Even as women push to break glass ceilings in every industry, there is still one area where too many women are working not by choice, but by necessity: the sex trade. It’s all around us, even in resource-rich cities like Washington, D.C. And I know this all too well…because I was once one of those

Working on Capitol Hill, Natasha was terrified her past as a prostitute would come back to haunt her. After 14 years of secrecy, she decided to tell her secret.

A non-profit in Washington is helping women to find a second chance at life. HER Resiliency Center aids young women in finding housing and jobs while linking them up with mentors. Many of its participants have grown up in shelters, their parents have been in and out of jail and they’ve fought homelessness. Watch the

“We need a safe place to live, a support system, help to get a degree, help to get a job. Learning to share those feelings of isolation and shame breaks the cycle.”

Watch HER founder Natasha Guynes on Montgomery County, MD, Channel 21. Learn more at MontgomeryCommunityMediaTV.org.

Natasha Guynes, 35, is president and founder of HER Resiliency Center, a nonprofit for vulnerable young women. She lives in Washington. I’m going to thumbnail-sketch you for a second, and I’m sorry about that. You went from being a commercial sex worker to working on Capitol Hill. I moved to D.C. when I was 20.

This week, she’s launching a non-profit called HER Resiliency Center. It will help young women 18 to 25 years old get housing, healthcare, education and employment. I’m the most proud and the most free I’ve ever been in my life,” Guynes said. “HER Resiliency Center is the best thing I’ve ever done.”She’s assembling an office

The students got to hear from a survivor firsthand. Former Capitol Hill staffer Natasha Guynes escaped from a bad home situation to the District when she was 20 years old. She started dong escort work, and descended into a world of prostitution and drug, “I experienced a lot of traumas, physical abuse as a child

“Drink a beer, smoke a joint. But lay off the crack, it will rot your teeth.” That was the advice Natasha Guynes remembers receiving from her estranged father while she was high on crack and cocaine. At only 20 years old, Guynes had wanted to get as far away as possible from her family in