Director of the Dreamcatcher Foundation, and she currently serves on the u. S. Advisory council on Human Trafficking. Brendas work with Dreamcatcher Dreamcatcher and victims was the focus of the Sundance Award Winning documentary dreamcatcher. Now leaving breezy street is the stunning account of brenda myerspowell powells brutal and Beautiful Life in prostitution. At the age of 15, with two baby daughters. She called herself breezy. She was tough. A survivor in every sense of the word. And she begins her her authors note with respect. Thats how i lived my life. Im needing respect, demanding respect. And actually, thats how i got into a lot of trouble. I found myself in. She warns us that shes not trying to tell a story about her past, using the careful words of right now. We need to know what she was hearing and what she was telling herself, quote, because its the truth. Look around. We need a little truth telling. So im so pleased to welcome ms. Brenda myerspowell. Thank you, jane. Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you for being here tonight. Its always an honor when anybody comes out of their own comfort zone to hear somebody elses story or to hear somebody else, you know, talk that is amazing today. Doing, doing since we got so much going on on the television vision and internal that we could just stay at home, cant we . But we know the value of interaction with the human. But human beings, at least we do. Our kids dont. They dont have any concept of it. But thank you for being here this evening. So lets get into the meat of things. What do you want to know and what do you want to ask me . Because when i. When i decided to write this book, it was because after we had did the doc many and people kept asking me, we want to know more about your story. And i would go around and speak and people would counsel, ask me, what is your story . Brenda because i would tell little parts of my story to relate to issues of Human Trafficking and Different Things that i was lobbying for or trying to get things passed for girls in Human Trafficking. And then i would tell stories to relate to the issue at hand, but people would want it to go deeper. They wanted to understand what was going on or what happened to you. Brenda to get you to stop. How did you stop . How did you. What happened when it did light come on for you . Or how did you start . What made you. You and i at that time . And for yeagers why people were actually minding. I didnt know i had no clue and why they were asking me that i was trying to find out myself. I was trying to find out who brenda jean was. You understand me . I had a great idea who breezy was because she was still in my life. But i had no idea who brenda jean was because she had been inside of me down here so long. In the protection of breezy. I had not allowed her to have have a voice or say anything. It was just a protection. Breezy. Protected. Brenda jean. Because. Brenda jean couldnt have dealt with what breezy could handle. You get me. Breezy was the best protector ever had in my life before breezy came along. There were others. There was liza. There was janey. There was other girls who protected brenda jean. But brenda jean was that little girl who got molested long time ago and found out that she could not take that she couldnt handle that and needed to be protected because she was everything to me. She was nice. She was my sparkle. She was my shiny. She was my heartbeat. And i fought all my life to protect brenda jean. And when i found that out, i found out what molestation does to a two to a little girl. To a little boy. It takes the sparkle, it takes the shine. It takes all the life out of them in most of their life, they fight to keep it. Some of us lose. In some of us, we. But its the fight. And thats the foundation. Of how my abuse started in my seed. Was it to say i want to be a prostitute. Any questions. And listen, feel free to ask questions because the reason that i dulled i delved into my inner self for this. I wanted to have something to tell a little girl, a young lady, so i could help her. Ill tell you about that in a minute. Okay . Yes. Do you remember where you were and how old you were if and when you made the conscious or had the conscious idea . I wanted to be a pastor dude. And was there a woman who i understood you at that time who was also a prostitute . Okay, so where i was when i decided to be a prostitute, when you when you first ever thought. Yeah, that would be a solution. Yeah. Yes, i do. I was sitting in front of the window. Me and my grandmother had moved in a neighborhood where prostitutes worked in front of the window. Oh, where we lived. And i used to have to come home because i was like a keychain kid. You know what im saying . I always have been since kindergarten. Didnt know we had no babysitters. We couldnt afford that. My grandmother was a she. She was me, you know, she was a she worked out in the suburbs, took her a couple of hours to get there and couple hours get back, took a long way to get to work and get home. Dee dee, if i had to work, almost. So i was told to go to school with the key around my neck, come home, open the door, lock the door and sit in the house too. She get home . Okay. Im a little kid, you know what i mean . I need to be outside playing or somebody need to be tending to me, but i have to sit up in the house without in and be and be told and trusted not to get into anything. Oh, my god. This stuff i used to do in that house and get into and be afraid to get beaten about it, it was unbelievable. But anyway, thats all not a story. But i used to sit in