Meet Jewell Baraka of Long Beach, CA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jewell Baraka

Hi Jewell , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I landed in Southern California at 19. I know the greater Los Angeles area gets a bad rap at times, but for me it was the place I escaped to, my land of refuge. I had planned many different versions of a midnight escape from the trauma of lifelong abuse and 6 years of sex trafficking. In the end I drove a packed car to my freedom and I never looked back.

Over the next decade I lived in over 20 different places with 60 plus total roommates as I fought to stay housed and heal my life in every way I could. I did many deep dives into therapy to process and heal my story. I always say that it takes every tool to heal and I found many of those tools in that season, When the trauma was triggered and things were bad I would rotate through all my tools: I would write, listen to music, do angry art, go to the beach, train in MMA, and talk to friends and therapists. If I didn’t find my peace and center by the end of that circle I would repeat the whole process again.

Work was always a means to an end. I have never really had what most would call a career path. The trauma of my childhood if you can really call it a childhood left me with a different perspective and evaluation of what was really important in life. My first job here was at a music/video store, which gives you a sense of my age. Rent was 1/2 my take home pay, but I was happy because I was living on my own terms. Plus I got to listen to good music all day, which definitely was pleasing to my 19 year old self.

Healing my life and rising to speak was the compass I followed forward. I moved the logistics of my life around those two central focuses. From the outside my decisions often did not make sense to people, but every choice I made was deliberate and thoroughly vetted. One result of my past trauma is that I do not really do random or impulsive. Both of those movements could get you killed in the world I grew up in.

It is a few decades now from that moment of arriving here when I was 19 and what I could only dream of speaking then was finally realized for me this last February when I published my memoir: Coming of Age On A Porn Set: Trafficked In Porn at 14. It was a 5 year writing project, but a lifetime healing project to arrive at that moment of speaking my story in my voice for all the world to hear.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Smooth is not really an adjective that describes a life like mine that has come of such extreme trauma, but if there was anything that helped to smooth my path it was a sense of gratitude. Since I found my freedom at 19 a sense of gratitude has always permeated my perspective because whatever current hardship I was facing I knew how much worse it could be. I had lived in an upside down world where nightmares were my reality. I never expected to live so even the fact I was still breathing was something to be thankful for.

The path was constantly full of obstacles and road blocks and nuclear fallout from all the trauma I was fighting my way out of. People often think that escaping is the end of the fight, but really it is just the beginning of another fight. I fought migraines, deep patterns of self harm and severe complex PTSD just to make it through each day. And because life required so much energy just to survive I was often living under the poverty level, just barely making it through financially.

Gradually the storms of PTSD and self harm receded. They came me at me less frequently and I vanquished them more quickly when they did come. I even began to trust people and myself more and as I did the strength within me and around me solidified. It was never a smooth road, but the phoenix in me did rise through the ashes of what was into the light of a new day in my life.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am the author of the recently published book: Coming of Age On A Porn Set: Trafficked in Porn at 14. I am a survivor, advocate, MMA enthusiast, beach lover, and seeker who has taken the deep dive into the caverns of my own trauma to speak my story so that I can have a conversation with the world about the issues that arise from it.

For the last three years I have worked as a crisis response advocate with Journey Out and Dignity Health connecting trafficking victims identified in Los Angeles hospitals with resources, referrals and care, to empower them on their way to a new life. I am very proud of the work I have through the Survivor Advocate program. I will never forget the faces of those I have helped nor the perspective I have gained from my work there.

I regularly present trainings on human trafficking, participate in panels at conferences, and advocate alongside local nonprofits to bring cultural and legislative change on issues related to sex trafficking and human rights violations.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I trained for 5 years in Jeet Kune Do, Muay Thai, Savate, Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, and Kali. And my instructor was taught by Dan Inosanto who worked with Bruce Lee. So there are 3 degrees of separation between me and Bruce Lee.

Pricing:

• Paperback $12.99
• Audible $12.99
• Kindle $5.99

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jewellbaraka.com
• Instagram: @jewellbaraka
• Facebook: @jewelljb
• Twitter: @jewellmb
• Youtube: @jewellbarakaauthor
• Other: @jewellbaraka (TikTok)