About Us
Our mission is to bring awareness to William and Mary’s campus about the issue of human sex trafficking. Through education and outreach to others and ourselves, we hope to inform the campus about what human trafficking is and the role it plays in our society.
Our executive officers are listed below, but we also have a vibrant group of members and committees dedicated to our amazing cause, come to our meetings to learn more!
Our executive officers are listed below, but we also have a vibrant group of members and committees dedicated to our amazing cause, come to our meetings to learn more!
Who We Are
Executive Officers:
Holden Mershon- Education Chair
When I first joined HEART the spring semester of my freshman year I didn't have much of an idea what human trafficking was how it took place. A friend of mine invited me to come to a HEART meeting and my world changed that day. I then became extremely aware of the issue and found myself researching more about human trafficking and the misconceptions people have about it. Now that I have this knowledge I want to share it with the wider William & Mary community so that more people are aware that this is a problem that we all directly face and hopefully come up with solutions to human trafficking. Becoming the Education Char for for HEART, I like having adventures my friends as well as dancing, swimming, and hiking. You can catch me eating ice cream at any rime of the day! |
Hayley Hubbard- Public Relations Chair
My first encounter with human trafficking occurred my senior year of high school in the midst of a research paper on India. India was, and still is, notorious for the prevalence of human trafficking, specifically sex trafficking. After reading about the horrific cases in India, I later realized that the issue was in no way isolated to India but took place all over the world, including the United States. These cases of trafficking, whether sex, labor, or organ, all represent the exploitation and manipulation of people, something I believe to be reprehensible. With this mindset I knew that I wanted to continue to learn more about these issues in college, and take further steps to encourage prevention and advocacy. On arriving at William and Mary I saw HEART as the perfect opportunity for this, a club that is dedicated to addressing these issues that are often ignored, in an environment that encourages thought and awareness. I am so privileged to now be a part of this great group of people, working against an issue that we are all so passionate about! |
Camila Rios Molina- Administrative Chair
The first time I heard of human trafficking it was through the international organization A21. The founder Christine Caine was fearlessly talking about it in one of her sermons and I was in complete disbelief of the horrors. After this first encounter with human trafficking I then attended an event where an actual survivor was speaking of her experience, and introduced her nonprofit and explained the vision of her organization. After her presentation I walked up to her and offered my help. At the time I felt like a drop in the water. However, I found that I was wrong soon after joining her team. The Non-profit is called IdentifiableMe and it stands to empower survivors of human trafficking by helping them explore their talents and find their identity through those talents. Through this experience I began to think that I should start a student led group that would educate communities about human trafficking through everything I had learned and was continuing to learn. To my surprise, once I arrived at William and Mary there had already been a similar group in the works! I am so glad I get to share this vision with my peers so that together we can shape our own futures and the future of our community! |
Olivia Allison - Service Chair
I came to HEART with no knowledge of human trafficking. I had an idea of what it was, but I didn't know the extent of the problem. Through documentaries, speakers, and other events I have learned a lot about human trafficking and preventing it has become one of my passions. Human trafficking affects thousands of people and is a social problem that definitely needs to receive more attention. Sex trafficking occurs everywhere including the United States. It can happen to anyone. This is a scary fact but an essential one for people to know. That is why I believe HEART is an important organization. We strive to bring awareness about human trafficking to our campus. We do this through events, donations, speakers, and much more. HEART is very important to me and I hope to inspire others on campus to think more about this issue and to actively try and put an end to trafficking. Valentina Masiero- Events Chair
Hi everyone! My name is Valentina Masiero and I'm a sophomore at the college majoring in neuroscience and minoring in chemistry. I'm the events chair for 2018 which means that I help plan and organize HEART's fundraising, social, and speaker events. I started being a member of HEART when it first started up a year ago, and it quickly became my favorite club to attend. I think that it;s important for people to learn how to recognize trafficking because survivors are often so terrorized by their traffickers that they can't escape the lifestyle without others' help. HEART is all about understanding and recognizing trafficking, followed by spreading awareness so that we can help survivors and prevent more trafficking from occurring as much as possible. I was so shocked to come to HEART and hear survivors speak of being trafficked in Williamsburg. Knowing how much it happens in the local area made me realize that there is something impactful us students can do to help locally as well as globally. I love HEART because it's full of like-minded people who are passionate about making positive change in the world! |