the lobby board and id sit and watch these ladies. And like i said, all my life i wanted to be shiny. And so sometimes i remember when i wanted to be diana ross in all the supremes. I didnt care which one long as i could be one of the supremes. And i wanted to be shiny. But these ladies that i saw in front of the window, they were shiny. They didnt look like the neighborhood women. They had the new minnie. They had these things called gogo boots and, you know, they were shiny with the big wigs and everything on. And i used to watch them in front of the window, so i asked my grandmother, i said, what are those women doing . She said, you know, i told you not to take your panties off a little boy. She said, osborne. Those women take their panties off in me and give them money. I said, really . Huh . I probably do that when i get older. And she never said, brenda, jane, dont do. To be a doctor. Be b, be a nurse, be a teacher. She said, whatever you do, be the best. And at that time, i decided i was going to be the best prostitute i could be because they had been taking something from me. In what they had been taken my panties off and they needed to pay me. They needed to do something for me. I needed to get something in return because i was hurt, not in know what to do. I didnt know how to make my heart stop. So now i figured did it if i made them give me something, maybe i could get something. Had it is thats what i thought about. So just what i did and made him give me money. The nasty little man, the nasty little mean because i was hurting. Its amazing how you get hurt. You dont find a way out. And i didnt have a voice and im still working. You think i got a voice now . You still or not . What it needs to be. Because like i said, i wrote it so that another girl, a little girl, some it could save somebodys life so they can understand how this stuff feels on the inside and how broken you are after this happens and people tell you, just get over. It is not something that you can just get over it. Its years, a years of trauma and you dont give it permission to come up because crises does not make an appointment know. You dont know when thats going to come up inside of you. You better have a say. You better have a tool belt on when it do because it will eat you up. Because im trying to live a normal life right now. Life terms in my trauma some time gets in the way of me allowing people to love me. Let me allow my husband to touch me or me allowing myself to feel valuable because of the life things that have happened to me and not all the time is just sometimes. But i have a tool belt that i keep on me so that i can be healthy. I dont like the tool belt. What . The tool belt is necessary, marie. I said, why me . Why me . But why not me . But thats what i have for girls now. I wish i could have told them that you get better and you dont have to worry about it goes away. I cannot tell them that it never goes away. Its like they took part of your soul. And they can never give it back. Too much. The abuse is too much and it needs to stop. This molestation and abuse for young kids has to get out of our society. We have to stand up for these kids. For our kids, wherever it happens. It takes a piece of their soul. So i went on to be the neighbor, her hoochie, because i had no selfesteem. Come on, anybody. Did you guys read the book . Got any questions . Yeah, i read the book. Lets ask some questions. Anybody want to ask any questions about my grandmother, about my life, about how wonderful im doing now. Im thinking if a lot of people have not read your book, you need to give them an overview of your life. And then the the other question is, can you tell us more about dreamcatcher . Okay. All right. Okay. So i got that may be something because usually some when people come, they usually read a book already. And they asked me a lot of great questions. But im going to tell you about the book because i can. And it happened to me so i ran into the world. Okay. So i went into my i became that girl in the neighborhood, in the community. And youll see in the book that cookie, that was just loose because what i was looking for love in all the wrong places, you understand . I wanted somebody to love me and my behavior said that the little boys knew it to, you know, i was little. I was i was the girl, you know, all you had to do was tell me that i was pretty. And you love me because i needed to hear that i wasnt guilty. You know, is very is very, very important that you tell girls that, you know, youre youre beautiful to me, honey. And i love you, you know, especially daddys. Especially daddys, you know, dont never be so tough that you cant tell your little girl that you love her. And shes beautiful. You know, youre her first love. And i and i never was told that, you know, im seeing i was told a lot of brutal things. You know, my my grandmother was a combination of two people. She was the best woman in the world when she was normal lee herself. And then when she drank, she was you know, it was like dr. Jekyll and mr. Hyde. So i lived with two people, you, you know, and i basically a knew when the other one was going to show up, when otherwise showed up. Man, it it could get rough in my house, get real rough, you know, i never knew. You know, sometimes the next day i might have a black eye or Something Like that, but it was the drinking cause she was actually a beautiful woman. If we went for the drinking. And im making excuses now, but it was the drinking, and then it was her fear. Of trying to make me tough before she left. Was her was her recipe, right . Maybe nine. Did i get