David Reid | Founder | redM | The Jeff Crilley Show

Thanks for having me.

Yeah, they generally people thought this wasn't happening. I think that the general prolific nature of brothels in cities, they were thinking that can't be right. You can't be... I think in Houston we were estimating around 200 and they're like no no, there's 150 Starbucks, that doesn't sound right. But yeah, we have a partner called Darkwatch and they went out and they looked at review sites and we're able to say here are people buying sex and the number is 675.

And that was a shocker. Yeah, that was a big shocker for everybody and we do it in every city that we go to. So we scan the city and we come up with this is the reviews and this is people buying sex.

Yeah, that's generally the view. And it's made to be that way. Trafficking is an extremely lucrative business. And so how we feel about it, they want us to feel this way. It's victimless. Even the people who are being trafficked, they get told, make sure they feel this way. And so they're controlled in a way so that everyone has this feeling. Oh, it's just someone who's going through college. I'm just helping them out. So yeah, we have lots of mechanisms to help people understand that and we've personally been involved with a lot of lives who've gone through this and so we've seen it personally that there's so many people, it's a vulnerable position to be in. So even if someone chose it, it can be taken advantage of very easily.

I'm an executive in a large corporation that works globally. I work in technology and marketing and it's busy. It's very stressful. It's difficult to imagine being able to help with anything. Just trying to execute what I do every day is pretty intense. As a college student, I was super busy. But when I learned about sex trafficking and the world of sex trafficking, I knew that I had to do something. I went into this rabbit hole of researching and Google and YouTube videos and trying to talk to people and say, 'How can I get involved?' Because that night I couldn't go to bed. As we all know, sex trafficking is a huge international problem, but it's also a very big problem here in the US. And as we know, it is hidden by the media. Not many people talk about it. And that makes you wonder why aren't we all talking about it? And so the challenge is how can we all do something? How could we all do a little bit? And I realized there are things I can do that are really easy to do. I know a lot about marketing. I know a lot about technology. I know a lot about applications of leading people. I know how to do that. My biggest contribution was the fact that I was a marketing major. And as a marketing major, I had knowledge about just going ahead and designing and advertising and I used that and even though it was super easy work for me, I was able to contribute to just this organization and this motive as a whole. There's a lot of people I'm connected to and that allows me to use my voice and I speak in public. These are things I can do easily and I think that's true for all of us. So, what can we do easily to get something done significant? Join the movement because sex trafficking is happening everywhere and it could also happen in your own backyard.

Mhm.

Oh gosh. And when we describe what a behavior of a child is like during that, they will, you know, usually come forward afterwards and say, 'I don't think it's trafficking, but that does describe my child.' And we have a private investigator who we support. She gets involved. 100% of the cases have been traffickers trying to get kids to go with them or sometimes not go but get involved in being trafficked.

It's a good question. It's a good question. And it's a process for every individual. It doesn't feel like it was a process. It feels like a real life experience. It's designed so that people don't identify that they're trafficked. They believe that they start a journey away from their family. They find a friend or a boyfriend who's offering a better life, understanding you better than your family. All the normal things a parent would say like you're immature, they'll be like you're so mature. So they just do the opposite and they build this relationship and they follow the rules of cults. And so they're starting to do the things that cults do to control a child. And so you'll see kids staying up late on their phone texting with someone. And that is a purposeful thing where they're trying to sleep deprive them. Same as they'll change their eating patterns. They'll start saying, 'I'm changing my diet.' These are things that cults do to get control of people is that they sleep deprive them. They get them to eat certain ways. And then they try to separate them from the family. And so that's really what you're looking for is a continuous separation away from everybody and everything that they used to do and then ultimately they'll take them down this road.

