EP 142: Trafficked Three Times: Amanda Blackwood

What do you think of when you hear the words "human trafficking"? Far away Asian countries? Young women? Kid knapping by strangers? Amanda Blackwood is my guest this week to dispel all these incorrect assumptions and define what trafficking really is. She also tells her harrowing story of being trafficked multiple times by people she knew, including her fiancée. Not to worry though, after her escapes, she shares how she healed from such horrible trauma and helps others to do the same. We actually laughed quite a bit while talking about such a dark topic! Join us for an inspirational and educational conversation. Biography: When Amanda finally managed to get away from the man who was trafficking her she was thirty-one years old and didn’t know what she’d gone through even had a name, much less how to deal with the pain of feeling like a broken person, unworthy of love and filled with so much anger. On a freezing cold day in 2018 she saw former trafficked people standing strong and showing their beautiful resiliency on a stage at an anti-trafficking event. At that moment she finally knew what her purpose in life would be. Since then, Amanda has spoken on a multitude of stages, been interviewed by the Chicago Tribune, sold her art all over the country, been a keynote speaker at international summits, loaned her voice to multiple radio programs, and published over a dozen books. She launched two podcasts - one that focuses on interviewing other authors of trauma, and the other that discusses the long term consequences of trauma and how to fight back for a better life. She's a trauma recovery mentor, professional artist, accomplished public speaker, and a charity campaigns manager for MMA legend Frank Shamrock through ShamrockWay.org Amanda lives in Denver, Colorado with her rescue cats and supportive husband who keep her sane. My primary podcast can be found athttps://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/amandablackwoodMy collaboration podcast is athttps://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/growthfromdarknessI can be reached or my books can be found at the following social media pages and websites:https://detailedpieces.comhttps://growthfromdarkness.comhttps://www.facebook.com/AmandaBlackwoodSurvivorhttps://www.instagram.com/detailedpieceshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/authoramandablackwoodhttps://twitter.com/DetailedPieceshttps://www.tiktok.com/@detailedpieceshttps://amandablackwoodthesurvivor.wordpress.comhttps://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17646596.Amanda_Blackwoodhttps://www.bookbub.com/authors/amanda-blackwoodhttps://www.etsy.com/your/shops/LadyBlackwoodShop/ Amanda Blackwood Transcript [00:00:00] Hello, welcome. Come on in. The water is fine. It's a 110 degrees out here and I'm going swimming tomorrow. I just had my follow up visit with my surgeon for my foot and he says everything looks great and that I am cleared to go swimming. [00:00:20] And so I'm going over to my neighbor's house Who has a pool. And so that's the exciting news for the week for me. The exciting news about the podcast is that we have a wonderful guest, Amanda Blackwood, and we are going to be talking about human trafficking. This is a very dark topic, so no kids in the room, obviously, but. [00:00:50] If this is a topic that you're sensitive to prostitution and drug use, that sort of thing. You may [00:01:00] want to skip till next week, [00:01:02] She is an amazing lady. I'm going to tell you a little more about her. Trafficking is something that I am very passionate about eliminating and helping people to heal from human trafficking. Mending the Soul, as you're familiar with, if you've been listening to the podcast for any length of time, you know that I'm involved with Mending the Soul groups. [00:01:32] But we also have a Princess Lost, Princess Found, which is for sex trafficked victims. And the curriculum is amazing. That's why I invited... Amanda to come on the show and tell her story.