Growth from Darkness
My name is Amanda Blackwood.
I teach those who want to be leaders how to overcome obstacles, identify trauma, and start difficult conversations.
Who is this person,
Amanda Blackwood
I'm a survivor of human trafficking. I didn't tell anyone for such a long time. It was my scary little secret. It would stay that way, I thought.
In 2019 the man who had trafficked me made me famous on a pornography sight by sharing rape videos and photos, and linked them all to my social media pages. I reached out to an anti-trafficking organization here in Colorado who paired me with legal services to assist in having the videos taken down, but I made the mistake one day of thinking I was alone in the office. My boss had been only 100 yards away and could overhear my conversation with my lawyer and never made a sound - until the call ended. When the call ended and I heard him moving around, I knew he had been listening. He knew I was a survivor of trafficking. Less than a month later I was fired. It was the week before Thanksgiving, four months before the pandemic.
It was one of the best things that could have happened to me. I'm now a full time author and public speaker. In 2022 I finally launched a career as a public speaker, talking about overcoming obstacles, letting go of resentment, and learning how to approach the difficult conversations that need to happen before it's too late.
Surviving in the Kitchen
My first ever cookbook is now available
at Amazon and Barnes & Noble online!