Sophia Strother Lewis wants to bring a new perspective on the way we view victims of human trafficking. Still, one of America‘s largest issues, there have been many works released on the topic to bring awareness, but Lewis feels like the gloomy tone of those productions can make current victims feel like there is no hope on the other side. Not only did Lewis make it out of that situation, but she became a millionaire CEO at her company L2E Industries LLC, one of Amazon’s top contracted delivery service partners.
Lewis discussed her extraordinary journey with rolling out.
What was your journey from childhood to being trafficked?
Unfortunately, both of my parents succumbed to crack cocaine in the late 1980s. As a result of their addictions, that’s when my life started to turn upside down. My father unfortunately, fell prey to crack and could not handle it at all, and unfortunately started to sexually abuse me at that time while my mother worked nights … my father began a relationship with me at the age of 9, and that lasted for about two years.
He unfortunately died after having a withdrawal seizure. He was trying to get off the drugs and [get] clean. He had a withdrawal seizure behind the wheel in April 1993, after he dropped me and my friend off with my mom and we were staying at a shelter at the time. He had a withdrawal seizure that turned into a heart attack behind the wheel, and died at 39 years old. His vehicle went right into the gas pump and exploded … my mom just couldn’t cope.
She spiraled out of out of control on crack. My mom decided to utilize me as a means to secure drugs and to pay the bills by grooming me to sell my body so I could take care of the household.
At 13, I was then introduced to the life of trafficking. My mom was actually my pimp at the time. That carried on for about two years. I became pregnant by one of her drug dealers … and I ended up having my first child at the age of 15 … I tell people all the time, my mom literally renamed me “currency,” I was no longer Sophia at that point. Almost everything I did in my life was a transaction. It came out of a hurt place and in a place with no self-worth. That then led me to years of being involved in [violent] relationships, because I did not have an inkling of what my value was at that point.
What did going from that to millionaire look like?
To put it in perspective, I started with the therapy, which started to help me build a confidence within myself to take a risk on myself. … I read an article about Amazon having this opportunity to give to people who didn’t have any experience, but were people leaders. I could get with that because I am a people person, I love people and most of my jobs had to deal with servitude where I’m serving to help others.
So I said, “Why not?”
But I wouldn’t have been able to do the “why nots?” if I hadn’t been in a place of healing to believe I was worth the risk. … I [put] my name in the hat around May 2019, and I turned them down because I still wasn’t ready. … I ended up having a terrible seizure that put me down for three months … Amazon called again in 2019 asking if I was still interested.
I said, “I can’t let this pass.”
I went through the motions, they offered it to me in January 2020, I [had] just turned 40 — and the rest was history.
