An Inspired Chat with Jewell Baraka of Long Beach

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Jewell Baraka . Check out our conversation below.

Jewell , we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Music. I gifted myself two tickets to KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas this year and it was such a fun and powerful night. I have always soundtracked my life, which means nearly every memory has a song. Music is memory to me, but also it holds power to help me see, express, and at times even heal my life. Evanescence’s music helped me embrace the darkness inside while reaching for the light of a new day in my life at a really difficult time in my life. Now living a better life it was such a celebration to go see them with a friend that has been with me since that time in my life.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Jewell Baraka. I am the author of the book; Coming of Age on A Porn Set: Trafficked in Porn at 14. I am working on my second book now focused more on the healing stories from my fight to survive and rise to speak my story. I am a speaker and trainer. I train hospital staff and law enforcement on Human Trafficking. I also speak and present training on Trafficking in Porn at various conferences and events. I have been writing since I was 15. Poetry was my first emotional language. For the last decade I have written freelance blogs for various nonprofits. I am currently working on a series of blogs about the conversations we need to have as a culture about the issues that arise out of my story.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t read my book yet you can skip ahead and come back to read my answer here after you have.

I was trafficked on a working adult hardcore porn set when I was 14, When we were done with the first film where I was center stage as the main character they took me into a screening room and made me watch my first porn film with a room full of men. It was the first time that I had ever seen my abuse, my trauma on a screen before me. I had lived it, but I had never seen it before and in that moment reality clicked into place within me. I finally grasped clearly both the danger surrounding me and the fight I had ahead of me for my continued breathing. And beyond that I discerned that it was not just survival I was fighting for, but also the strength and skill to live powerfully.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
I did give up nearly every day for a season. No one tells you that when you are finally physically safe the feelings you have buried for years will suddenly begin surfacing or in my case exploding out of me. That first year that I was finally safe was full of exploding emotions. There were moments of connecting to the new freedom and light I had because I was safe, but in between were moments of collapsing under the excruciating pain of all the trauma I had lived through. In that time of my life I used to say that I crashed onto the floor of giving up every day, but I always got up again. That is why I say, “forget never give up and just keep getting up.” Never give up seemed like an impossible ideal I couldn’t possibly reach, but I could always get up again after a time of giving up. And that is how I got through that season and through many seasons of healing to come.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
Instead of answering about a misconception in the nonprofits bringing awareness about trafficking let me respond by addressing one common misconception in people’s view of those who are trafficked and of traffickers.

In educating people on human trafficking I find that most people do not believe that it happens in their neighborhood to anyone they know or by someone they know. Most tend to believe some version of the “stranger danger” we learn as children.

In reality it is only about one percent of trafficking that is kidnapping. So it rarely looks like we see in the movies. In the United States thirty to forty percent of trafficking is by a family member: father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, cousin. And another large percentage of trafficking is by a partner or spouse. So the truth is often that the most danger is not from strangers, but from those near us.

My vulnerability that made me susceptible to trafficking was being born into my family of origin. And my father who trafficked me looked like the guy next door because he was.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
Most people don’t embrace their own darkness well. I entered into the darkest spaces within me to understand what was there. I went through what I call my goth, nihilistic, deconstruction period where I dived deep into the waters of all my trauma, emotional fallout, and pain and did not force answers to come. Yes, I was reaching for healing by embracing all of that, but I wasn’t trying to put a band aid on internal bleeding. I knew that the quick fix would never work for me. I needed to see and feel everything in the darkness to find the glimmers of light that were the beginning of the deep healing I so desperately needed.

It was not time that healed me. Time doesn’t heal shit, but as I did the deep dives both in writing and out loud with therapists and found tools and skills to help me with my processing in the dark depths of me I did begin to heal. There is no quick fix to heal ourselves from our trauma, but I do believe healing is possible for any person willing to do the work. If I can heal you can too!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jewellbaraka.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jewellbaraka/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jewell-baraka-7848382b/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jewelljb