ChickSpeak

SpotLight on Katherine Chon, Brown University Grad

Katherine Chon is co-founder and Co-Executive Director of Polaris Project, a Washington, DC based nonprofit organization combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery. She’s a total inspiration to us because, simply put, she recognized problem and used her voice and resources to do something about it. She took action and has created an organization that is making waves, getting heard, and making a huge difference in the lives of women right here in the United States. (Yes, trafficking does happen here!)

According to her story on the Polaris website and her Aluma Mater, Brown University, after reading a local newspaper article describing South Korean women trafficked into a massage parlor a few miles from where she lived, Ms. Chon partnered with Derek Ellerman to co-found Polaris Project in the spirit of the Underground Railroad.

Ms. Chon has worked closely with survivors of labor and sex trafficking through victim identification, service provision, client empowerment, and case management. She focuses on leadership development and strategic planning and is also responsible for leading the organizational development of Polaris Project. Ms. Chon has provided training and technical assistance to service providers, shelters, and community groups in the US, and has provided consultation to dozens of foreign government and non-government delegations from numerous countries in Asia and Eastern Europe. Ms. Chon has been recognized for her social entrepreneurship with a Do Something BRICK Award at a ceremony keynoted by President Bill Clinton, as well as with the Lifetime Champions for Change honor, given jointly by Lifetime Television and The Body Shop.

Ms. Chon has a background in cross-cultural education theory, social science research, and experimental design and analysis. She has worked on research projects at the Institute for Elementary and Secondary Education at Brown University and at Butler and Miriam Hospitals in Providence, RI investigating family violence and child abuse, adolescent suicide, and issues in education and curriculum development. Ms. Chon has a Sc.B. in Psychology from Brown University.

Please take a second to check out Katherine’s work at the Polaris Project