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Nayeli brings to Journey Out nearly 18 years of experience in the nonprofit sector with an extensive background assisting survivors of domestic violence and homeless populations, working closely with law enforcement to assist those in crisis, including victims and survivors of commercial sexual exploitation. Prior to Journey Out, Nayeli served as the Senior Site Director for Client Services at Chryalis, a non-profit dedicated to creating a pathway to self sufficiency for homeless and low income individuals by providing the resources and support needed to find and retain employment. Nayeli was responsible for the day to day operations of the largest Chrysalis site. As the Senior Site Director, she managed personnel, grants, resources, facility operations and external partnerships. A hands-on contributor and key member of the Client Services Management Team, Nayeli participated in the development and implementation of short and long-term organizational strategies and served as a trusted advisor for Senior Leadership and all Chrysalis Management.
Nayeli has extensive experience working with survivors of domestic violence, the re-entry population and in housing. She is a proud Angeleno who is passionate about serving her community and believes that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. She holds a B.A. in Organizational Leadership.
Donna Sarullo joined Journey Out in 2003 and served as Case Manager and Program Director from 2003 to 2008. Donna has extensive experience in domestic violence having worked with the Domestic Violence Project of Glendale YWCA and the Domestic Abuse Response Team (DART) program in the San Fernando Valley. While with DART, she assisted victims of domestic violence by riding along in emergency domestic abuse situations with the LAPD as a victim advocate.
In 2008 Donna left Journey Out to serve as Program Director for the Valley Branch of the Arthritis Foundation. Ms. Sarullo returned to Journey Out in 2010 as Outreach Coordinator and now serves as the Director of Programs and Operations. Donna has a Masters Degree in Public Administration – Nonprofit Management.
An advocate for women, girls, and victims of trauma, Mary has devoted her life’s work to empowering survivors of sexual assault, abuse, and human trafficking. As a prosecutor in Baltimore City, Mary was the lead on human trafficking cases in District Court and handled almost 2,000 criminal cases. She testified on behalf of the Office of the State’s Attorney for judiciary and public hearings in support of human trafficking legislation. She also created toolkits for Polaris Project to train prosecutors handling human trafficking cases. Formerly a United Nations Advisor on Women and Children’s issues, Mary has defended the rights of underserved populations at the UN General Assembly and other key institutions. She also served as Deputy Chair for the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, where she led state-wide trainings for emergency first responders and developed awareness campaigns to assist others in identifying victims of trafficking. In conjunction with the Maryland Governor’s Office, Mary helped draft some of Maryland’s first laws against human trafficking. She currently serves as the Director of Communications for Journey Out, a Los-Angeles based nonprofit organization leading the fight against sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. For her work on these issues, Mary has been featured by the National Press Club, American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative, and Georgetown University, as well as numerous media outlets including ABC, CBS, Fox, WUSA9 and the Huffington Post. Her honors include being named one of the Top 99 Foreign Policy Leaders in the World Under Age 33, a leadership award from the U.S. Department of State, and receiving the 2014 Global Impact Award from Heal a Woman to Heal a Nation in recognition of humanitarian service across the US and abroad.
Cindy has been with Journey Out for almost five years. As the chief financial administrator, Cindy oversees all of the financial operations. This includes keeping track of and responding to budget requests, managing the day to day in-flow and out-flow of funds, reconciling all accounts, and maintaining the overall fiscal health of the organization. Prior to joining Journey Out, Cindy worked for the C5 Youth Foundation, an organization that assists inner city youth. For 15 years she was an active volunteer as PTA President, School Site Council President, and President of the Education Foundation. Cindy is a native Californian with 2 kids, Taylor and Blake, and a grandmother of three.
Stephanie Cuevas joined Journey Out in October 2017, and she serves as a Crisis Case Manager. She is a graduate of California State University Northridge and holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology with an emphasis on Criminal Justice. With her degree Stephanie had hopes of becoming a police officer, but through the process she realized that she had another calling, and saw that her passion to help the community could be fulfilled in a different way. Stephanie’s background of service, which includes assisting victims of domestic violence attain restraining orders, helped her transition into her current role of supporting victims of human trafficking. After attending Journey Out’s Human Trafficking Case Manager/Advocate training, Stephanie began working with the LAPD Task force and going out to conduct street outreach. Through this work, Stephanie became more aware of how big of an issue human trafficking is. As a result of her experience at Journey Out, Stephanie hopes to bring awareness to her surrounding communities.
Raised by a survivor of human trafficking herself, Elvira witnessed firsthand the countless struggles that many survivors and their children face. From a very young age, she knew that she wanted to help women and men who were often forgotten by society. She was drawn to Journey Out after hearing a presentation at CSUN about their work and mission. Soon after, Elvira obtained an internship at Journey Out. This was when she began making the kind of impact that she had always wanted, assisting survivors directly and contributing to outreach and prevention campaigns.
In early Spring of 2020, Elvira joined Journey Out as a case manager. As a case manager, specifically works with Spanish speaking clients, the Latina/o population, and immigrant services. She will also continue spreading awareness about human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation, as well as empower and encourage those who need it most.
Elvira graduated from CSUN. She plans to pursue a graduate degree and career in social work focused on marginalized populations. She looks forward to helping the clients she serves and seeing each of them grow and prosper in their goals.
With her calm spirit and strong problem-solving skills, Lisa has a history of helping people to navigate through tough situations. Prior to Journey Out, she served as an intern at a private psychology practice, where she assisted in interviewing incarcerated juveniles and their families. Additionally, she took part in research to assist first responders with PTSD, and also provided 1:1 therapy to clients.
