One is Lloyd’s personal narrative the other is a primer on what trafficked American girls are up against. Girls Like Us presents a dual story thread. She has racked up numerous awards for her work, all while “owning her experience.” Founding Girls Educational and Mentoring Services ( GEMS) in 1998, Lloyd went back to school to attain her GED, going on to receive a Bachelors degree in Psychology from Marymount Manhattan College and a Masters in Applied Urban Anthropology from the City College of New York.

She now is a top activist in the anti-trafficking movement.įinding her purpose in working with girls “in the life,” Lloyd connects to those in crisis based on shared experiences, understanding without judgment, and respect.

Lloyd traces how a difficult childhood led to a hair-raising journey that encompassed risk, recruitment, and violent abuse-to breaking free from sexual exploitation…and ultimately healing. Lloyd frequently notes that they are part of an estimated 200,000-300,000 adolescents who are at risk for commercial sexual exploitation in the United States annually.Ĭonsequently, it was no surprise to me that the memoir Lloyd had penned, Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself, would be a tough, gritty and brutally honest account. It may be to a New York City police commissioner, or a Manhattan audience learning for the first time that 13-year-old African-American girls in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn are being bought and sold.

Girls Like Us by Rachel Lloyd