Katie Ford, Former CEO of Ford Modeling and Founder of Freedom for All, Keynote Speaker at Sex Trafficking Event

The Advisory Board of FAU's Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies presents "Human Trafficking: The Modern Day Slave Trade," an honest discussion with Katie Ford, founder of "Freedom for All" and former CEO of the Ford Modeling Agency. The event, which includes light dinner and drinks, will take place on Thursday, Sept.11 at 6:30 p.m. at City Fish Market, 7940 Glades Road, in Boca Raton. Tickets to the event are $50 per person and can be purchased by calling 561-297-2337.

Freedom for All is a not-for-profit organization that partners with on-the-ground organizations to create long-term, systemic changes to end slavery in the countries where they work and to save lives by freeing people who are held in slavery.

"As CEO of Ford Models, I brought models from more than 50 countries to the United States," Ford said. "Because most were foreign and young, they were potentially vulnerable. Ford Models had a history of protecting young women and men by providing housing, shelter, food, and medical care if needed. The work I do to fight human trafficking and forced labor is informed by my previous work."

Other speakers at the event will include Palm Beach County State Attorney David Aronberg and Katarina Rosenblatt, a sex trafficking survivor and founder of "There is H.O.P.E. for Me," an organization that reaches out to help survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking.

The event is part of "Surviving Slavery: Sex Trafficking in South Florida," a research initiative of FAU's Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (CWGSS). The Center presents an interdisciplinary program that offers an M.A. degree, graduate certificate and undergraduate certificate. Courses are taught by nationally and internationally known faculty from a variety of disciplines.

This event is underwritten by CWGSS Advisory Council member Edith Stein and her husband Martin Stein. All proceeds will support CWGSS.  

For more information about CWGSS, call 561-297-3865 or visit www.fau.edu/WomensStudies.