From Awareness to Action: How the Transportation Industry is Fighting Human Trafficking

In this episode of On the Move, Jen sits down with Laura Cyrus, Senior Director of Industry Training & Outreach at Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) to discuss the critical role the transportation industry plays in combating human trafficking.

Recorded just after Sexual Assault Awareness Month, this conversation reflects on the momentum built across April and how awareness efforts are translating into real-world action. Laura shares how TAT is equipping drivers, carriers, and industry partners with the tools to recognize and report trafficking, and the tangible impact those efforts are having on victims across the country.

The conversation also looks ahead to TMSA ELEVATE, where TAT will be featured as part of the Community Hub, giving attendees a chance to engage directly in meaningful, purpose-driven work.

This episode is a powerful reminder that awareness is just the starting point, and that this industry has the ability to drive real change.

Download the TAT App.

Check out the Transportation Sales and Marketing Association (TMSA) website or engage with us on LinkedIn.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 0:22

Hello, everyone, and welcome to On the Move, a show where we share transportation, sales, and marketing success stories. I am Jennifer Carpis Romain, Executive Director at TMSA, a trade nonprofit educating and connecting marketing and sales professionals inside transportation and logistics. And today on the show, I'm so excited to have Laura Cyrus, Senior Director of Industry Training and Outreach at Truckers Against Trafficking. Hi, Laura, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Hey, I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having us as a part of the show today.

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 0:55

So excited to have you here. Can you share a little bit about your role at uh Truckers Against Trafficking and what kind of drew you into this work?

Laura’s Path Into Anti-Trafficking

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Yeah, okay. So, title is Senior Director of Industry Training and Outreach, but what that really means is I'm leading the team that is advancing all of our flagship programming within the truck transportation industry. So our training for over-the-road drivers, a training specific to local drivers, in-home delivery and professional movers, our work with shipping and logistics organizations, outreach. In my role, in addition to leading the team that's advancing all of this work, I travel nationally, speak at events, work with high-level partners. And really the thing that I'm most excited about is just helping people from all of these different types of organizations find the most natural point of intersection with their work and the work of TAT. And what that ends up meaning is that they're able to help combat human trafficking as part of their everyday job, which is so cool for me to be a part of that. So what drew me into the work, um, yeah, short version is um I uh studied criminal justice at Michigan State University and didn't hear anything about human trafficking in my coursework at all. It was not until I actually heard a missionary speak about human trafficking, and she was talking about her organization overseas, but she sort of brought it home for all of us in the audience and was referencing some cases from the United States and was talking about a sweatshop in California, and there were workers there that were being exploited, labor trafficking victims being forced to make garments. And one of the places among many that those garments ended up were stores in the United States. And I had just purchased two dresses at um a major department store. Not that they were involved in any of this, but um I just had this moment of how had I never considered who was producing my clothing or the coffee that I drank every morning or the chocolate that I enjoyed or write all these things. Like I just had this moment of how have I been such an unconscious consumer, right? And just felt very convicted and motivated to do something. I didn't know what that was gonna look like. Um obviously, sex trafficking is such a huge uh piece of all that, too. But it it really was just that um confronting my own potential um um supply chain um issue of of not really being conscious or aware of what went into the global supply chain and how people might be infected by my purchases, right? So, anyway, that sent me on this whole um path and didn't get a job in my field, graduated from college um during the recession and got some random business experience for a while, um, but ended up going back to school. I did a master's in international human rights and forced labor and human trafficking and really am solely, you know, really motivated to do anti-trafficking work. And I'm really grateful to have been at TAT for 13 years. I started interning um with TAT when I was doing that grad program, and I've just never left because I love the work so much, the people, the partners, um, and it's just yeah, really fulfilling to be a part of.

Sexual Assault Links And Vulnerability

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 4:06

And for those that might not be familiar with TAT, like can you describe the mission and impact and exactly what you guys do?

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Yes. So our mission is to stand committed to educate, equip, empower, and mobilize members of key industries and agencies to help combat human trafficking. What does that mean in practice? So we are seeking to raise up a mobile army of transportation professionals that can assist law enforcement in the recognition of those victims of human trafficking across North America, and then the reporting so that those frontline people everywhere in all of these little niche industries that we're working with, they are aware, understand what to look for, what they might be seeing, and then what to do, how to take action in order to help someone. Um, and so we really are by educating all of those frontline people, helping folks from all different walks of life, um, areas of business, roles, responsibilities, really take action and be able to again do something to help combat this crime.

