One of our first year’s Changemaker Fellows, Corinne Rice, shares how the experience has completely changed the trajectory of her life:
If you had told me two years ago that being part of The Changemaker Initiative would do more for changing my own life than the lives I set out to influence, I would have told you that you were wrong. But here I am, and my life is entirely changed for the better. What started as an organization to prevent human trafficking has grown into a personal transformation. I was empowered to leave an abusive marriage and was hired as the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition Program Coordinator for the National Technical Assistance Grant for Sex Trafficking in Indian Country, provided by the Office for Violence against Women. I am now traveling the United States and providing training at tribal nations on the risks and impact of sex trafficking. I am also organizing the only conference in the U.S. for the Department of Justice on sex trafficking in Indian Country. All of this was possible because of the work and research I started as a Changemaker Fellow—it empowered me in ways I never expected. Spiritual empowerment is arguably the most intense form of empowerment, because every move I made felt backed and supported by my Creator.
Corinne Rice