Who We Are

Expertise: Child welfare / juvenile justice; supporting minor victims of HT; state-level response to HT and state collaboration

Christine Cesa is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary with a Masters in Intercultural Studies with Children at Risk and a Bachelor of Science in Education from Ashland University. Christine has served as the Services Coordinator with the Avery Center. Additionally, she has served as the Survivor Advocate with CAST LA and Dignity Health responding to survivors of human trafficking in the healthcare system, providing emergency services and advocacy to patients. Christine is a lived experience expert with specific expertise in familial trafficking. Furthermore, she currently serves as a consultant with Polaris, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the State Department. In addition, she serves on the Board of Ride My Road. Highlights included being published author on TIP report in 2021, Navigating the Unique Challenges In Familial Trafficking, 2023 TIP report, Equity In Survivor Leadership, and one of the co-authors in an anthology, “Medical Perspectives in Human Trafficking In Adolescents”. Christine has trained numerous healthcare systems and spoken at conferences such as National Conference on Ending Sexual Exploitation, GRIT, Crimes Against Women, JUST, Build Beyond, and other similar presentations.  

Ms. Daniela Deas is an expert on commercial sexual exploitation, juvenile justice system reform, and restorative justice.  Ms. Deas has lived experiences and over 6 years of working in non-profit organizations centered on serving high-needs communities.   

Ms. Deas previously served as a Survivor Mentor for one of South Florida’s first child advocacy center based in Miami. Ms. Deas provided group and individualized support, mentoring, crisis management, and recovery to adolescent girls and young women.

Ms. Deas has been selected as an alumni and representative for Pace Center for Girls. Ms. Deas was featured on the 2018 Pace Center for Girls cover, “Believing in Dreams” Annual Impact Report, served as a panelist for the 2019 All About Girls Summit, and was a co-presenter for Florida State University, Pace Center for Girls “Understanding the Needs of Girls and Young Women at Risk of Delinquent”.

Ms. Deas founded Survivors HOPE, a non-profit 501(c)3 based in South Florida providing mentoring, support peer groups, and educational outreach presentations on Human Trafficking. In 2023, Ms. Deas presented a Commercial Sexual Exploitation: Prevention & Awareness training to the Mental Health America of Southeast Florida community groups.

Ms. Deas graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s and Gender Studies and English and obtained a certificate in Global Black Studies from Florida International University.  Ms. Deas is currently completing her Master’s Degree in Social Work at Howard University.

Expertise: strategic planning; capacity building; program development; training & curriculum development

Fenix McClay is a lived experience expert consultant in familial, cult, labor trafficking, and the sex industry.  They have received three years of training in master’s level counseling psychology coursework. As a lived experience expert, they have provided consultations to organizations such as Polaris, Dressember, Roller Skate to Liberate, and Survivor Alliance. With over 10 years of experience in the Anti-Human Trafficking Movement, they have performed research, created a one-of-a-kind program evaluation for direct service providers, and participated in advisory boards, trainings, and panels. As a lived experience expert holding diverse experience expertise and education, they offer a unique perspective on the multilayered experiences of exploitation, complex PTSD, and evaluation. Their passion is focused on research and program evaluation to help reduce client harm and increase organizations’ trauma-informed health and growth.  

Jamie Rosseland is a highly skilled consultant in the field of anti-trafficking, with a focus on the coordination of care and program development for victims and survivors of sexual exploitation. She has expertise in developing and implementing trauma-informed and survivor-centered digital marketing strategies, and has been actively involved in local government and statewide policy advocacy. Committed to changing societal views on the sex trade and addressing systems that fuel demand, Jamie has a wealth of experience working as a survivor advocate, providing mentorship, court advocacy, and care coordination to youth impacted by sexual exploitation. She is a frequent speaker and trainer at community events, statewide summits, and national conferences.

Jasmine Myers obtained her Master’s in Science of Social Administration from Case Western Reserve
University. Jasmine is a passionate Human Trafficking Survivor Leader and serves on several Survivor
Advisory Councils. Jasmine is dedicated to advocating, supporting, and building relationships with survivors as they heal. Jasmine is passionate about bringing awareness to the community.

Josie Heyano, LMSW is a Deg Xinag Athabascan woman from Alaska. She is the daughter of Nina Heyano of Tanana and David Heyano of Ekuk. Her maternal grandparents are the late Paul and Mary Starr of Tanana and Alfred Miller of Anvik. Her paternal grandparents are the late Pete and Rosa Heyano of Ekuk.

Her passion for this work includes creating and implementing holistic and decolonized practices within service organizations to better serve Alaska Native and Indigenous people. She is driven to bring awareness to the prevalence of human trafficking in rural communities and to the intersections of MMIP and trafficking.  In her work, she hopes to collaborate with communities to understand risk factors for trafficking better, create regionally-specific prevention programs, train and empower service providers to talk about trafficking, and use her own experiences to inform policy for services and programs aimed at supporting trafficking survivors.

Josie has several years of experience providing systems navigation and advocacy for youth experiencing homelessness, exploitation, and trafficking in Alaska. She currently serves as the clinical supervisor at Seaview Mental Health Center where she is pursuing her LCSW and developing her trauma therapy skills. She previously served as a Mental Health Clinician with Southcentral Foundation stationed at the Covenant House Alaska where she worked with youth who have experienced exploitation, previous to that she was the Subject Matter Expert for Covenant House Alaska’s human trafficking prevention and intervention program. In 2022 she completed a graduate fellowship with Prevention Now, an anti-trafficking non-profit that leverages data and technology to uncover why human trafficking occurs, where she completed a landscape analysis of Human Trafficking data needs in Alaska.

In addition, Josie founded Signify Consulting, LLC in 2022 and uses this as a platform to share her experience and lend knowledge and collaboration to communities engaged in anti-trafficking work in Alaska. 

Josie is a presidentially appointed member of the United States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, a formal platform to advise and make recommendations on federal anti-trafficking policies to the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (PITF). She also serves on the advisory board of the National Center on Child Trafficking. In 2023 she was awarded the Federal Bureau of Investigations Director’s Community Leadership Award for her service to the community of Alaska and her collective stakeholder approach to Human Trafficking prevention and intervention.

Her work is done in memory of her great aunt Linda Miller, murdered in Anchorage in 1973, her case remains unsolved-  and for all the girls we loved who are still waiting for justice. 

Megan Lundborg (she/her/hers) is a Licensed Baccalaureate Social Worker and holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Denver with a concentration on mental health and trauma while practicing through a social justice lens. She has worked with survivors of human trafficking/commercial sexual exploitation of children since 2014. Megan developed and supervised a survivor advocacy/educator program for a nonprofit serving runaway, homeless, and trafficked youth. She is a registered volunteer with Pet Partners, an animal therapy program. Megan developed this program at a previous agency where she served clients with the help of Remi, a 4- year- old golden retriever. Presently, Megan works at a local high school, building relationships with students and providing advocacy and support within the school system. She has trained nationally on the subject of HT/CSEC, assisting in developing Trauma Informed training for the National Network for Youth and the McCain Institute. Additionally, Megan is a Green Level Boxing Coach and a volunteer for Beyond the Game, a sports-based youth development program.