E3RF’s New Counter-Sex Trafficking Advocate
Meet Irene: E3RF’s New Counter-Sex Trafficking Advocate
The E3RF team is growing, and we recently sat down with one of our newest members to hear her story. Irene may be a newcomer to our Phoenix team, with an office set to open this summer, but she isn’t new to Arizona or to this work. As our Counter Human Trafficking Victim Advocate, she supports survivors as they exit the commercial sex industry, building relationships with victims and partnering agencies to fill gaps and improve outcomes. It’s a role that demands deep trust and hard-won expertise, and Irene brings both in abundance.
Called, Not Just Hired
Irene’s path to this work wasn’t accidental, it was a calling. “I got a prophetic word to go help the girl I once was,” she says. “I realized that in my darkest day I had to cry out for help, and someone was there to pull me up. Once I was healed enough, I needed to pull the next person up who was down.”
That conviction has driven her through years spent in the trenches of aftercare, walking alongside survivors in the hardest moments of their healing, shaping her into someone whose purpose and passion are inseparable. “I’m that girl that walks around feeling like she never works a day in her life,” she says.
The Gap She Fills
After years of front-line work, Irene has developed insights that shape how she approaches every case. Mental health, she says, has become one of the most significant and underserved vulnerabilities in the trafficking landscape, a gap that leaves victims falling through the cracks of both care systems and making them easy targets for perpetrators. She has also watched technology reshape the threat entirely. “The game hasn’t changed, but the victim has.” Digital payments, social media, and content-sharing apps have given traffickers a 24/7 reach that no longer requires physical proximity. “Perpetrators have the keys to your own home through your phone.”
When law enforcement enters a room and a victim shuts down, that’s where Irene steps in. Her advocacy is deeply personal, accompanying someone to a court date, helping them find an outfit they feel confident in for a hearing, restoring documents, arranging transportation. But it starts with trust that can’t be manufactured. Irene has a rare ability to meet survivors exactly where they are, sitting down with someone whose walls are fully up and creating a moment of real connection. “I have the ability to tear down walls and help victims walk in freedom,” she says. When that happens, it isn’t just good advocacy. It’s a divine intervention.
Welcome to the Family, Irene
Irene joined E3RF because she found an organization that shares her faith-centered conviction that you cannot fight trafficking without being anchored in something greater than yourself. “I love fighting human trafficking. I love Jesus. And I know I can’t fight human trafficking without being partnered with Jesus.” She steps into our Phoenix office not just as a new hire, but as a true addition to a family fighting for something greater than themselves. We can’t wait to see what God does through her. Welcome to the team, Irene. We are so grateful you’re here.
If You Suspect Someone Is Being Trafficked
Don’t wait. You could be the hand that helps someone in their darkest moment.
- National Human Trafficking Hotline: Call or text 1-888-373-7888, or text “HELP” to 233733
- National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC): Report online at cybertipline.org or call 1-800-843-5678
- Local law enforcement: If someone is in immediate danger, call 911
If you’d like to support the work Irene and the E3RF team do every day, give now.