Welcome to Care More Be Better, a podcast for people like you who care about the social impact of conscious companies and everyday heroes.

Hear inspiring stories from those who put people in planet before profit and personal gain.

You'll learn how you can make a difference, vote with your dollars, and get involved today.

Here's your host, Karina Belize.

As we begin today's episode, I want to take a moment to explain why I'm resharing something I published

over two years ago now. You see, there are moments when the news cycle forces us to look at things that many people

would rather ignore, systems of power, protection, and silence that allows sexual exploitation

to exist. But this episode is not about the headlines or speculation or individuals in particular in the spotlight.

It's about something far more enduring and far more uncomfortable.

How sex trafficking actually shows up in the real lives, real communities, and real schools of our neighborhoods.

This conversation is with Emmy Award-winning

filmmaker Melody C. Miller, whose film California's forgotten children was born from proximity

to that real problem. She began this work as a teenager, believing that trafficking was something

that happened somewhere else, only to

discover that students from her own high school were being exploited. That realization changed the

course of her life and ultimately led to a film that has helped recover victims, reshape school

policies, and train institutions from classrooms to the U.S. Senate.

This episode is also personal for me. During the conversation, I share a story I don't often revisit,

running away at 13, believing freedom meant escape, and learning very quickly how exposed a young

girl becomes when she's on the streets. And let's be real, I was a child. I saw things in that

short window of time that mirrored scenes and melodies film. Young women waiting on

corners, the emptiness in their eyes, a sort of quiet resignation that comes from believing

...