LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – B.E. A S.H.E.R.O Foundation helps girls and women who have been trafficked, exploited or abused.
The foundation is gearing up for their 10th annual gala this weekend to raise enough money to house those who have escaped from their traffickers.
Co-founder Kimberly Miles spoke to FOX5. She reflected on all that she has now and how she got here.
“Without the experience of pain and trauma, I wouldn’t have ever done this work,” Miles said.
It is trauma and pain that started as a young girl, written in her book called “Zero to SHERO.”
It describes her life of being in a wheel chair for the start of her life to losing her mom. Then, being forced out on her own at the age of 15.
It’s a heartache that still sits with Miles.
“I didn’t have the attention, so I felt pushed and moved around,” Miles said.
Miles met a woman who she said changed everything.
“I met a woman who was like 27 years old that was like a big sis,” Miles said. “She took me in and I thought she was my savior.”
Before Miles knew it, her new “big sis” introduced her to a world of sex trafficking.
“They could tell how young I was. They knew what was happening so I could pay rent. That is how it started,” Miles said.
Soon things started to get bad, according to Miles.
She tells FOX5 about an incident involving five men.
“So I remember before being dragged down a flight of stairs with my head bumping down, I remember making a run for it and screaming and fighting and crying,” she said.
Miles had managed to escape and tells FOX5 she later put on weight on purpose as it was her way of keeping herself safe from a world she never wanted to go back to.
“I didn’t want to be attractive to anyone,” Miles said.
Years later, a career in corporate sales led Miles to Las Vegas.
A city Metro Police also keeps an eye out for traffickers.
According to Metro Police, 81.7 % of interventions they have made with sex traffickers are on the Las Vegas Strip.
Miles said she knew Las Vegas needed her help.
FOX5’s Victoria Saha: “Do you see yourself in them?”
Miles: “In some of them, some of them have it so much worse than I had it.”
With her organization B.E. A S.H.E.R.O Miles has helped hundreds of girls with counseling and emergency housing.
“The first year is just PTSD baby, the first 90 days you just have to get them to sleep at night,” she said.
Their annual gala is Saturday at the Palms Casino. Their goal is to raise more than $1 million to fund a house that will be in a central part of the valley.
This is so survivors can get to it easily, but the location of the house will stay undisclosed for their safety.
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