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 5:07

I love the mission. And as um when we first met a couple weeks ago, and I was like, please come on the show, please get involved, and we'll we'll talk about that in a little bit. But I told you that for me, I've been like a longtime watcher and supporter of the mission. Um, so obviously I'm the executive director here at TMSA, but in my free time in my personal life, I have served on the board of directors of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence for about four years now, volunteered there for three years prior. So to me, TAT's kind of the intersection between my work that I do. And so it's been really cool to watch people get engaged, get involved, really help this community understand the impact and power that these types of things have on people's lives and how we can be a part of it. And why I joined OASB is because I felt like I could live, I work from home, I live in a little space, and it's easy to have a blind eye to what goes on and like how you were saying, like I never thought about my impact or my piece of it, even if I'm not directly doing anything, but how how could I do more? And so it's been great to watch you and get to know you and really um sit and see how much this has grown. I love seeing our um TMSA members that are involved in chat. It's been just really cool. And so right now we're coming off of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. So that's every month in April. What stood out to you this year in terms of awareness or momentum in in this year?

SPEAKER_01 6:45

I think so, I think one of the interesting things, um, right, because for us, the sort of the big month is January, National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. And but this ties so unfortunately, so neatly into the work that we're doing. And I think one of the things, for instance, my team this this month especially, we started adding in um some new slides into some uh specific types of presentations that that we do for corporate audiences or for associations, just around the link between adverse child experiences, um, including sex abuse, sexual assault, and the the um the issue of human trafficking and how that those adverse child experiences especially make someone more vulnerable. And so there was this survey um from Polaris, which is a national anti-trafficking organization, they surveyed survivors, and 96% of them, sex trafficking survivors, said that they had experienced abuse as a child. Um, that included physical, sexual, mental, um, but 84% of those specifically called out sex abuse. And I think when you tackle an issue such as large, such as large as human trafficking or sexual assault, um, understanding that while each thing is so nuanced, everything is so interconnected. And so while we're trying to end this huge thing of you know human trafficking and forced exploitation and all these things, labor trafficking, sex trafficking, we have to remember that there are there are victims, there are people that are coming from all different walks of life, having all of these different circumstances, but that that is one of the things that is fueling, unfortunately, the vulnerabilities that traffickers are looking for. You know, they are looking for folks on the margins, they are looking for people that have um experienced these types of things because unfortunately, traffickers are master manipulators and they they find their way in and can exploit those vulnerabilities. So, to me, to back up to your question, I think more people starting to recognize all of those connections. I mean, we talk about in our presentations too, um I think this is still the stat between one in four or one in five women in their lifetime will be a victim of sexual assault. And, you know, we share when when we're talking to predominantly a group of men, typically in these rooms, although you know, we talk to everybody, we say there's a great chance that every single one of us in this room knows someone, whether it's a friend of a friend, an intimate partner, a colleague, some other family member, we all know somebody who has been a victim of sexual assault, which is sick. And you think about that one person, what that one instance did to shatter that person's sense of security, their self-worth, just how much it takes to overcome something like that that happens to you. And then not making comparisons, but then jumping to, yeah, victims of sex trafficking may be maybe raped up to 20 times a day. And that's just when you start to share those figures and start first to help people humanize and internalize and say, gosh, yeah, like I can think of my sister or my aunt or whoever who I know has experienced this thing, which is not sex trafficking, but I know how much that impacted them. Um and then you consider the level of you know, trauma. Um, not that one trauma is worse than another, but it just um it becomes easier for people and harder, I think, to sit with and to stomach, but to say, okay, yes, what can we do? What can we do to help combat this? So um building on that momentum, just helping people make that connection and understand there's a lot of horrible stuff that's going on in the world. There just is, and it it really takes all of us to combat it. Our co-founder likes to say human trafficking is an everywhere problem, so it requires an everybody solution. And I think that's the cool thing about what TAT does is we provide resources, training, education, um, so that everybody can get involved.

