If One (Wo)man is Enslaved, No One Is Free with the founder HerFuture Sarah Symons

Going Beyond with Randi Zinn

Today I’m joined by Sarah Symons who is the Founder and Director of Her Future Coalition, an international charity that has helped tens of thousands of girls rise from poverty and exploitation in Cambodia, India and Thailand and teaches them to become free and independent. Her Future has collaborated with the likes of Michelle Obama’s Girls Opportunity Alliance to provide opportunity and education to the most vulnerable girls around the world. Sarah is also the author of the book This is No Ordinary Joy: How the Courage of Survivors Transformed My Life and forthcoming book Standing in the Way (out January), which she co-wrote with one of her survivors (0:55).

Sarah never imagined her life would lead her to where she is today. Her career was always centered around music, from touring the U.S. and landing a record deal with her band in her 20s, to then composing music for TV and film, but a stunning twist of events led her to founding Her Future. One day after cancer suddenly took her mother, she found solace in talking to her friend Philip’s spirit, who was murdered at age 17. That same day, she found out that one of her songs - a song she happened to write for Philip - had been selected for a film that would be featured at the NYC Tribeca Film Festival, and actress Emmy Rossum was cast to sing her song (3:30)!

It felt like her music career was reaching new heights, but what she didn’t see coming was next; while at the Festival, Sarah had time to see one film, The Day My God Died, a documentary about the exploitation and trafficking of girls from Nepal to India. She was reluctant to see it, but after she did, her life changed forever. It was then that she made the decision to drop her music career and dedicate her time to helping these girls, no matter what it took (11:52). With no experience, Sarah started volunteering to understand what these survivors needed. Today, Her Future is a result of her learnings (16:18).

After witnessing the devastating toll COVID-19 took on vulnerable populations across the world, Sarah makes the case for approaching wellness on a global scale. She suggests volunteering at charitable organizations or local food banks, and explains the remarkable healing power that helping those less fortunate can have, namely providing a sense of control in a time when our lives feel so out of control (25:47). Sarah then leaves us with three impactful lessons she’s learned from the resilient survivors she’s worked with through the years: (1) Make a conscious decision to leave the past behind, (2) What stands in the way becomes the way, and (3) Don’t give into despair, and instead, see what love can do (38:15).