SHOW NOTES

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TRANSCRIPT

Elizabeth Smart:

[00:00:22] Hello, and welcome back to Season Three of Smart Talks by the Elizabeth Smart Foundation. I am your host, Elizabeth, and I just can't believe I'm already in season three of this. I can't believe it. I know this is starting a little bit later in the year than we typically have, but it's because some really huge things have happened for the foundation.

[00:00:45] Really good things that have happened for the foundation. The first one started right off at the beginning of this year, was when the Elizabeth Smart Foundation actually merged with the Malouf Foundation. And I'm willing to bet. There are probably a lot of you out there thinking, Malouf Foundation, who are they? I've never even heard of them.

[00:01:05] Well, I was the same way too, once upon a time. I was out speaking and I was talking about how important it is that if you see something that doesn't seem right, you need to call in, ultimately tying it back in to that's how I was rescued because someone saw something that didn't seem quite right. They called the police that led to my rescue.

[00:01:27] Well, I got the question then, how do we know what we're seeing? How do we recognize if someone is being trafficked? What are some actual signs that you can tell me right here, right now of how we can rescue or how we can recognize someone who's being trafficked or abused. And in the moment I froze because I I've been in this space for a long time, I've listened to speakers talk about it. I have been to conventions, conferences, , I've listened to lectures on it, but I froze in that moment because although I've listened to it, and if you give me time, I can sit there and I can eventually give you some things to look for. But right at that moment, on the spot, I was not a hundred percent sure.

[00:02:15] So when I went home, I thought, okay, I need to get my life together. I need to be able to answer this question. So I started looking around, I started researching, how can I answer this question? How can I be concise? And I came across this program and it was called "I am OnWatch" and. I saw it was done by the Malouf Foundation.

[00:02:36] And I remember thinking, who are these people? Where are they? And then I saw that they were located in Utah. I was like, what world am I living in? How have I never heard of them before, do I live under a rock? I must be really disconnected. And so I thought, well, I better see what this is about. So I actually went through the training at the end of the training I thought that was so helpful. Wow. So right off the bat, my first impression of the Maloufs was a really positive, a really strong impression because as far as I knew, I didn't know anything about them beforehand, had never heard of them, but the first thing that I saw of them was this "I am OnWatch", and actually, if you want to go take it, just go to iamonwatch.org. It's free. It's not hard. It's not painful, but it will give you a lot of really good information on helping you to recognize signs of trafficking and abuse. So, definitely go check that out. But it, that was my first impression of the Maloufs.

[00:03:37] And then over the years I saw their name popping up more here and there. And then over the last few years, especially we were able to actually connect in person. And when we started connecting in person, I was so impressed. And I've been in this space, it feels like for a really long time. I don't think I'm a mean person at all. I think I'm a very nice person. I think I'm a pretty easy going person, but because I have been around in this space, I'm not necessarily always easily impressed, but I was, like straight off the bat. I was impressed by what they were doing. I was impressed by how much, honestly, they accomplished in such a short period of time.

[00:04:24] And I saw what their goal wasn't just here locally, but they have a national and a global vision. And actually it is very scalable. What they foresee in the future is very scalable. And that is exciting for me because although I care deeply about my own community and my own state, my care doesn't just stop there. I hear from survivors all over the world and I want them to know that their emotions, their feelings, their experiences are heard and that they're valid. And knowing that one day we will have a global reach is very exciting and deeply important to me. So that stood out to me.

[00:05:07] And then as we began all of our projects or these different projects together, I just could see how much they cared. From the very top of the top, from Sam and Kacie Malouf, the founders of the Malouf Company and, and their foundation all the way down to, just, I don't even know their official titles walking around the halls of the Malouf Company, but just having people stopping and being like, "Hey, what you're doing is really important. I'm really excited you're here. This is so exciting. I can't wait to, see where this takes us in the future." that honestly said a lot to me that this is a company, this is an organization, this is a foundation that really truly cares. And that means a lot. Once the merger was decided upon, some other things that were just amazing to me was that whenever we go out and fundraise now, there is 100% flow through.