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 10:50

I I think the humanization of it, of what you're talking about, is so important. And because when you say the stats, it's it's a number, right? But when you really sit in the stat and what that means, and when you go in spaces like going, so OASV does like advocacy day, knowing that in that room, yeah, the mass majority of those people have are a victim, and that's why they're part of the movement. But that's why I always wanted to be an advocate, because like you said, it's it's a problem that everyone needs to be a part of. We can't solve things on our own, and the exposure and advocacy, those are huge pieces of it. And so I and at the beginning you were talking about the interconnection. That that was the thing I was most blown away by when I started to get involved, um, is to see how interconnected all of these things are and how they can build on each other and where we end up. Yeah. So what are you seeing then that that awareness translates into real action within the transportation

Turning Awareness Into Industry Action

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 11:52

industry?

SPEAKER_01 11:52

So I think to that point, right, once you once you lay that foundation and you're sort of like level setting with people around the reality of this crime, which includes busting a lot of myths, right? We still are confronted with people who think trafficking is snatching a person off a street, you know, that every case begins with snatching somebody off a street, shoving them in a white van, you know, driving away. And that's that's just so false. Do extreme situations like that happen? Yes, they do. Please be vigilant no matter where you are, all those things, right? But the reality is understanding the nuances of this crime um really then help people understand I've seen this. So for instance, at Matt's this year, the Mid-America Truck Show in Louisville, um, our team passed out over 9,000 wallet cards, 9,000 of our little um cards that we're trying to get into the hands of every frontline driver, energy worker, bus driver, truck driver, you name it. Um, and I think the thing for me that's so interesting, again, I've been doing this work for over a decade and have talked to thousands of drivers. Um, and after you sit and have these conversations with them, they say, oh my gosh, like now that you're saying that, I remember the situation from 10 years ago, from 20 years ago, from whenever, where I knew something wasn't right, but I didn't have the language around this, I didn't have the awareness and understanding. So I didn't really know what I was looking at. And I certainly didn't know that there was something I could do that only involved making a phone call, right? So um, seeing the momentum, seeing those light bulb moments for the drivers who are the frontline people, but then also all of the amazing support that we get from the companies who really want to do good as they're doing business. That's one of the things that we talk about a lot, like incorporating TAT into the safety culture of these organizations and just giving them tools. It's easy. We make it free. We had to think of what are all the barriers that we needed to make sure for objections that we could easily overcome. It's free, it can be done in less than 30 minutes. Um, there are so many methods to deploy this training, no matter how an organization, if they're doing in-person safety training, if they're sophisticated with an LMS that they're utilizing, we try to make it so, so easy. Um, and then have continuing ways for organizations to get involved. So thankfully, we're we've seen great reception to what we're what we're putting out

Red Flags And How To Report

SPEAKER_01 14:11

there.

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 14:11

And you mentioned that like those moments, those light bulb moments where people are like, oh, I I saw something, see something, say something, but they didn't know what to say. So, what are some of those key signs or situations that industry professionals should be paying attention to?

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Absolutely. So when we're talking to frontline drivers, for instance, but really anybody, we're we're asking for two main red flags to be on the lookout for. Anytime you see a minor that you believe is engaged in a commercial sex act or part of um solicitation, huge red flag. Miners cannot legally participate in sex, they cannot sell sex, they are automatically victims. Um, and uh anybody that looks like they're under the control of a pimp, if they don't have agency, if they look like they are under duress, if someone is controlling them, those are the two main red flags. But then there's a whole sort of like host and onion layer that you can start to peel back. Um, you know, obvious signs. And again, this isn't just trafficking. And we we've seen cases of this recently where tat trained drivers have seen red flag things that didn't end up meaning that it was trafficking, but maybe they saw someone that looks like they had been abused or they notified um law enforcement after they thought they saw a child that had been abducted, an amber alert situation. Um, I think the thing that we're finding is once you're aware of this and you start to look at the world through this lens, um, yes, be looking out for these red flags of trafficking, but just be looking out in general. Let's all look out for each other a little bit more. Uh, but anyway, yeah, signs of bruising, signs of distress, um, you know, if they're not able to speak for themselves, if they are not able to handle their own money, their own identification, if you're able to speak to someone directly, do they mention having to make a quota? Do they mention having a pimp or having a daddy? If you can ask them a question, you know, um, does your family know where you are? If not, why not? When was the last time you talked to your family? Can you come and go as you please? Um, sometimes, and in many cases, victims of sex trafficking, especially, are not going to identify themselves as victims, right? Um, there's so much manipulation, coercion. There's just there's so much behind this crime that they're not like out there, you know, raising their hand saying, oh, you know, please help me, help me. There it's not, it's not typically going to appear that way. And so that's why we have to make sure all these frontline people can sort of identify these red flags and have the courage to make that call. And I just want to add, we're not asking drivers to recover people themselves. We're asking them, you know, just make a phone call to the national hotline if you're not sure, if you're seeing a crime in progress, obviously call local law enforcement. And both our partners at the hotline and our law enforcement partners have said we would rather people call and be wrong than not call and have that person continue to endure, you know, a life of exploitation. So um, yeah, those are just some of the red flags. But those trainings that we offer, the training videos and courses, they go into that, into these niche-specific industries. What can movers look for? What can school bus drivers look for? What can motor coach or you know, over-the-road truckers look for? Um, and that is helping to empower all those folks to see that and then say something. And do you want to share what the hotline is in case we're 1-888-3737888? And I would also encourage you to download the TAT app. Um, that is a great thing to keep red flags at your fingertips to review case studies. There's also a really cool geolocation feature. So no matter where you are in the country, if you open up the TAT app and you want to report a suspected incident of human trafficking, it will pull up the best numbers for you in that area. So if there are localized hotlines or state hotlines that are doing really great work in that particular area, those numbers will populate as well as the national hotline and uh link to 911 as well.