tough . Yes, i did. And then. I had these two kids, one after another, and then i had to go out and make the bacon. Thats what i was told. And i was living in a community where Domestic Violence and everything was normal. Me and my girlfriend used to sit on the fire escape and in bed. Who was going to get beat up first . Women in our community. We used to bet on their lives, you understand, because we were kids, we didnt know what was going on. But we would thats thats what we did. It was normalized in our community to see a woman get beat up. She on a friday night, we would sit on the fire escape and say, okay, i bet you ice cream or pop that you know who long who wont get beat up first and we would laugh about it in the womans arm. Wed be broke or i would be black or, you know, blood would be present and the police would come and tell the man who take a walk, take the woman to the hospital, and she would come back home. And the next morning theyd both be standing outside laughing, hey, theres my man. I love him. Im cooking him breakfast. So what were we to think this was normal. Your man beat you up and then youll be happy. Thats what we saw. So why our interpretation of love was your man beat you up . I my grandmother told me if i didnt cook in learn how to clean the my man was going to what me not taught us i suppose i dont get a man, she said, well, you got to leave here. So her bringing up show she she handed that down to me seeing like it was okay for him to want me if i didnt clean in cook. Generational awful stuff. So would first time i got beat up it wasnt it wasnt no big thing. It was normal. My boyfriend. Anyway, i, i felt it was my response, ability to do something and it was like. I have in dating and, and in and in in in messing with guys and asking them for money. But it was now time for me to really step up. So i went down, asked a person how to go down to where i knew this girl was a prostitute, and i went down on the corner of of of clark in division and stood in front of the mark twain hotel, 1973. Good friday. Okay. And started what i wish i never did. The first time i got into the car with the guy i promise you i thought, you know, i have read hustler magazine is Xavier Hollander happy hooker. I had read the book. I mean magazine. She said everybody get 100. I thought all girls get 100. So xavier said it. So i went down there and got in a car and asked a guy for 100. He said, i dont want to buy you. I just want to read you. I thought, what . Sam was wrong. I say, hey, wait a minute, give me a hundred. I may look for me. Its funny because as i said, i was a little girl out there, didnt know what to do, and i made it through, you know what i mean . But the thing about it was it was all terrible, you know, and this guy ended up give me 100, you know why . Because he found out how young i was and that excited him to the point he said, im going to give you some extra money. And thats what happened to me all night. The guys were asking me and i was dumb enough to tell him. And instead of them saying, get out of my car, are you too young . Very excited. Did them more and they gave me more money. So i made that money in no time and went home and gave it to my grandmother. And she never asked me where it came from. So i went there for the next few weekends until i ran into the pimps who kidnaped me and took me to indiana and beat me and held me captive for six months in look me in a truck. Truck stops. When i got another girl, i was able to get away a truck driver got me away very, very a great man. And i dont know where he was going, but he took me back to chicago. When i got back to chicago and i ran up to my grandmothers house and i opened the door. The first thing she said, you left. You left me here and you left me here with these kids. She said, thats why i never look for you. And when she said that, my whole world dropped because the only way i fought to stay alive is because i knew she was looking for me. I fought like a dog to stay alive because i knew somebody was looking for me. I knew somebody was looking for me. And then when she said that, it hurt me. So bad i couldnt i couldnt i couldnt sit in the house. I couldnt look at her. I couldnt i just couldnt because i felt like nobody nobody looked for me. I wouldnt were looking for. And i remember i it was not even, you know, how you leave when you dont even know you leave in. I live at the door and i didnt even realize i was leave and it just ended up i was leaving. You know . And when i looked up, it was like 2 00 in the morning. I wasnt even i just didnt care. I didnt go back and and go back. And, you know what happens to you when you out at that kind of with you didnt take long for a another pimp to roll up on me because they know us they they know us. They know us. And i want you to get to work. But for the next 25 years i spent out there in the streets, ive been shot five times. Ive been stabbed over 13 times. Ive been through so much. I had a baby in california that i just reunited with three years ago. My two daughters are amazing. Read the book and find out what theyre doing. I have two grandchildren who are amazing. What 3 to 3 grandchildren . I have a boy, grant durants two. I have a i did get married. Been married now 20 years. I have made all kinds of contributions back to society. I started the Dreamcatcher Foundation. I started another Organization Called protect black girls in chicago. I am a member of the us council for Human Trafficking in washington, dc. I have a darkroom to record the dreamcatcher. I am of course, the book. You know. When i started the dream, when