisters tell their stories. They have each overcome unimaginable odds to survive, and today they are bravely fighting to bring freedom, hope, and love into the darkest corners of the world.
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PURCHASE THE BOOK : No Longer Untouchable: A Story of Human Trafficking, Heroism, and Hope is available for purchase on Amazon.com.
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Sarah Davison-Tracy is an impassioned human rights advocate, author, speaker, and founder of Seeds of Exchange (SeedsofExchange.org) and Rooted and Beloved (RootedandBeloved.org). Connect with Sarah on her website, SarahDavisonTracy.com.

Devisara Hannah Badi is CEO of Himalayan Entrepreneur Resources (HER), an empowerment initiative in Nepal that provides health, safety, and autonomy to marginalized women so they can live free from sexual exploitation and abuse.

Recorded on-site with heroes of the anti-human trafficking movement, this episode of Until All Are Free features first-person interviews with survivors of human trafficking as well as the founder of Fundación Renacer, Luz Stela Cardenas Ovalle.

Fundación Renacer contributes to the eradication of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Boys, Girls and Adolescents (ESCNNA), through support programs and comprehensive care for victims, prevention, research, training, and advice to organizations and communities, from the perspective of protection, defense, and restitution of children's rights.

We're back!

Until All Are Free is returning reimagined, re-energized, and ready to go deeper. After years of telling stories from the frontlines of the fight against human trafficking, we're expanding our lens to shine a light on human rights violations and injustices around the world. From survivor testimony to investigative storytelling to conversations with the people closest to the fight, this is a podcast for people who choose not to look away.

New episodes drop starting in April. Subscribe now so you don't miss the relaunch.

Follow us on Instagram for behind-the-scenes updates, episode announcements, and ways to join the fight: https://www.instagram.com/_untilallarefree

Until All Are Free is a podcast by The Exodus Road. theexodusroad.com

Content Warning: Contains descriptions of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Listener discretion advised. Not suitable for young listeners.

A humid night in Southeast Asia. A tuk tuk driver, a laminated menu, and a corner of the world where exploitation hides in plain sight under neon light.

In this episode, host Preston Goff takes listeners inside the red light districts of Thailand. Through the streets, the history that built them, the economics that sustain them, and the recruitment pipelines that pull vulnerable women and girls from rural Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos into a system designed to hold them there.

Not everyone working in these spaces is a trafficking victim. But trafficking lives within the veneer of this industry, protected less by secrecy than by indifference. This episode is an invitation to bear witness and to believe that what can be understood can be dismantled.

In November 2022, 17-year-old James Woods came home from school and signed onto Instagram. Within hours, he was being extorted by someone he'd never met. By the next morning, he was gone.

In this episode, Preston sits down with James's father, Tim Woods, co-founder of the Do It For James Foundation. Tim shares — with extraordinary courage — who James was as a son, a runner, a chess player, and a friend. He walks us through the night that changed everything. And he tells us what he and his wife Tamia have done with their grief in the years since: speaking to hundreds of thousands of students, partnering with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, receiving the FBI Director's Award, and most recently, watching the Senate Judiciary Committee advance the James T. Woods Act — a crucial piece of legislation named for James.

This is one of the most important conversations we've had on the show. It is heavy. It is also deeply hopeful. And it is a clear-eyed look at one of the fastest-growing crimes targeting kids in America today.

A note for listeners: This episode includes discussion of sextortion, child exploitation, and suicide. If you or someone you love is in crisis, you can call or text 988 anytime to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• ​Do It For James Foundation: letsdoitfj.org
• ​Follow @DoItForJamesFoundation on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok
• ​Learn about The Exodus Road's prevention education program: influenced.org
• ​988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (call or text)

Until All Are Free is a production of The Exodus Road, a global anti-trafficking organization with a vision for a world where no human is ever bought, sold, or exploited. Learn more at uaafpod.com

The face of human trafficking is changing. Transnational criminal networks, scam compounds operating across borders, and the rise of "pig butchering" fraud have reshaped what exploitation looks like — and what it will take to disrupt it.

On this episode of Until All Are Free, Preston sits down with TER Co-founder Matt Parker to talk about the organization's strategic pivot toward disrupting transnational trafficking. Drawing on nearly fifteen years on the front lines, Matt unpacks the architecture of trafficking in 2026, including operations where victims are trafficked into forced criminality and made to run cyber-enabled fraud schemes targeting people around the world. It's a form of trafficking that doesn't look like what most people picture, and it's growing fast.