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 17:56

Thank you for sharing that. That's an incredible um information resource, especially when I feel like sometimes when you're in that position or you're not sure what the best route to do is. So if you already have the app in place, it will tell you the best route to take to and you can refresh those red flags.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Like just if you're not sure if you see something, your gut goes off, and you're like, I don't know, pull open that app and just look through. I mean, there's there's searchable um terms you can use to search different red flags and again review case studies and things to just help you um have more confidence in reporting.

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 18:31

Awesome. And can you share an example of when someone in the industry really did recognize something and it led to real impact?

Real Rescue Stories From The Road

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Yes. Oh my gosh, I could share a ton of amazing stories. Um, and just before I do, I want to call out um you should go to TAT's awards page and read all of our amazing Tat in action stories, especially the stories of our Harriet Tubman Award winners. These are trained folks that were found themselves in the right place at the right time and were able to help somebody who needed assistance. But um, one story that comes to mind is Arian Taylor. He's a professional truck driver. He was um out on the West Coast in a California city. It was 3:30 in the morning. He was waiting to be unloaded, and he got a knock on his door. And he was in this sort of industrial park again, 3 30 in the morning, dark. Um he rolled down his window, and it was a 19-year-old woman who was scared, crying. She had a like a grocery bag of everything that she owned in her hands, but didn't have her cell phone, didn't have identification. Um, and she asked him for help essentially. Because Arian had been trained, they called the national hotline together. And as it turns out, this this girl had come to the city to party with a friend and her friend's older boyfriend. And that older boyfriend was trying to then exploit those girls into uh sex trafficking. And this young woman fought off that man and he dumped her in this desolate industrial park area. Um, she happened upon Arian's truck. She saw the tat decal on his window that says, Do you need help with the national hotline? Anyway, Arian called the hotline, gave her some privacy. The hotline was able to arrange for a prepaid cab ride to get her to a local shelter that night, and then a train ticket home to a neighboring state the next day. And I think the thing to remember is Arian, um, you know, in the moment, I think we all want to think that we would help, that we would do, you know, recognize it and do the right thing. Um, he's convinced that she just saw that decal and knew that he was maybe a safe person to ask for help. Um, there's stories of, you know, convenience store and truck stop workers uh noticing red flags. I think of Charles Burnson. Um, he and his team noticed this uh woman that was in their shop, um, sort of trying to sleep in the truck stop, had been there for a few days, hadn't had a change of clothes. And he finally went up to her and said, You know, what's going on with you? You don't look homeless, but something's not right. Like, what's how can I help you? She broke down, said that she had just escaped her traffickers who were holding her in a motel across the highway from the truck stop. She had a few moments when the traffickers had left the room, she made a beeline for the truck stop. She said, I knew the truck stop was open 24 hours a day. I knew it would be a safe place for me if I could just get in there and hide. Um, again, since Charles and his team uh were trained, they said, Okay, let's spring into action. They called the national hotline. Um, they were able to help her, you know, get to safety. And um, anyway, there's just so many of these stories where, again, somebody finds themself in the right place at the right time and is able to activate that training. And I think it we we um forget sometimes that it does take an act of courage to make that phone call. Maybe it doesn't take an act of courage to be kind or to be curious or interested, and like, hmm, what is going on? But to actually make that call sometimes is difficult. And so I just want to encourage everybody, not just drivers. We have training for corporate employees. Oh my goodness, I should have been talking about business travelers and what all of us can be looking for at airports and hotels. All these different things. There's training for that. But um, you know, just being willing to slow down. I think all of us, right? Like we're in our own worlds all the time, so consumed with email or social media or what's going on at home, or we don't look up. And if we do look up, we might think, well, maybe someone else is seeing that the bystand effect, right? This is something that Tat is constantly trying to combat. Um, if 10 people see a crime, nine of them are probably gonna think, oh, someone else is gonna call in about that. I see that there's other people that are viewing this as well. No, because we're all thinking that. So we all have to we all have to take the initiative to call that in. And um, anyway, just want to encourage anybody that's listening um to again just have the courage to make that call.

