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.