227 – Another Form of Human Trafficking: Child and Forced Marriage

Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak are joined by Diana Mao, President and Co-Founder of the Nomi Network. Diana is an abolitionist with a mission to eradicate human trafficking in her lifetime. Diana actively champions for change, and her visionary skillsets have urged the Nomi Network forward into enormous growth and success. They discuss the Nomi Network's unique business strategy, the nature of child and forced marriages, and current challenges of the anti-trafficking movement. Diana Mao Diana Mao is an abolitionist with a mission to eradicate human trafficking in her lifetime. Diana actively champions for change, and her visionary skillsets have urged Nomi Network forward into enormous growth and success. She is a 2015 Presidential Leadership Scholar, New York Academy of Medicine Fellow, and co-chaired the Nexus Human Trafficking Modern Day Slavery Work Group from 2013-2019. She currently serves on the White House Public-Private Partnership Advisory Council to End Human Trafficking. Diana also writes for the Huffington Post, Reuters, and the United States Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center. She received the 2018 Pioneer Award from Asian Americans for Equality and 2018 Recent Alumni Impact Award from New York University (NYU). Diana earned her Bachelor’s in Business Economics and Chinese from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has a Master’s in Public Administration, with a specialization in International Management from NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. While she lives in New York, Diana spends most of her time traveling to raise awareness and funds for Nomi Network, building partnerships with industries and leaders in private, public, and government arenas to fight human trafficking. Key Points Poverty, gender norms, and the caste system perpetuate child and forced marriages, especially in rural areas in India and Cambodia. Although in India child marriage is illegal, there is a lack of implementation strategies throughout the nation that allows this form of human trafficking to continue at high rates. While the anti-trafficking movement has matured greatly, especially considering this year is the twentieth anniversary of TVPA, there needs to be a shift in focus from surviving to thriving when reintegrating survivors of human trafficking. Resources Nomi Network Huffington Post by Diana Mao TVPA Are you enjoying the show? If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe. Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today. Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at feedback@endinghumantrafficking.org. Transcript Dave [00:00:00] You're listening to the ending human trafficking podcast. This is episode number 227 - Another Form of Human Trafficking: Forced or Child Marriage. Production Credits [00:00:11] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential. Dave [00:00:31] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak. Sandie [00:00:37] And my name is Sandie Morgan. And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. I was telling Sandie before our conversation today that I'm so glad that we get to welcome today's guest to really help me to learn more about something I know very little about, which is forced or child marriage. And Sandie, I know today's guest is going to really help us to explore this more so we can really understand more of the complexities of trafficking, but also how we can do better in our work. I'm so glad to welcome to the show today, Diana Mao. She is an abolitionist with a mission to eradicate human trafficking in her lifetime. Diana actively champions for change and her visionary skill sets to have urged ...