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 22:47

Yes, I think that's a great point. Like our listeners, like this is a TMSA podcast. So we have a lot of sales and marketing company leadership. So you guys are the ones that can put programs in place to train your um truckers and things like that. But also, yeah, a lot of us are traveling. We're at the airports, we're at the the truck stops before driving places, we're there too. And I love what you said at the beginning about like just seeing that logo, because you had to think in that woman's mind how scary that would have been to after what she had just gone through and escape from to approach a man to ask for help. And that identification of Tat probably did save her because she then felt at least somewhat encouraged that she was safe enough to tap on that window. I got goosebumps and I'm wearing a jean jacket. So I it's so powerful, so impactful, and I do think that it's something we should all be thinking about, what we can do when we travel,

How TMSA Members Can Help

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 23:47

but also encouraging our teams. And obviously, this is something I am encouraging in part because so at TMSA, we are a trade nonprofit, we educate sales and marketing people. But one thing we started to do back in 2023 was a community give back where we partner with a local community group in where we're having our conference. This year in 2026, we decided to up that game even more, and we invited our um transportation and logistics nonprofits to come and share more about how people can get involved. And so really excited to announce that TAT will be there at this year's community hub. Elevate will be in Denver June 7th through 9th. Um, but we'll have TAT there, we'll have Blended, we'll have um Next Generation in Trucking, and there's a couple more. We're trying to see if they can get somebody there. But for people that are interested in learning more about TAT from you guys on site, what can they expect?

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Yeah, so my colleague Elizabeth Sweetman will be on deck there, and it will be so excited to have conversations around okay, yeah, here's our materials, here's what we're looking for, here's what we do. But then how can you go back and basically help us amplify this message throughout your organization? So we have partner communications plans and social media toolkits and just so many ways for um all of the folks in your world to be a part of spreading that message. Um, can you work with us on LinkedIn? Like, here's a challenge. Snap a picture with Elizabeth while you're there at Elevate. Snap a selfie with her, take with a wallet card and tag tat and say, you know, hey, I learned about truckers against trafficking, and everybody should um, you know, make sure they're training their drivers and all these things. And of course, if your company is not already doing those things, please talk to us about how you can implement, again, there's no cost, um, how you can implement that training and just help to spread the word. But yes, she will be very excited to have all those in-depth conversations. The training is just, I mean, that's the biggest ask because that obviously is going to have the most impact. Um, but there are so many other ways to get engaged with this work. And we um, yeah, we're just really grateful for the creativity, the support, just the fantastic um leveraging of your expertise, your networks, right? All of that, because again, it's an everywhere problem. It needs to have everybody on deck to be part of the solution.

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 26:06

Absolutely. And I love that call to action of challenging people. We have a lot of people that love to post from our show on LinkedIn. So that is one thing for sure that people can lock in and do. And again, that will be in the community give back portion. It's the first How We Kickoff conference Sunday, June 7th, and you can um meet with Tat and the other nonprofits, and then you can make tie blankets for a precious child out of Denver. So we're really excited about that event and to have you guys there. If there's one thing that companies or individuals are listening to this that they can start doing today to make a difference, what would you recommend?

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Probably downloading the TAT app because from there you can go in so many different directions. You can take the training, you can read those case studies, you can just be aware yourself. I think that's again where it starts: personal awareness, personal sort of commitment to the the work and the mission. Um, but yeah, I would say download that TAT app and share it. There's actually even a really cool QR code and option to share your phone with someone else and share that TAT app and have them download it as well. And if you're not currently training at your organization with TAT materials, um, please, please, please consider doing that. Yeah, that'd make a huge impact.

