Rachel Thomas
Survivor of Sex Trafficking; Founder and Director, Sowers Education Group; Writer; Mentor; Educator; Writing Critic
A graduate of an elite university with a master’s degree, and a survivor of human trafficking, Rachel Thomas has extensive experience teaching, mentoring, training, curriculum writing, and public speaking. Ms. Thomas founded Sowers Education Group in 2012 as a means of sowing seeds of awareness about human trafficking. Since then, Sowers has reached over 100,000 live audience members and millions more through media. Recognized as a true thought-leader, expert trainer and dedicated advocate, Ms. Thomas was appointed to the White House Advisory Council on Human Trafficking in 2020. Lead author of “Ending the Game” and “The Cool Aunt” series, her Ending the Game curriculum is used by over 170 facilitators in eight states to help survivors break the bonds of attachment to traffickers. Ms. Thomas grew up in an upper class home and was sexually trafficked as a university student by a modeling agent, who trafficked young women using threats of violence, abuse and psychological manipulation.
“When you are treated as an object instead of a person, you feel the effects. You become blind to your own value beyond a dollar amount. Buyers are not looking for a wife; they want an object for use. Everyone involved in the sex trade — victims, buyers and pimps — are all broken, hopelessly seeking to feel something affirming from a world built on objectification.”