stephanie and i started the dream catcher foundation, i met Stephanie Daniels wilson in treatment and when i met her, because at the end of my road, my last customer dragged me six blocks into all the skin of my face, in the side of my body. And i had no face and no i had no face. The book almost was called lady without a face because i lost my face when i first came around and they told me i would never i would be disfigured for the rest of my life. And i remember when i went to the recovery home for four, four, four, four of prostitutes, i told them, they said, what are you going to do, brenda . I said, can i go back to school . Because of i will be ugly. Im a , shell be smart. Aint nobody go make a mega difference in net you know you cant be ugly and dumb you know you got to get you got to show your man some kind a way, you know, let me walk you would my intelligence you know so i said lets cant go back to school and she said, yeah. So the doctors gave up on me, you know what i mean . And i remember this lady, she said she was a service. She said, i think i can heal you. And i said, ill, you know, at this point ill try anything and she used to bring all these god awful smelling herbs and teas for me to drink. And you. Oh, my lord, it was terrible. But at that point, i was willing to try anything, you know, it was anything. And yes, im telling you, it took about six or seven months. But before i knew it, my skin was like a baby was just like a baby, because what happened was it ripped all the flesh off my face. And there was glass, was rocks up all sand, dirt, all embedded in my skin. And every time my skin would try to heal, it would develop another infection. And it just it was healing bad and leaving, you know, just i was going to be very ugly with the scars. But the detox thing that she did with me and that i had to suffer through, oh, i dont know. She just saved my face. And here i am today, an actual lady with a face. So god has been good to me in so many ways. You know, Human Trafficking is real. You know, i have been trafficking most of my life. Human trafficking is real on so many levels. On a on on levels that you wouldnt believe Human Trafficking is real in from Human Trafficking to labor trafficking, there are so many different aspects of Human Trafficking, not just what you may see on the movies. And i and thats another thing i get so tired of hollywood depicting what Human Trafficking looks like. They never get it right. You know, its a seedy, nasty business and nobody should have the right to to sell a human, another human being. I mean, i thought we got that. I thought we got that. Nobody, you know, to purchase or sell a human being, you know, thats slavery. Dont we get that . Dont we understand . And so any time you think that, you know, weve got to change our mindsets on how we look at each other as people first, you know, do i feel like i have the right to offer you money for your body . Do i have the right to do that . And do and people say things like, well, well, lets try to legalize it. So, you know, we can get a grip on a grip on what are exploiting and and in in and, you know, terror. I mean i mean, imagine yourself standing at starbucks and a guy can walk up to you, hey, when you get to a dead latte, i got 50 for a in degree in the parking lot, you know, do we want a society like that . Do we want a society that we disrespect and dont honor each other any more like that . You know, and we if you were to ask me years ago about myself and being a prostitute, i told you it is the best thing in the world. I wouldnt do nothing else because i had no selfesteem. I had nothing inside of me. There was an empty hole in someone that had told me thats who i was. I never saw. Someone told me, thats all. I was good for you, understand . Someone put a label on me i didnt deserve. But i know im great now. I know im wonderful now and thats not who i want to be. And i dont want to be labeled as that or ever, ever approached like that. And nobody does. I mean, i boys and girls deserve better. Our boys deserve to be raised as gentlemen to respect everyone in our girls deserve to be respected. The Dreamcatcher Foundation believes that wholly. And we work with young girls. We try to initiate that, that respect and indian when we work with our women, we try to give them back that respect that they have lost it and to regain it back any way we can. Because isnt that what dreamcatcher is it about chasing a weight in nightmares and giving them back the dream . Thats what we try to do. So we have do we have time for questions. So often in Mental Health communities, they talk about old, but a lot of times theyre there isnt a specific understanding of the role of crack, specifically crack rock as opposed to heroin or other drugs that women prostitutes are often drugged by or choose to use themselves. How how do you think the Mental Health community has best helped you . And what were the things that you never want to hear again from a Mental Health professional. Whoa, thats pretty good. Oh, thats pretty good. So. So who are you in . Okay, first of all, the Mental Health community is still helping me. Like i told you, i have a tool belt, and part of that tool belt is my therapist. I dont know. I keep her in all my tool belt. Shes own. Shes own fast style. Because i told you i have trauma that doesnt crisis doesnt make an appointment. It come up when it come up and it could be a song, a smile, a moment. And for some reason it come out of me and id be like, oh, wait a minute, you know . And ill and. And thats just how it goes. But i know what to do. You