& So I Lead
Letters from the Desk of Our Founder & Executive Director
A little about myself
Hello! My name is Ashante (Ah-shan-tay) and I am the Founder and Executive Director of You Are More Than Inc. I am a survivor of familial trafficking, a proudly out queer woman, a fellow adoptee and I currently lead YAMT from the beautiful garden state of NJ.
I am a Licensed Associate Counselor in the state of NJ serving survivors of sexual violence, childhood trauma, and LGBTQ+ folx.
Often people will describe me as a very bubbly, funny, warm individual who has a huge heart for animals, is absolutely obsessed with Mariah Carey, and could binge-watch a Netflix show in record times (literally I can watch a 21 episode T.V. show in a day).
So I wasn’t always a Founder
Growing up my vision for myself was to become either a famous songwriter or a Music Education Teacher. I always had a love for writing, playing, and listening to music. I can remember vividly as a child harmonizing to Mariah tunes and having a beautiful nack to writing music and melodies as they came to me.
In undergrad, I went to my dream college and eventually earned my degree in Music Education. I found that throughout my time teaching I love talking to the student more than actually teaching them music. So I did the most radical thing ever and started an organization on campus called The Akun Project. The mission was to help create global leaders of tomorrow by helping college students invest and understand global issues, primarily impacting Women and Girls. I guess being a leader has always been in my blood but I wasn’t able to harvest that energy until graduating.
“One thing that I learned throughout my time in University is that as a black woman, I have to work 10x as hard as my white counterparts to grow and achieve success in this world.”
Plot twist, I am one of those millennials who earned a bachelor’s degree but have not used it since graduating.
One thing that I learned throughout my time in University is that as a black woman, I have to work 10x as hard as my white counterparts to grow and achieve success in this world. Sometimes a piece of paper (aka my degree) can be seen as useless and/or as a path that shouldn’t have been taken because student debt is REAL. For me though, I realized the value that that piece of paper can have on the trajectory of my life.
“When I think of the woman I am today I am reminded of my clinicians R, S, and M who over the last 10 years have helped shape me into the individual I am today and have given me the courage and blueprint to start You Are More Than Inc.”
Journey to YAMT
College was my pathway out of abusive cycles and generational trauma that I no longer wanted to be in. Seeing my first therapist at the age of 17 changed my perspective on my experiences of childhood trauma and I transitioned into college with the desire to break difficult cycles.
At 19 I met my first counselor who would propel me forward in my healing journey as a survivor of trafficking. When I think of the woman I am today I am reminded of my clinicians R, S, and M who over the last 10 years have helped shape me into the individual I am today and have given me the courage and blueprint to start You Are More Than Inc.
They also are the driving factors behind me pursuing mental health counseling in graduate school and growing into the counselor I am today.
Public Speaking I started working in the trafficking movement in 2014, serving as a Survivor mentor, My Life Choice Facilitator, and Trainor for Prevent Child Abuse in NJ. A non-profit organization in Central Jersey building brighter futures for children by promoting Great Childhoods, positive parenting, and healthy child development.
This role exposed me to resource (foster) parents, law enforcement, schools, community agencies, and group home staff looking to find ways to support survivors in their care. I learned through this role the importance of ethical storytelling with the notion in mind that if it isn’t done right, re-exploitation can occur. PCANJ has led the movement in NJ through its prevention and awareness work for survivors of trafficking and is a long-term partner of YAMT.
Direct Service After finishing grad school I continued to do work with PCANJ while also putting my efforts into direct service work. I’ve worked as the past Survivor Leadership Institute Coordinator at Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, a long-term Volunteer for The Cambodian Kids Foundation, and as a clinician within the group home setting at LifeTies, Inc. Throughout this journey my path was never linear, I just knew that my end goal in five years was to open You Are More Than Inc.
Why now?
Starting an organization in the middle of a pandemic was never my ideal time to start but somehow ended up that way! In January 2020 I reached out to my closest friends in the movement and let them know of my plans to finally open a survivor-led non-profit in NJ. At that time I had a big picture of what I believed would be great for our community but I could have not imagined where we are today!
Throughout the pandemic, we could see how hard minority communities (particularly African-Americans) were being disproportionately impacted by the fallout of this deadly virus. This became even harder to watch when I would see folx from the survivor community be detrimentally affected by the loss of job security, housing, and facing re-exploitation in their communities due to lack of adequate resources especially when it comes to adults.
So I sat down in February and started crafting the plan for YAMT. From the perspective of lived experience and professional experience within several nonprofit agencies, I looked at what was currently being offered to survivors and reflected on what I felt was missing from our community.
This led to three main areas: Mental Health, Education, and Financial Wellness. This also led to the conversation of how do nonprofits primarily serve black and brown survivors but rarely have folx that look like me in leadership roles, rarely have folx who are looking at the implications of racial trauma on our experiences of trafficking and how when we exit it can be difficult to build a new life, especially if you are BIPOC and LGBTQ.
The murder of George Floyd really opened my eyes to the disparities within the clinical field of how folx sees us. How folx see the color of my skin and think that I am less than and/or continue to perpetuate this narrative that I am deserving of trauma, deserving of poverty, deserving of a world where I am frequently unsafe.
YAMT was created to provide a safe space for marginalized survivor communities to come and gain the support that they need to continue thriving in a world and in systems that were never created for us.
What’s the tea on our first year?
Through this year I have seen my community show up and show out for YAMT inc. From folx donating to our $5 Fridays, to communities gathering together to share our perspective, our narrative, our goals of creating a safer NJ (& nationally) for marginalized survivors of domestic trafficking and exploitation.
There were some days when I was scared shitless (excuse my language) of failing. I would roll out of bed and be scared of what life would look like when YAMT succeeds. As I sit back and reflect on this last year I’m glad that those moments are present because it pushes me to learn how to believe in myself and the team that I have alongside me to build our organization from the ground up.
This year we have exceeded so many goals:
Raised 9k from dedicated donors like you! (Which funds have been utilized to provide direct cash grants to survivors in our Education Program, Financial Empowerment Program, and make Wellness more accessible to survivors across the United States and the UK).
Reached survivors in 25 states across the United States
Provided 355 survivors with our Nurture by YAMT wellness box
Trained 280 Providers
Made beautiful collaborations with organizations that continue to help us reach our goals as we transition into our second year: Sanar- Institute, Survivor Alliance, Prevent Child- Abuse NJ, A Safer NJ, Paying It Forward Foundation
If I could speak to little me, dreaming of this day…
You did not need to experience your trauma to grow into the person that you are today. You didn’t need to experience abuse at the hands of people who were meant to care for you and love you, to support others the way that you do today. You are so hardworking, compassionate, and determined and that is how you got to where you are today.
No one should be bought and sold. No one should have to ever go through what you have been through but I am so proud of you and how far you’ve come. I am so proud of the transformative work you continue to do in your own life and alongside the survivors that you support at YAMT.
We are the narrators of our own futures and I have created my own narrative by starting YAMT. I want to support survivors in doing the same. No longer are we the type of survivors who will be “grateful” or “thankful” for being at the table of providers. We are taking our power back and building our own tables so that we can continue to grow and thrive outside of these broken systems.
Thank you
“You did not need to experience your trauma to grow into the person that you are today”
To all our donors (whether it was financially, emotionally, with your time, with your advice, with your joy) THANK YOU for helping us grow YAMT to where we are today. I can only see us going up from here
With Love and hugs,