Lisa also comes to Journey Out with previous experience working with individuals involved in sex trafficking and sexual exploitation, having worked on a crisis hotline as well as in case management. Previously, she served for four years as a 911 dispatcher. Earlier in her career, Lisa served as a special education teacher, working to empower children and youth to overcome a variety of challenges.
Lisa has a PsyD in Psychology. Her main interests are in law enforcement and criminal psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Health Psychology with a minor in Marriage and Family Therapy.
Jewell joined us at Journey Out in June 2021 as a Survivor Advocate. In this role, Jewell partners with Dignity Health to identify survivors in Los Angeles hospitals and connect these survivors with resources and care, empowering them on their way towards a new life. She also works alongside healthcare staff to help them provide the best trauma-informed care possible in their facilities.
Jewell has a diverse work background that contributes uniquely to her work with Journey Out. Her six years at global market leader IKEA taught her essential customer service and de-escalation skills. Earlier in her career, she worked in Human Resources where she learned to advocate for those the system is not made for.
She majored in philosophy pre-law at CSULB and is currently working on her Advocate Certification through the National Advocate Certification Program.
Jewell is also a survivor, trafficked in both prostitution and pornography, who regularly uses her voice alongside other survivors and activists to shine a light on the needs of survivors and the human rights violations in the sex industry. She is currently working on a book about her exploitation in the hardcore porn industry.
Erin is a graduate of Spelman College. In her undergraduate work, she conducted over 1000 hours of research on various topics, including trauma in human trafficking victims. Ms. Wilson currently serves as a Program and Outreach Coordinator for the South Los Angeles area. In nearly a decade of association with working in the anti-trafficking movement, Ms. Wilson has served in the role of case management, victim advocacy, law enforcement crisis response, community outreach, and assisted in program directing. Ms. Wilson has written, researched, and developed programming initiatives related to combating the issue of human trafficking in response to state and local legislation, assisted in grant writing, and conducted training for various organizations relating to the topic. She has worked with human trafficking victims of domestic and international origins and worked closely with law enforcement on a local and federal level.
Furthermore, she has served as a law clerk with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, working in human trafficking and sex crimes units. Additionally, she has worked as a judicial intern in the Los Angeles Superior Court. In her time there, she has supported labor and sex trafficking victims in intersecting facets such as homelessness, substance abuse, and victim involvement in the judicial system. She provides a unique perspective in that she has seen human trafficking cases from their inception of operations through the prosecution and conviction of traffickers.
As a survivor of human trafficking, Florencia understands the journey and the struggle of being in the Life. In 2012, she began her education in addiction counseling at ICDC college. While her program provided her with great understanding of the related and often intertwined struggles of survivors with substance abuse and self medicating as a response to trauma, Florencia knew that her real passion was in working with survivors specifically to address their exploitation. That same year, she completed an externship at Journey Out as a group facilitator. In this capacity, Florencia began leading discussions and classes for those in the Life related to various aspects of their trauma. Through this work, Florencia found her calling. Thereafter, she obtained a position as a case manager at A Better Living, a homecare service provider that offers permanent housing and support services for unhoused senior citizens. For two and a half years, Florencia thrived in this role, helping to relocate every person in need with their own permanent housing. She is excited to join the staff of Journey Out as a case manager and group facilitator, where she can support victims and survivors in every aspect of their healing.
An experienced provider of trauma-informed service-oriented care, Alondra joined Journey Out in July 2022 as a Case Manager and Group Facilitator for Journey Out’s South Los Angeles office. Her work experience includes time as an Emergency Medical Technician and dispatcher as well as providing client services at A Bridge Home, a transitional shelter for unhoused veterans. She is a trained Domestic Violence Advocate and also works at the Women’s and Children’s Crisis Shelter as a Family Advocate. For the past two years, Alondra has been working with single parents and those fleeing domestic violence through case management, 24-hour hotline response, and assisting clients with legal filings.
A survivor of domestic violence herself, Alondra finds purpose and fulfilment in assisting those who have found themselves in similar circumstances. She is especially passionate about assisting immigrant and non-English speaking clients, as they face even greater barriers to accessing justice and care. As a native Spanish speaker, she is grateful to be able to combine her fluency with her personal and professional experience in offering greater care to those in need.
Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, Alondra is committed to her community and breaking barriers. When she became a mother at 15 years of age, she was determined to be one of the two percent of teen moms who obtain their college degree. After graduating high school early, she obtained her Associates of Arts degree in Psychology. She is currently pursuing her BA in Psychology from Cal State University of Los Angeles . Her goal is to become a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) and especially looks forward to serving non-native English speakers and teen parents.
Melanie Enloe is new to Journey Out, starting in Summer 2022 with the position of case manager. She was born and raised in a small town in Iowa before relocating to Los Angeles, CA after her college graduation. Melanie went to Morningside College where she obtained a BA in Counseling Psychology.
Melanie’s passion for victim services began early on after being exposed to domestic violence, substance abuse, and sexual assault in her community. Seeing the lack of resources in rural areas pushed her toward the social services path, in the hopes of assisting in change. During her bachelor studies, she interned and volunteered with domestic violence and sexual assault agencies, working with survivors and their children as well as doing on-call work for the crisis line. After moving to Los Angeles, she worked with teenage foster youth, getting direct exposure to CSEC victims and the Life.
After building rapport with CSEC victims, seeing and hearing first-hand the experiences and trauma caused by the Life, Melanie was moved to continue offering trauma-informed services and support to populations that need it most. She will start working toward an MSW with an emphasis in forensics starting in the fall with the goal of getting her LCSW and providing trauma therapy.