know, i wont stay in that room, you know, in an even if i have to call her to come out that room, i say i am a room i need to come out of a come on, i help me and she will. So Mental Health community is has helped me a lot you know Mental Health community is so important in our society right now because we are living in a stressful or a Damaging Society too, where were being fed false information and rhetoric over the internet and, you know, all, all day long. And we the internet, you know what i mean . We like to entertain ourselves, but were being fed garbage. Were being fed dangerous stuff in. And you know, the mind. They say a man is a terrible thing to waste. Why are we wasting our minds . Are we with the other peoples other peoples garbage in mental and Mental Health, people are spewing dangerous stuff. Are all all around and we absorb it. Now you look around and you you like this, you know, or either stress from all the stuff you hear, you know, if you hear if you listen to it. So we got stuff like that going on. Weve got stressors that were not handling correctly. So the Mental Health is really important. What do i the the worst the worst thing that people in Mental Health have . I mean, you know, the most uncomfortable things that people ask me is when they. Okay, first of all, i kind of think they asked me, you have to get over it. You know what . You have to get over it. Dont tell me to breathe. When somebody when some stuff happened. You know what . Im saying . Im ready to fight in you talking about breathe an impasse. Breathe in. At this point, culturally, i think Mental Health, profession, angels need to get know cultures before they start giving out information about the person that theyre dealing with. The the the the they need to deal with cultures also you can tell people something some time that doesnt agree with their culture. You understand you have to culturally can understand the people you deal with to give them Mental Health information. You just cant come and tell me the same thing that you tell somebody from Indian Culture or hispanic culture or even a caucasian culture because it aint our lives are not are like, you know, we go to different communities and deal with different stressors, understand . So i need different tools then you need you got to tell me something else, how to deal with the tools in my community. I come from a community where, okay, you got to tell me how not. Okay, i need to give from here to here. Without it. Im trying to give you a good example. Okay . Im trying to get from here to here without being affected by the gunshot. Okay. Because i didnt know, you know, my issue a hoodie shoot in my community. Her and im trying to get from here to here without the gunshots. Okay. I need some solutions. How did they hit you without gunshot as. All right, you going to tell me . All right. Just want you to breathe and just dont have anything on your pain or take you out of here. Ill do that. Yes, they. Okay . Or your issue is you know, i dont want to be street negative. Im always coming down street because blowing me reminds me of where my clothes are getting back up real simple stuff, you know . But most of the gunshot, i can breathe through that scene culturally. Whats going bald with me thats not going on with you . If you want to deal with me, youll be trapped. You cant tell me just the. So my whole situation, just to lay my situation down, my trauma. Forget about my trauma. What . My problem is, is is is been running my life all my life. And you didnt ask me stuff. Well, why didnt you just leave. Why dont you just leave. Okay. You ask. They ask us why dont we just leave . Well, why dont you just leave . Youll 600,000 house in your mercedes and your husband beat you up every time he come home from a business trip, and you put on makeup and you dont want your credit cards. Council. Why dont you leave . Why dont you leave that six figure job you got and they wont let you make balls because you a woman in in you get in sexually harassed all the time while julie you get me we all get things that we have that we do for survival and we get things that we we take we you know im saying in until we get to the point that we can stand for ourselves and say enough is enough and with that we need support and we need somebody to hold our hands to say, i get you on this. You know what im saying . I got you. I hold your hand. And to you, you know, you cant. So dont act like its just that easy to step back when you are needed in these bad relationships, in these bad situations. Its not anybody else. I have a question. Okay. Well, in my book, i talk about my family. I talk about my daughters, i talk about my life. I talk about how it felt. I was out there because i want people not to know. You know, they they did make a lot of stuff about Human Trafficking and i want to you to feel what i was feeling when. I was out there in a police were arresting me when i got abducted by a serial killer. The grim reaper in califor you how it felt to me when i was mixed up and call myself in love with guys who didnt love me and much pain. I was in. Because i didnt know how to love my children because i was only a child myself and how scary it was for me. Not to kill myself because i didnt have the courage to. You know what i mean . But i tried to one day at a time, any kind of way a kid could in the streets. But i didnt have the courage to just blow my head off, take some pills. But at the end of the day, it was god who said, i dont want you to do none of that, because i guess for you to do and hes had me busy ever since, you know, its a