Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebecca Bender.
Rebecca, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in a small town in Oregon. I was always an ambitious kid and graduated high school a year early as an honor student and varsity athlete. I was accepted into Oregon State University, but unenrolled and gave up my dorm room after I found out I was pregnant. Being a single mom trying to put myself through community college didn’t come without challenge and continued ambition.
Unfortunately, my childhood traumas mixed with being a young mother myself, created vulnerabilities that were targeted by a trafficker – a young man I met on campus who pretended to be my boyfriend. I thought trafficking was kidnapped kids overseas so I didn’t recognize the red flags soon enough. I was trafficked for nearly six years until the feds raided our home and eventually led to my escape.
Starting over with nothing was hard, but the drive that was always there coupled with the motivation to find purpose out of it all, drove me to start a nonprofit that would help make change. Not only did I want people to know that trafficking was happening everywhere, but I wanted to make a difference in how law enforcement approached this issue. Having gone to jail many times, too scared to talk, and a part of a federal investigation, gave me insight I thought could help Human Trafficking Units, FBI and Homeland Security across the country. I started speaking and training and year to date, my nonprofit has equipped over 143,000 professionals all around the world.
As that was building, other survivors started reaching out asking to be mentored. I was finishing my master’s degree online and had the thought, “if I can get my master’s online, I can mentor online.” This was well before covid, so no one was connecting back then like they are today. I decided to mirror an academic format and created an online school for survivors of trafficking, helping them get job ready after escape. YTD we’ve helped nearly 1700 survivors in over 717 U.S. cities find their purpose and create a roadmap to accomplish it.
From there, I started writing books, did a Ted Talk and went back to school: UCLA to get my producers degree. I wrote a pilot which I was able to sell to wiip and Showtime picked it up. We filmed the pilot with an incredible cast and crew but it eventually did not get green lit. That is what brought to me to LA, to continue to use entertainment to make greater impact on helping pull back the curtain on this issue.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Being an entrepreneur never comes without challenges. LOL Taking ideas and turning them into tangible companies is a constant struggle, but one that is so fulfilling and can blossom into more you ever dreamed of. Figuring out the logistics of “how” to actually write, step by step, how you’ll bring your idea to life, takes creativity, trial and error, scaling as it grows and realizing your technology or operational structure may need to expand. It’s about staffing and good people and finding the resources to pay them. More than working out all the logistics – often along the way as they come up and finding solutions by leaning on mentors and colleagues and research and classes – it’s also about breaking into areas you may know nothing about. Taking a risk when you do not know the road ahead and jumping for it will always come with struggles. In the beginning it was finding the resources to be able to make this my own full time job first, then how to keep raising money to hire a team. Learning how nonprofit management and development works was a lot of trial and error – finding the people that believe in you and your work. It’s also about finding a gap in service or product and creating ways to meet that need. It’s a constant state of learning, adapting and adjusting and not letting the struggles along the way stop you from moving forward.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Elevate Academy is the largest online school in the world created specifically for survivors of human trafficking. What began as a simple idea—to help survivors become job-ready after escape—has grown into a global movement of empowerment, education, and second chances. We offer trauma-informed, career-focused training that includes everything from financial literacy and soft skills to entrepreneurship and leadership development.
What sets us apart is that we’re not just teaching survivors how to survive—we’re showing them how to thrive. Many of our instructors are survivors themselves, creating a deeply authentic and supportive peer-to-peer model. Students aren’t just learning skills; they’re learning from people who’ve walked the same path and turned their lives into something powerful. It’s a dynamic that builds trust, restores dignity, and produces real outcomes—employment, independence, and self-belief.
We serve students in more than 700 cities across the U.S. and in 22 countries worldwide, with a strong focus on safety, anonymity, and trauma-informed support. Our digital platform makes access seamless, even for those in high-risk or transitional situations. And while the platform is online, the impact is deeply personal. We’ve had graduates go on to become business owners, nonprofit leaders, and policy advocates themselves.
I’ve worked in this field for nearly 17 years and have become a subject matter expert in human trafficking—something that has led me to testify in trials across the country. It’s a form of restorative justice I’m proud to be part of: reviewing evidence, consulting law enforcement, interviewing victims who are being charged as co-conspirators for crimes they were forced to commit. These moments—often in courtrooms—are where advocacy meets action. And they inform everything I build, from education to public awareness.
That’s why I also launched Bender Media, a social justice–driven production company dedicated to telling bold and authentic stories. Based in Los Angeles, we focus on both scripted and unscripted content that sheds light on the complex realities of trafficking, exploitation, and survival. In a time when empathy and understanding are deeply needed, storytelling has the power to open hearts and shift culture. Entertainment reaches places policy can’t—and I believe in using every tool we have to make lasting change.
At its core, my work—whether through Elevate Academy, expert testimony, or storytelling—is about reclaiming power, rewriting narratives, and creating systems where survivors don’t just get a seat at the table… they build the table.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
They can reach out via our website or follow us on social to learn more – www.rebeccabender.org @ImRebeccaBender
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rebeccabender.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imrebeccabender/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ImRebeccaBender
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/imrebeccabender/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRPu3DyXTdesdEEij2mFuhw
Image Credits
Bethany Sellers
