In November 2022, 17-year-old James Woods came home from school and signed onto Instagram. Within hours, he was being extorted by someone he'd never met. By the next morning, he was gone.

In this episode, Preston sits down with James's father, Tim Woods, co-founder of the Do It For James Foundation. Tim shares — with extraordinary courage — who James was as a son, a runner, a chess player, and a friend. He walks us through the night that changed everything. And he tells us what he and his wife Tamia have done with their grief in the years since: speaking to hundreds of thousands of students, partnering with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, receiving the FBI Director's Award, and most recently, watching the Senate Judiciary Committee advance the James T. Woods Act — a crucial piece of legislation named for James.

This is one of the most important conversations we've had on the show. It is heavy. It is also deeply hopeful. And it is a clear-eyed look at one of the fastest-growing crimes targeting kids in America today.

A note for listeners: This episode includes discussion of sextortion, child exploitation, and suicide. If you or someone you love is in crisis, you can call or text 988 anytime to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• ​Do It For James Foundation: letsdoitfj.org
• ​Follow @DoItForJamesFoundation on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok
• ​Learn about The Exodus Road's prevention education program: influenced.org
• ​988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (call or text)

Until All Are Free is a production of The Exodus Road, a global anti-trafficking organization with a vision for a world where no human is ever bought, sold, or exploited. Learn more at uaafpod.com

Content Warning: Contains descriptions of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Listener discretion advised. Not suitable for young listeners.

A humid night in Southeast Asia. A tuk tuk driver, a laminated menu, and a corner of the world where exploitation hides in plain sight under neon light.

In this episode, host Preston Goff takes listeners inside the red light districts of Thailand. Through the streets, the history that built them, the economics that sustain them, and the recruitment pipelines that pull vulnerable women and girls from rural Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos into a system designed to hold them there.

Not everyone working in these spaces is a trafficking victim. But trafficking lives within the veneer of this industry, protected less by secrecy than by indifference. This episode is an invitation to bear witness and to believe that what can be understood can be dismantled.

We're back!

Until All Are Free is returning reimagined, re-energized, and ready to go deeper. After years of telling stories from the frontlines of the fight against human trafficking, we're expanding our lens to shine a light on human rights violations and injustices around the world. From survivor testimony to investigative storytelling to conversations with the people closest to the fight, this is a podcast for people who choose not to look away.

New episodes drop starting in April. Subscribe now so you don't miss the relaunch.

Follow us on Instagram for behind-the-scenes updates, episode announcements, and ways to join the fight: https://www.instagram.com/_untilallarefree

Until All Are Free is a podcast by The Exodus Road. theexodusroad.com

On this episode of Until All Are Free, Preston sits down with Drew and James, two volunteer investigators with The Exodus Road. The two recount their recent travels to Pakistan, where they assisted a separate nonprofit organization in securing the release of a family from debt bondage in Pakistan's brick-making industry.

Debt bondage is inherently complex, like many of the topics discussed in Until All Are Free. Many individuals ensnared in Pakistan's debt-bondage schemes are suffering from generational enslavement where the possibility of freedom from debt is unrealistic. In the landscape of human rights organizations addressing debt bondage worldwide, conversations often arise about the best tactics for intervention efforts to dismantle systems of exploitation that prop up this mechanism of trafficking. This episode is intended as an educational source about the nature of human trafficking in this region of the world. As an organization, The Exodus Road does not participate in transactional exchanges with traffickers to secure the freedom of a survivor of human trafficking.

Joining Preston on this episode of Until All Are Free is Daniel*, the Asia Regional Director at The Exodus Road. Daniel has investigated more than 1,000 locations in Asia for human trafficking. He'll share with us about what that's like and about the immense sacrifices law enforcement and our national staff make to do this work.

Before transitioning to the international space, Daniel worked as a lawyer in Colorado where he focused on child abuse and neglect cases in Jefferson County. Today, Daniel oversees The Exodus Road's international programs in India, the Philippines, and Thailand.

*Pseudonym used to ensure safety.

Oftentimes, the stories that we share focus on one single individual. One story. One Case.

Episode 27 is a little different in that regard. We're bringing you a glimpse into the exploitation of the Rohingya Muslim people group of present-day Myanmar.
In 2015, The Exodus Road had a unique opportunity to assist in a case that garnered international attention, thrusting the Rohingya's plight into the spotlight again. Responding to the request of law enforcement and another nonprofit organization in Thailand, The Exodus Road was able to provide cyber-forensic technology developed by Cellebrite that would eventually work to crack open a case resulting in the arrest of more than 100 and the successful rescue of hundreds more from a large trafficking ring in SE Asia.

Joining us to recount the story on this episode is The Exodus Road Co-founder, Matt Parker.

Episode Sources

Digital data helped take down a Thai General in the country’s largest human trafficking case
The Survivors of the Rohingya Genocide
Thailand: Mass Graves of Rohingya Found in Trafficking Camp
Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya in Burma
Documentation of Atrocities in Northern Rakhine State
Muslims of the Land of Arakan - A Rohingya Song

In this episode of Until All Are Free, Preston is joined by Joel Karum of Ezekiel Rain.

Joel is the co-founder of the Thai nonprofit Ezekiel Rain, and he’s also on the board of The Exodus Road Thailand. Through over a decade of working with Ezekiel Rain, Joel Karum has become a leading expert in building resilient communities to prevent exploitation in Thailand. The organization emphasizes models that center around building strong families, including combating pornography’s role in perpetuating cultural and individual harm.

Joel has also been a friend of The Exodus Road since its inception, and the podcast proved to be inspiring and enlightening!

In this episode of Until All Are Free, Preston is joined by Amber Van Schooneveld to discuss what ethical storytelling looks like for nonprofits.

Amber Van Schooneveld is the Senior Marketing Director at The Exodus Road. She has an extensive background in nonprofit marketing and storytelling, having worked as Managing Editor (among other roles) with Compassion International for nearly 13 years. Amber leads the Marketing Department in the process of identifying stories from our countries of operation in order to share updates and celebrations with our community.

Preston and Amber chat about what it means to commit to ethical storytelling at The Exodus Road and why we have chosen to not use real imagery of survivors from raids in our communications. They also discuss a few specific cases and the opportunities that they presented to our team at our U.S. office. All of this and more!