[00:06:02] I mean, it's not going to pay salaries. It's not going to pay overhead. It is going straight into these causes that I care so much about. And honestly, before it was hard because, it's hard, it's hard work. It's scary. And I didn't study business and I didn't study non-profits. You can say for me, this was a bit of a baptism by fire and learning how much I didn't know. I studied music, so I'm really good at practicing. And that's about it. I think I have fairly decent discipline as well. But having this whole infrastructure already in place and working takes off so much stress out of my life and lets me really focus on the things that I care deeply about.

[00:06:46] And so that has been incredible. So, along with all these added bonuses, which I could talk about forever, but I won't our missions aligned. They are all about education. They are all about healing and they're all about advocacy. And funny enough, that was what Elizabeth Smart Foundation was all about too.

[00:07:08] We were all about education. We were all about healing and we were all about advocacy. And so, not only was it a great organization of people, but our missions aligned and I don't know about everyone else, but I can always say that for me more gets done when there are more people included when it's just me, my reach isn't as big.

[00:07:30] It isn't as powerful. It isn't as, wholly inclusive. It's just not as impactful as it is when multiple people come together. And so this is so exciting for me because things, initiatives that started at Elizabeth Smart Foundation, they're not going away, they're staying and they're going to be bigger and better than they ever were before.

[00:07:55] And now, I get to sit here and brag about things like OnWatch, which is once again, how I found out about Maloufs and I get help be involved in planning for the future. And something else that I love so much, which is so important is every April or early spring, I guess I should say is that they spend so much time and effort to create a summit where leaders of our community, where policy makers can come and learn and listen to professionals in this field, listen to survivors and really gain a greater understanding for what it is like to be a survivor. What you go through, your thought process as you're making your decisions, which from the outside, maybe they're not always apparent. Maybe they're not always understandable straight off the bat, but that information and that knowledge is so important because that's how we make sustainable change.

[00:08:53] That's how we create new policy, a new legislation, lation wow. New legislation that is really going to be impactful, and that will make a difference and not just be, I don't know, some other bill that you're like why do we need this? Why is this? Can someone, that, maybe there is a reason, in fact, I'm sure there probably is a reason, but why?

[00:09:17] Now, it kind of takes that guesswork out of it. This is an opportunity for us to be like, this is why this is important and this is what needs to change. Can you help? And so I am so excited about that. We just had our most recent summit in April, which honestly, to date is one of the things that I personally am most proud that I got to be a part of and see it come together and just see how many different perspectives were brought into this same room and being able to create this opportunity for learning and collaboration and how can we make this, frankly, a better country and future in the future, a better world. For me, that means so much. And so there has been a lot going on, which is why we are starting this podcast, our Season Three, literally halfway through the year. But that is, I am already very enthusiastic about Season Three.

[00:10:20] That is not saying that Season Three at all is going to be less than our prior seasons. This is a great season. We've begun recording and I'm so excited for the guests to share their stories, have this opportunity to be able to share their perspective and also help us to understand why they did what they did, what they learned from it, and how we can make a difference.

[00:10:47] And also for all of you who listen, because you're a survivor or you've been a victim, or maybe, you know someone, to help, you know, that you're not alone, and what feelings you have felt, they're valid. They're not, you don't have feelings for no reason and you're not alone. And that there are, you do have options.

[00:11:10] You do have pathways in front of you, you, you aren't alone. And if you feel like you're alone, don't be afraid to reach out because there are so many good people in this world who are willing to help and who want to make a difference than there are not. I know sometimes it seems contrary to that.

[00:11:30] I know sometimes you think, wow, can the world get any worse, but I think in those moments, that's when we are seeing the worst of humanity and we don't always get the opportunity to see the best of humanity, but they are there. And I want you to know that. So if you are experiencing something difficult right now, if you're going through something hard, you're not alone. We all go through something hard. There are people in the world who are willing to help you and don't be afraid to reach out. So with all of that being said, I want to say thank you so much for being so supportive and helpful. And please, if you have questions, please send them in. If you have comments, please send them in because that helps us to create a better podcast.

[00:12:17] If you are simply along for the ride, make sure you like and subscribe and follow us across our different social media accounts and stay up to date with what we're doing, because there are some big things coming that I'm very excited about. So with that being said, I just want to say thank you again, and I will catch you next week with episode one.

[00:12:38] See you soon.