Principles
Previous
Next
#JoinTheFight
Who we are
Marisol Nichols
Founder and Executive Director
Dubbed as the “Hollywood Vigilante” by Marie Claire Magazine, Marisol Nichols is an actor, humanitarian, and founder of Foundation for a Slavery Free World. Balancing her work on screen with her humanitarian efforts for the rights of women and children, Marisol created the non-profit to fight child sex exploitation and forced prostitution.
Marisol is a contracted undercover agent and a deputized legal informant both in the U.S. & abroad.
She has been a part of numerous undercover stings leading to the successful arrest of dozens of traffickers and child predators, as well as liberating numerous women and children. Sony Pictures recently acquired the rights to Marisol’s life story that is being adapted for a television series in which she will both star & executive produce.
In 2017, Marisol was recognized by President Barack Obama with the President’s Distinguished Volunteer Service Award for her work in human rights and for her service to our community.
On screen, Marisol is known for her breakout role as Audrey Griswold in Vegas Vacation. Currently, she stars as Hermione Lodge on The CW’s highly-rated, Riverdale which has won numerous People’s Choice Awards, MTV Awards and a collective 19 Teen Choice Awards. She recently starred on the big screen opposite Chris Rock and Samuel Jackson as Capt. Angie Garza in the Lions Gate film SPIRAL, the latest chapter in the SAW horror franchise.
Marisol currently stars in the latest Hulu comedy, The Valet, opposite Eugenio Derbez and Samara Weaving.
Board & Advisors
Tim Ballard
Founder & President, Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R)
Tim Ballard is the Founder and CEO of Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.). He also serves as O.U.R.’s Jump Team Commander for rescue operations.
Ballard began his career at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) where he worked cases dealing with terrorism and Latin America. He has spent over a decade working as a Special Agent for the Department of Homeland Security where he was assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and deployed as an undercover operative for the U.S. Child Sex Tourism Jump Team.
He has worked every type of case imaginable in the fight to dismantle child trafficking rings. Ballard has worked undercover in the United States and in multiple foreign countries to infiltrate child trafficking organizations. In this effort, he has successfully dismantled dozens of these organizations and rescued countless children from sex slavery.
Lt. Marc Evans
Officer in Charge - Human Trafficking/Vice/Counter Terrorism, LAPD; Author of Selling the Daughters of America
A 26-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, Lt. Evans is a nationally recognized expert in human trafficking, vice-related crimes, and counter terrorism. He earned both a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice – Critical Incident Management/Counter-Terrorism, and a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice at Saint Leo University.
Due largely to the collaboration of different groups, notably the LAPD’s Operations Valley Bureau Human Trafficking Task Force, prostitutes are now recognized as victims in need of rescue and support rather than criminals. Lt. Evans is Officer-in-Charge of the task force and is currently concentrating on operations to capture “Johns” and “Pimps”, two major figures in human trafficking.
John Ryan
Former CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Soon after becoming president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, John Ryan led a campaign to fight child sex trafficking in the United States, raising awareness with Congress and a multitude of organizations. As the sale of children for sex shifted from the streets to the internet – through online classified sites like Backpage.com – Ryan led a crusade to help stop the sexual assault of children.
In 2013, after the Penn State Jerry Sandusky scandal, Ryan spearheaded Safe to Compete: Protecting Child Athletes from Sexual Abuse. A Summit, co-hosted by the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, brought together youth-sports organizations and issue experts to discuss child sexual abuse prevention in sports.
Ryan is also the Former COO and General Counsel at Global Cyber Alliance (2016-2017) and Former SVP Deputy General Counsel and Chief Cybersecurity and Compliance at AOL Inc. (1996-2012) where he led the Public Safety & Criminal Investigations Unit and served as a liaison with law enforcement, coordinating investigations and prosecutions of criminal activities, including internet crimes committed against children.
Sheriff Christopher Swanson
Sheriff, Genesee County & Founder of Genesee Human Oppression Strike Team (GHOST)
Sheriff Swanson and his team have arrested more than 100 individuals for sex trafficking throughout the state of Michigan and has garnered a 100% conviction rate of trafficking offenders. He and Marisol Nichols have successfully worked together on operations that brought child predators to justice.
Sheriff Swanson is a licensed paramedic and certified Medical Examiner Investigator and has led special protection teams for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and Vice Presidents Al Gore, Dick Chaney, and Joe Biden. A career police officer for more than two decades, Sheriff Swanson’s agency is one of the only agencies in the State of Michigan with dual police officers and paramedics assigned to road patrol. He earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan.
What we do
Foundation for a Slavery Free World is a 501(C)3 non-profit organization founded by actor Marisol Nichols. She created the foundation to lend her voice to the issue of modern day slavery so that people realize how prevalent and dangerous it is, and to work towards eradicating it.
One of the most common types of human slavery is human trafficking — the illegal trade of human beings, most commonly for the purposes of sexual exploitation or forced labor. According to UNICEF, more than 1.2 million children are trafficked across international borders each year. More than 17,000 people are trafficked into the United States each year. Many are children. California is one of the top five US states when it comes to human trafficking.
We work closely with law enforcement, government agencies, and organizations to locate women and children who are being sexually exploited for profit and rescue them from their traffickers.
In addition to partnering with organizations, we produce educational events and briefings to specific audiences that can lend a unique voice to the fight. We invite organizations and law enforcement agencies to educate our participants on what to look out for and how they can be proactive in stopping further abuse.
We produce the Human Rights Hero Awards, a red carpet event that brings much needed awareness to the issue and of commercial sexual exploitation of children on a global level. Awardees are organizations and individuals doing selfless and heroic work in this field.
Our Goals
Our mission is to uphold and instill the inalienable rights guaranteed by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, focusing on Article 4 that states:
“No one shall be held in slavery or servitude: slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”
With knowledge comes power. We are here to spread awareness and to form strategic partnerships with other like-minded organizations, so that together, we can tackle the many facets of this issue and bring an end to modern day slavery in all its forms.