Right. We've been doing this for years, but this year's was extra special because we have the World Cup coming. We actually years back with Houston airport. They came to us and said, 'We've got the signs up. We're training the people, but we have no cases.' And they were about to take the signs down. And I said, 'Listen, let me work with you.' And so we did, we actually built a museum for them for the employees. And it talked more about your kids than it did general kids. And then right before we started, we had a set of chairs. There was a red one in the middle, regular airport chairs. And the red one said, 'You never know who you're sitting beside.' and told the story of a 10-year-old trafficked through Houston airport. Before we started, this lady said, 'Can I have a picture of you with the chair?' I said, 'Sure.' And afterwards, she goes, 'You know why I wanted a picture?' I'm like, 'No.' She goes, 'I was the 10-year-old. You got that from a book that I wrote, but I don't normally speak about it.' And I said, 'Well, do you want to speak now?' And she goes, 'Because it's at the airport.' Yeah. And that changed everything. Once she spoke, the employees got it. And now we're seeing regular catching of trafficking inside the airport. And every airport needs to take that journey. And so that led to we do it every year. So this was just another one, but we brought in the mayor. We built, we actually did an action speaks campaign where we built care packages. And then we had the museum there that's evolved over years. And a lot of press. And so we bring in all the organizations that support survivors of trafficking, get people to learn more, do more. We actually have a children's book that we launched at that and so just trying to find ways to reach families and make a difference in the city.

Yeah, we've been working on it for four and a half years. So, it's been a long journey trying to get the funds that we need, but we've made movie like films that are ad campaigns, PSAs. So, in 60 seconds, we have to convey trafficking to people and urgency. And so we used all the tools of Hollywood to make you think you're watching a film and then in the ads the person who is coming out from being trafficked or identifying that trafficking is happening and the person with them, the rescuer or the family member, they look at the camera and break the fourth wall and they just say this is trafficking, we're going to need your help and it's very powerful. And so the idea is we take people on a journey of 'I really don't understand human trafficking.' I'm compelled. And then they'll go to a site and they'll get a basic simple education and some people will go deeper and get more involved. But at least we'll get everyone understanding. We don't really know what we're seeing.

We do. It's interesting on the supply side. We're trying to help people who actually do rescue work or support. Actually, rescue is rare. Most people actually have to walk out of this and but we support the people who do that financially. So, we do events for them. We do all sorts of things. We're all professionals. There's no one paid in Red M. So, everyone is volunteer. So, any money that we make, we give to them or we do campaigns. So, that's that part. And when we go into companies and do training, we help people to understand what grooming looks like. But we also are building care packages and making a connection for people to what's going on. And what happens for some men who frequent these places and buy sex and think it's a victimless crime. They often ask, 'Well, hold on. This is really basic supplies. Why would someone want this bag?' Which is a great question because the people who take it to them say that they grab the bags. And I said, 'Well, if they're grabbing the bags generally, you can assume that they don't get to keep their money.' And so that helps people who are probably buyers and we've had people who say I regularly go and I'm helping them through college and we go well yeah but have you noticed it's often nursing college and it's often the same story and they'll go oh I hadn't even thought about that. So there are these themes and trends and so you're helping people to see it. So yeah, it does help the demand. We've had a lot of people say I've stopped my behavior. This one guy said, 'I give $1,000 to this same lady every week thinking I'm helping her.' And he said, 'I'm going to start putting that into Red M.' And so I think people who think it's a victimless crime, they're in there, you know, I'm not holding judgment for anybody. I'm just like, you're choosing that, but you're choosing it not understanding what you're looking at. And so it doesn't mean that all sex work is trafficking. I don't want to say that. I'm just saying that you need to know that this happens and you need to be aware of it and know that it's a risk to your kids as well as when you see it. You need to know it's going on around us.

Joinred.com is our website and if you want to get involved and volunteer we'll take that all day long. Volunteers are the engine of what we do. But if you want to donate, we're happy to manage that money. And if you look at how we do it, we do not have any costs. And so we're able to do it very efficiently and no one's making money. Nobody's getting a paycheck. And so it's a really good way to make a difference in society.

Thank you for having me.