Robby Klein
Becca Stevens is always looking for new elements that she can bring to Thistle Farms, the nonprofit which helps women survivors of trafficking, prostitution, and addiction find healing, hope, and freedom.
The organization is a labor of love for the multi-hyphenate who herself has seen hard times in her life.
“When I was five my father was killed by a drunk driver, and so there is a wash of grief over my childhood as well as joy and wonder,” she says. “I also have a history of child sexual abuse that began when I was six and lasted for several years. I believe all of those experiences combined to help shape me into a compassionate ally for women survivors. I see myself in the people I have had the privilege of serving for the past three decades.”
She will turn both her grief and her success in service into a book next year with Harper Collins. Through stories, old sayings, and her search for justice, the book will chronicle how Stevens has come to find the extraordinary in the beauty and brokenness of this world. Her hope is that the tome inspires people to forever erase the line between pragmatic and poetic and bring their idealism into their daily life.
“I am grateful for my childhood and the work,” she says. “Together, they have helped me believe unapologetically that love is the most powerful force for change in the world."