great book. Because its about life. About my life in how i regain my life. And i know i look great, but im 65 years old and and i think about it all the time. You know, they call me the Harriet Tubman of Human Trafficking. I dont know, because im older, because, you know, im pretty feisty. But im all right with that because i can i will continue to be the Harriet Tubman or the mama of Human Trafficking as long as they allow me to. Because as long as theres a girl out there hurting, you know, i think as long as god will give me a breath, ill be a woman who will be there to answer the phone and try to help because i dont know where. I dont know what i would have done or where i would be without being of service to the ladies. Who they say are the ladies of the evening. But i say, who are the ladies of the future . Because once you get pull of my hair, pull it, pull them up out that whole baby, they can be something else. Yes. I really had to. One is, how would you describe that moment or that that period when there was a shift . Because clearly something shifted in your. Mm. And also what was it like to write about this and your life and, and how did you figure out which things to tell and how to tell it. This, this switch. When i decided to get my life together. Well, you know, i, you know, when i found out that my face got messed up in everything, i didnt really it was over. There was two moments, actually, to. First of all, i was in the Treatment Center on the west side of chicago. And this lady just this this wonderful counselor, she told us we were in a group and she said some stuff like we were a doorway to a doorway to life. And i said okay, whats that. And she said, okay, you figure it out and get back with me. So now i like the doorway to life, the doorway to life. And im just, you know, i is. Jerry, what is that still you killing me . Come on, now. Whats that . Im the doorway to life. Come on, give me your hand. She said, baby, you the doorway to life. And she got on my nerves so bad i couldnt figure it out for everything she said why would you be the doorway to life as i am now . She said, god, its doorway to life. Brenda. I had no clue. Thats how far i was, you know . Anybody know. She said to your body comes light. I said, oh, lord, you know what . She said, you are gods doorway to life. She said, why would you say all that. I said, oh my god. She said, its priceless. She said, through you, the next creator, you no cure for cancer or the next great man president or whatever could come out, you know, come through your body. You know, you it. I said shes and i thought about it, but i thought about on a level i had already delivered great people into world. You know, my daughters right, but i never thought of my body as being gods doorway to life and i said to her, i said, oh, im priceless. And then i said, sometimes stuff like will suit people owe me money because they didnt pay me, you know . And shes like, you know, brenda, you are something else. And so i thought about that and the value of me and things that, you know, i had did that didnt even add up to my value and, and i said, i cant even do this no more because im real. Im i pay. I cant charge enough for this. And and then i went to back to the treatment place and here comes my daughter a few months later. And she has a stomach out to and she is pregnant. My first grandchild in the world. And im going to be a grandmother. Im my first grandchild in the world. And i looked at her and i talked to her stomach and i told her stomach that i was going to be a better grandmother than i was a mother. Because im fine to be a grandmother. And ama awesome, awesome grandma. I call my grandbaby the reason for the season cause she was the reason that i that decision. And now not only am a great graham i mean a good grandma, but i have amazing stuff to tell my grandbabies. They have been with me through this journey and they have saw their grandmother do a Amazing Things because before. I had nothing to tell them. I had no rocking chair stories to tell them, no fireside chats to deal with. But now theyre no. The grandkids know me as super granny. You know. I am the fun granny. So thats why that was the turning point when she came in. Edward, her stomach, anybody else. I thank you. People for coming. How did you hear about it on the thing . Yeah. Oh, and you for coming, i think the previous lady wanted to know more about your writing, why . How you chose to write what you chose. Yeah, okay. My writing, i was. I had a ghostwriter. Her name was April Reynolds and it was okay. So listen, after we did the document ring, i was trying to find somebody could write my book in my voice right. Because. I just needed someone that could help me write it in my voice and not in their voice. Because every time i ask somebody to help me write it, they want to deceased sensation analyze it and all kinds of crazy stuff. Like i said, its not me. And so my, my producer knew Allison Walker and she said and we called alice walk and we called alice walker. I talked to her haters and and she was on she was busy on project x and she said, but i got a i got a girl a mentoring, you know, and you know, she wanted her to like one of my i can i can i will hook you up one of my girls im mentoring and she gave me april and soon as i started talking to april, i loved her. She was like me and her. It was like being like hitting each other like round rock n roll and and and i took my girlfriend stephanie as a hey, i found who to write my book. Oh is it really my, my best friend stephanie is the one reason this book was wrote because she