Conversations with the Inspiring Megan Lundstrom

Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Lundstrom.

Megan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
After being trafficked across the country for nearly five years, I found my freedom in 2012. While I thought my hardship was ending, the reality was that there were no services in my community for women like me which made the recovery process incredibly difficult. Through that process, I realized that there were others in my community who were trapped or escaping similar experiences and they needed support and services too. At that point, I founded Free Our Girls in 2014, and for the first two years, focused exclusively on training existing service providers on how to recognize the signs of sex trafficking, because most of the agencies and first responders were likely already seeing trafficked persons, they just were unaware of the signs. Beginning in 2017, we launched a pilot program focused on meeting one of the large unmet needs for this population – trauma-informed and felon-friendly employment. After a successful pilot year, we formerly launched Taking Flight in 2018, and are seeing our first cohort of graduates completing the program this fall! In addition to this program, our services have expanded to include a financial literacy program, peer-led support groups, national outreach care packages, mobile response, and drop-in services. This spring, we moved into an 11-bedroom home that houses all of these programs as well as a boutique which will allow us to expand our job program to serve more of the survivors on our wait-list.

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?
Ha! No such thing as an easy life. Starting an organization is no small feat, and my naivete gave me the courage to jump in and figure it out. Overcoming so many personal obstacles while also building a new business was difficult in so many ways, but it has also been very rewarding and a part of my own healing process – seeing that what I lived through is now being used as a way to reach and walk alongside others in similar situations. I’m not big on giving unsolicited advice so this one is hard… I guess (1) learn everything you can about yourself – where you came from, where you want to head, your personality traits, your core values, your “why” – knowing who you are and why you do what you do is what keeps you going and keeps your priorities focused. And (2) relationships are everything (I am an introvert through and through and battle social anxiety, so when I say this, I really mean it!) – make connections, build partnerships, avoid burning bridges, go the extra mile to communicate to those around you that you care.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Free Our Girls story. Tell us more about it.
Free Our Girls is a Colorado-based non-profit direct service organization that provides services to victims and survivors of sex trafficking across North America. In partnership with my for-profit company, Avery Research & Consulting, we have conducted ground-breaking academic research on domestic sex trafficking and are focused on addressing the issue at its root: demand for commercial sex. We specialize in survivor-centered services, specifically focused on breaking the cycle of poverty and providing economic empowerment for marginalized women. Free Our Girls was the first organization in the state and one of the first in the nation to provide an employment program for survivors of trafficking to reintegrate into the workforce. We are the only organization in the US with a financial literacy curriculum specific to this population. And we have an incredibly unique partnership with academia and applied research in that all of our programmings is evidence-based and data-driven, and we collaborate with a wide variety of community sectors to break down information silos. Additionally, we are one of only a handful of survivor-led organizations in the US. I am very proud of what my team is building, and this is just the beginning!

Do you have a lesson or advice you’d like to share with young women just starting out?
Be willing to put in time. This is really hard for me as my PTSD has impacted the part of my brain that handles concepts like time management! I really believed that starting a non-profit was really easy and that obtaining funding and engaging clients would come quickly. While we have grown organically and have had some incredible success in just a few short years, it has not come without a lot of tears, a lot of closed doors, and a lot of hurry-up-and-wait. Be willing to meet new people, share your ideas, ask for support again and again, stay late, etc. It does pay off!

Pricing:

• $5 per month – covers the monthly postage on a care package to a victim or survivor of sex trafficking.
• $50 per month – covers the survivor co-facilitator stipend to run our weekly peer support groups
• $500 per month – covers our utilities and software subscriptions at Sparrow’s Landing for one year

Contact Info:

• Website: www.freeourgirls.org
• Phone: 303-621-4269
• Email: info@freeourgirls.org
• Instagram: __takingflight
• Facebook: /FreeOurGirlsInc

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