Tika Thornton looks back and reflects upon a very painful journey - one filled with tears and violence. But also one she says she’s grateful for. 

“Knowing that I came from here, this is where my trafficking started from,” Thornton says while visiting the neighborhood where she grew up in South Los Angeles.

She was abducted at age 12 in a section of the area known as The Jungles. 

She says she rarely felt safe at home, with drugs, poverty and violence as her everyday surroundings.

One vulnerable night while she was walking in her neighborhood, a man in a vehicle approached her.

“You know he was asking me things about myself. Why am I outside so late? Why do I look so sad? So I felt like, he cares,” she recalled.

That day, 12-year-old Tika became a victim of the world’s second most profitable criminal enterprise - sex trafficking.


“After I left this very spot, my life just wasn’t the same,” she said.

Tika visits a nearby park in the neighborhood where she grew up in. Here, she details how her abductor took her from the car to an unknown apartment, and chained her to a bed. 

“Then the guy just punched me in the face repeatedly," she said. "Then I woke up again.”

The trauma from her childhood made her believe prostitution was the only option for survival. 

“You know I was under a pimp’s control until I was about 18 years old," she explained.

But because pimps would always chase her down if she tried to leave, Tika said she had to escape California to feel secure.

“I got to Chicago, of all places to feel safe,” she said.

But stepping into a new environment helped her overcome the uphill battle she endured for so long.

It was there that she discovered the healing power of love and family.

“Had three beautiful kids, and love and family was what it took for me to get out of the life," she said. 

Tika now helps rescue women who’ve been in her shoes through Two Wings, a nonprofit that once helped her. 

She frequently meets with Asia Ragland, Two Wings’ program manager, as they strategize ways to help women get off the streets.

“It truly is inspiring working with Tika," Ragland said. "I learn so much from her all of the time. Every time we go to the jail or to a speaking engagement, I learn more and more about her and how to actually engage with a lot of our clients.”

“Even though most people wouldn’t dream or even think about going through the things I’ve been through, I’m very grateful for the experiences and I’m grateful that I’m at this point in my life right now,” Thornton said.

As an advocate, her message for all people is: “Never take for granted the things that happen in your life, and never regret the things that happen in your life, because it can help someone else in the future.”

A message that inspires Thornton to turn pain into purpose.