Conversations with the Inspiring Angie Henderson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Angie Henderson.

So, before we jump into specific questions about what you do, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am a professor of sociology at the University of Northern Colorado and co-founder of Avery Research & Consulting. I have been researching commercial sexual exploitation for over two years, and before that my research agenda was always focused on perceptions of women in various roles. I first became interested in studying sex trafficking when I met a survivor – Megan Lundstrom – who opened my eyes to what was happening in my very own community. Since then, I’ve interviewed 64 sex trafficking victims, survivors and folks who identify as sex workers. This issue is alive and well in my local community and I am passionate about eradicating it. One of the most powerful ways to do this, in my opinion, is to make sure that all entities involved in fighting sex trafficking have the appropriate data to inform decisions. That’s why we regularly partner with law enforcement, mental health professionals, non-governmental organizations, legal professionals and survivors. We do the research that informs how each of these professionals understands and fights sex trafficking in their communities.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
This journey has not been easy but it’s been exciting! One of the biggest challenges I faced early on was impostor syndrome or the feeling that I didn’t actually have the expertise required to make recommendations to organizations on what they could be doing better. This got easier over time as I kept doing my work and bounced ideas off other professors and researchers. I felt the most anxious about this when I was invited to present at the United Nations’ Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in May 2019 in Vienna, Austria. However, after the presentation, many attendees were eager to connect and hear more about the collaborative work and how they could implement similar efforts in their countries.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Avery Research & Consulting’s story. Tell us more about it.
Avery Research & Consulting grew out of Megan’s and my passion and vision for centering survivor voices in the anti-trafficking movement. So many decisions are made in service provision, law enforcement, and at the policy level without survivor-centered data at the table. Since Megan and I are compulsive researchers, founding Avery made sense to us because it fills a need and feeds our passion at the same time. Personally, I am most comfortable when I’m buried in a data set running statistical tests to tease out relationships between variables. I’m currently working on a project examining men’s perceptions of women in 30 European countries and whether or not a correlation exists between gender equality and each country’s prostitution policies. Essentially, the project investigates how legalized or decriminalized prostitution impacts gender equality, with particular emphasis on countries where the Equality Model is in place (Sweden, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, and France). I plan on presenting this work at the UN in May 2020.

I also teach about these issues as part of my professor gig as well. Every spring semester, I teach a course titled “Sociology of Sex Trafficking & Sex Work” to about 40 students. My passion thrives at the intersection of research & teaching, and how both can be translated into practical application to make the world safer for everyone. That’s where Avery Research and Consulting plays a huge role.

For good reason, society often focuses more on the problems rather than the opportunities that exist, because the problems need to be solved. However, we’d probably also benefit from looking for and recognizing the opportunities that women are better positioned to capitalize on. Have you discovered such opportunities?
I feel there are incredible opportunities for women to lift each other up. Another passion of mine is finding ways to support other women in their careers as opposed to fighting amongst ourselves for recognition. Academia can be very competitive, but I am thrilled to have colleagues in my department and at Avery who are supportive and truly celebrate one another’s accomplishments. Megan and I are passionate about doing this in Avery as well, starting with structuring our organization on a more equal footing. We are dedicated to not reinforcing hierarchical, top-down systems by starting with 2 co-directors and a team of researchers that work alongside us, instead of for us. There are so many opportunities today to re-think the way we “do” work, and with a little creativity, we can all experience a little more equity by removing unnecessary hierarchical structures.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.averyresearchconsulting.com
• Phone: 970-351-2195
• Email: angie.henderson@unco.edu

Image Credit:
Pictours Paris

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