The conversation also gets specific about what it actually takes to make trafficking dangerous for traffickers — not just symbolically, but operationally. From evidence-gathering and law enforcement partnership to the technology now reshaping intervention work, Matt offers a clear-eyed look at the playbook TER is deploying to meet this moment.

Bring Matt to your stage. Matt is a sought-after speaker translating fifteen years of front-line anti-trafficking work into talks on technology and modern slavery, leadership lessons from undercover operations, and the story of building a global movement. To book Matt for your event or learn more about his speaking, visit iammattparker.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.

What do human rights actually look like at street level? Not in a courtroom or a policy brief — but on a single block in one of America's most misunderstood neighborhoods?

In this episode of Until All Are Free, Preston Goff sits down with Edwin Desamour, Executive Director of The Lighthouse — a Kensington institution serving North Philadelphia youth and families since 1893.

Edwin grew up on these streets, survived the hardest version of them, and built his life's work around making sure the next generation gets a different story. We talk about what it means to defend the rights of kids the world has already written off, how a neighborhood becomes more than its headlines, and why the fight for safety, dignity, and childhood is won or lost block by block.

A raw, hopeful conversation about community, resilience, and the people who refuse to leave.

In this special episode of Until All Are Free, host Preston Goff sits down with The Exodus Road’s co-founder and CEO, Laura Parker, for an exclusive "watch party" and behind-the-scenes breakdown of the major Newsmax documentary, Stolen Lives: America's Human Trafficking Crisis.

What started nearly 15 years ago as late-night conversations at a kitchen table has morphed into a global movement , recently reaching a nationwide stage with a viewership of over 16 million people. Together, Preston and Laura revisit key moments from the film, unpacking the complex, rapidly evolving landscape of human trafficking and highlighting the critical voices fighting on the front lines.

• Defining the Crisis: Breaking down the realities of human trafficking—which affects an estimated 50 million potential victims globally and roughly 1.1 million individuals in the United States alone—and dismantling the myth that it only happens in foreign countries.

• The Digital Battlefield: Exploring how over 70% of The Exodus Road's cases now involve an online or social media component. Laura and Preston discuss how modern traffickers have traded physical recruitment for smartphones, utilizing apps to target, groom, and blackmail vulnerable youth.

• A Parent's Nightmare: Listening to the heartbreaking and powerful testimony of South Carolina State Representative Brandon Guffey, a parental survivor who lost his son, Gavin, to an online sextortion scam. Brandon shares his journey of turning immense grief into legislative action to protect children in digital spaces.

• The Triple Threat of Investigation: A look into how The Exodus Road marries human intelligence, open-source intelligence, and advanced digital forensics. Co-founder Matt Parker shares his insights on leveraging AI and technology from partners like Cellebrite to mine crucial electronic data, build ironclad target packages for overwhelmed law enforcement, and successfully prosecute trafficking networks.

• Stories of Triumph: Hearing directly from Brandy, a Colorado-based survivor and advocate, who bravely shares her harrowing escape from a trafficker and discusses how she now extends a hand backward to help other women heal and thrive.

• The "Influenced" Program: An overview of The Exodus Road’s federally funded prevention education program designed to equip students, families, and schools with the digital resiliency skills needed to combat online predation.

  
  

Watch the Documentary: Stolen Lives: America's Human Trafficking Crisis is available for streaming on Newsmax+ (theexodusroad.com/stolenlives)

Join the Community: Follow the podcast on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at @UntilAllAreFree to vote on upcoming stories and see behind-the-scenes content.

“It wasn’t the only alley I was going down, it was just the alley I couldn’t figure out how to get back to.” - Matt Parker

This summer, the world is watching the World Cup. Soon, we’ll be releasing a two-part series called The Cost of the Cup, examining two very different stories tied to the tournament: the trafficking myth you’ve heard a thousand times, and the human cost you’ve heard almost nothing about.

But first, we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes, originally released in July 2020.

Seven years before we recorded Pin Drop, co-founder Matt Parker was in a taxi speeding through Bangkok at midnight when he glimpsed an obscure back alley where young girls were being sold. By the time he understood what he’d seen, it was gone, and he couldn’t find his way back to it.

Seven years later, a chance encounter on another taxi ride brought him back. Listen to hear the full story, and the operation that was underway to free these trafficked victims.

The Cost of the Cup is coming soon.