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 27:21

Awesome.

One Step To Start Today

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 27:22

Well, that takes us to the last question, and this is something that I ask everybody who comes on the show, and that's if you could go back in time and oh, this is what's funny. I so you actually are getting the second question I normally ask people because this is what I sent you. Normally I ask a different one, but I don't want you to come unprepared. So if you could relive one day of your life over again and you don't get to

A Personal Story About Presence

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 27:46

change anything, but you relive it, what day would you go back to and why?

SPEAKER_01 27:49

So, do you want my safe answer or my real answer? Maybe both really quickly. Okay. Or you could give both. Yeah, you can't. So I think in general, um, you know, when we're young, I'll speak in I statements. When I was young, I couldn't wait to grow up, right? Couldn't wait to have freedom and you know, responsibility and all these things. And just you you can't wait to grow up and you don't realize when you're in the moment how narrow of a perspective you have as a child and just how fast life comes at you, you know. And so I think maybe not one specific day, but just going back to the good old days and just reliving a random Wednesday when I was in elementary school, or a random Saturday when I was first married with my husband, and maybe a random day when I was still on maternity leave after I had my first child, like just those everyday moments that in the in the middle of it, you're trying to be present, you're trying to just soak it all in, but you don't realize how good it is until after. Um and then my real answer, and I apologize if this is triggering for anybody, it is, it's the conversation's gonna take a turn, but I'll bring him back. Um February 20th of this year. Um, I unfortunately had a second trimester loss and delivered, was induced and delivered my stillborn son on February 20th. And on that day, the only thing I could focus on was how do I live through the impossible? How do I get through this impossible day? Um, and I did my with the help of my family. Um, but I think I would, even though it was literally the hardest day of my life so far, we all have hard days, we all have trauma, we all have these things. Um I would still go back because knowing that I've been on the other side and still grieving all these things, but um, I made it. And so I would focus on all of those things that I didn't really have the capacity to focus on in the moment, the the small blessings and the just the time that I had with him. Um, I would absolutely go back to that day just to have a little bit more time. And so I think in life we have that opportunity to get super busy, get super consumed, get super focused on the stuff that is really well meaning. The work of Tat, the the conviction I have for this work, super great. Um, but at the end of the day, it's it's just being present in those moments. And um, whether it's with parents or friends or children or, you know, whatever it may be, um, just recognizing in those moments how how precious life is and just how how great it is um to be able to be a part of it and to get up every day.

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 30:22

So yeah. Well, I appreciate both answers. Um, you know, February 20th wasn't that long ago. So to speak openly and publicly about a loss like that um in a society that doesn't always talk about that type of loss and how impactful it can be, I think you probably touched a lot more people than you think you did by just answering that in such an honest and earnest way. So I appreciate that. And thank you for sharing and for going through that and um still, you know, fighting all the good fights that you're doing because you're pushing through your own trauma to help people with theirs, which is pretty special.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

And we all have the opportunity to do that. I think that's the thing I want to leave people with is we all have that baggage, we all have stuff, we all have stuff. And so um, you know, how do you how do you keep pushing through and what can what can you do to impact you know the lives of others? And I think to bring it back to Tat, we have we have such a fantastic tool for doing that, for for raising up everyday heroes in every corner, whether you are a business traveler, a CEO, a stay-at-home mom, like no matter who you are, you are invited into this work and you can make a difference. And even if we change or save one life, like, oh my goodness, it will be amazing. So thank you so much for having me on. Thank you for allowing me to have that space to be vulnerable and to um to share. And just we're so excited to be a part of Elevate and all the the work that I think we'll do together in the future. So thank you so much.

Jennifer Karpus-Romain 31:57

Well, thank you so much for coming on the show and coming to Elevate. Um, well, tech coming to Elevate and sharing more and hopefully getting more people engaged in um what you guys do and getting exposure and knowledge about what they can do in those situations. So again, if you want to join us at Elevate, it's June 7th through 9th. And I know you did the call out for the TET app, so we'll make sure that we put those um, like the QR code or the links to that in the show notes so people can easily access that. So thank you so much for coming on the show and for joining us. And I will catch everybody next week. Thank you.