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Brooklyn spent her entire life fighting to stay out of the life she was essentially born into.
Her dad was a pimp and her mom, a prostitute. When she found REST, she was in an especially vulnerable situation. She was a single mom with no steady income or childcare. “I was relying on this trick (a man who purchases sex), and he was so cruel. But I didn’t have many options. He was like ‘what else are you going to do?’ He knew how much I needed him, and he was paying all my bills. My daughter’s dad wasn’t paying anything. It was degrading. I felt low. I was drunk every day.”
Brooklyn said REST immediately made all the difference by connecting her to housing resources and helping her access affordable permanent housing.
"It felt like an immediate step to self respect overnight. It felt like something I had been writing poetry about and I finally could speak out loud."
REST also referred her to an organization that helped pay for school, which meant she could qualify for childcare assistance. It was exactly the break she needed.
“I feel like that set everything in motion. If REST hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have been able to get a job, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything. I went to school to get my yoga certification. I ended up teaching yoga on weekends and I started a business helping black businesses with social media.”
REST also connected Brooklyn to a therapist, who held her accountable and pushed her to make progress. It’s been more than a year and Brooklyn has remained sober and out of the sex trade. As proud as Brooklyn is to be financially independent and out of the sex trade, she is most proud that she is still here, thanks to resiliency, persistence, and a chance to REST.
"I think as long as you are fighting to exit, you’re exiting."