Dr. Izabel Olson, founder and CEO of Salt & Light Coalition, turned to spirituality, health, and wellness at an early age. After experiencing many hardships and obstacles throughout her upbringing, those 3 things helped her heal from past traumas in order to build a better life and career for herself. Having grown up with a father who was a political prisoner in Brazil, Dr. Olson felt compelled to connect with the Cook County Jail and began teaching yoga to female inmates. To her surprise, she found that 70% of the women she encountered had been trafficked. Even though prostitution was a misdemeanor, many of these women had been coerced to commit other crimes landing them in jail with more severe charges. She soon discovered the cycle of recidivism in sex trafficking.
With over 60% of survivors being trafficked under the age of 18, they often never have a chance to finish their education nor develop a job history. Some have criminal records as they are forced by their traffickers to commit crimes. This trifecta renders it virtually impossible for survivors of sex trafficking to find legitimate employment. As a result, survivors of sex trafficking are often re-victimized falling into a vicious cycle they cannot escape from.
Moved by her experience with women in the Cook County jail, Dr. Olson started volunteering at shelters for trafficked women. While volunteering, she witnessed the mental, emotional, and socioeconomic challenges faced by survivors. She identified a gap in the existing services for trafficking survivors when she noticed an inadequate level of attention was being paid to readying these women to enter the workforce. Using her research experience and knowledge of Learning Sciences gleaned from a six-year doctoral program at Northwestern University, Dr. Olson carefully conducted months of literature-based and ethnographic research to create an innovative, holistic, and trauma-informed curriculum. This curriculum is the vehicle through which we provide survivors with the mind-body restoration and employment skills that truly set them up for success, keep them out of jail, and allow them to pave a new path for themselves and their families.
Dr. Olson founded the Salt & Light Coalition in July of 2017. We started off with our first cohort of 5 'Thrivers' – trafficking survivors who take part in our program - and are now taking on cohorts of 20 women. We have graduated 43 Thrivers so far and are currently in the process of taking our 11th cohort through our program. We have quadrupled in operational size, and are proud to now be able to provide Start of Life grants to graduates of our program.
The Salt and Light Coalition’s 2022 Reignite Retreat is an annual Alumni gathering, wherein graduates from past cohorts come together in community. This is an opportunity for those who are interested to be baptized, practice yoga with world-renowned instructors, and strengthen our SALC community. This year’s gathering is sponsored by KeHE Cares.