was relentless. She was the person who said, you got a book. And i said, really . And she said, yeah, she she was relentless and she would not stop until i wrote this book. She would not leave me alone. She by my best. I mean, could you imagine being one some everybody everyday bugging you . Where are we going to write the book. Come over here so we can start it and just bugging me because she loved my stories. Right . And she said, youre going to write a book. So thanks to stephanie wilson, this book is how but it was April Reynolds who wrote this book the way that i told it to her, because they always say nobody can tell a story like me. And i wanted to be in my voice because it was my life and could tell it to you. So april wrote it and i told it to april. We were in a hotel room for a few months and it was hard. It was like crying. It was a lot of stuff going on and after that, you know, the a lot of stuff was pulled out of me and pulled out that i didnt want to get pulled. You know, but i did it because, you know, you do stuff to to put stuff to rest. And then when you when i did this, i regurgitated a lot of stuff. So it was hard. You know, i had to get that stuff back together. But im good. So thanks to everyone else for putting all of this together. Thats who we need to give a hand to. So i loved your book. I loved how intelligent and smart and brave were throughout all of your life. No wonder you can do some great things now because youve always been a very smart lady. Thank you. One of the things that i would like to know, because i didnt do my research on your organization, can you give a couple examples of how you young women out trafficking or prostitution and what you do for them through your organization . Dream catchers or another organization connected with you . Is this is a dream. And i just wanted to say thank you for doing this. Friend of mine is doing my masters assisted executive assistant and this outreach worker, adrian girl. Hi, im brenda stewart. Im the executive assistant. The dream catches foundation outreach, which we usually go out at night and we go to where we say hat spots. Thats what we call and we go out in sometimes when we go out are these young ladies there tell you if you are a not and the dream Catchers Foundation were i think its survivor let im a survivor i met brenda in Cook County Jail when she worked at the sheriffs department. And im of those ladies that she helped get out of prostitution. Im one of those ladies that i havent been back to jail or the penitentiary since i met brenda myerspowell. We go out and we meet ladies. Were here because i once was. Now and we hug them. We talk to and we let them know that theyre special, that they meet somebody, that they mean something to us, that they are important, and that it is a way out. Sometimes. It is hard because weve lost some women to this life. Thats what made us start taking pictures. X in the young ladies to take pictures of them, because sometimes the Police Department would call brenda and say, do you know this lady. And we go out in. Because they deserve. To be recognized and now we have a drop in center and we go out in the daytime in they can come near and they can rest. We have a room with to be in and we feed them they take showers are changed clothes and they can just come near in and have a place to call home because thats what it is, is very comfortable. We have a couch is and she is a kitchen. Its a apartment and they can come near and they can talk, you know, and it can themselves, you know. Then we. Ask them, what can we do for them . What would they like for us to do . Because i remember i wanted somebody to just ask me a web what happened. Brenda today we had a crisis and i told brenda, i see, you know, i know myself. I was all the way. I was seven years old because i had been molested and i wanted somebody asked me instead of see, oh, sheila peed on herself again, go run some bath water. I to somebody asks me, brenda, what happened. What happened . And then i met brenda. And she knew what happened. So thats what the Dreamcatcher Foundation. Thank you. We give our toiletries, we give out water, and we give our mcdonald cars for on the street on our street outreach. And you, as you can know, we said we definitely give out hugs and we give out coats, boots, you know, when you stuff when it starts getting cold because some girls on the streets are just going to be on the street on the ones who come to our drop in center can change clothes and do they can take one change of clothes with them. You know what im saying . If were if our stock is is is is is up to par, you know what im saying . But they definitely can come near and you know, relax in and take a nap and everything because sometimes they baby two had to be on the street. But i sell or you know they just too tired and i and i come in and sit with do it, you know, i just stay will stay as long as they can get self together, you know. But our goal is to have a dreamcatcher wellness center, you know, and so and to even start that, it would be like one, 1. 5 million. So ill be outside waiting for that check. So does anybody can get through. But anyway, thats our thats our dream goal because you know, what is going to save lives whenever we get there . Whenever we get there to have that dream that that that dreamcatcher wellness center, its going to be a hell of a place thats going to change a lot of girls lives because we care. And in in in there are some phenomenal women out there just waiting for someone to reach out to them, you know, so thank you all for coming. And i mean, if anybody