Her trailblazing advocacy is the subject of the critically acclaimed Showtime documentary 'Very Young Girls' and the upcoming memoir 'Girls Like Us.' Lloyd is a nationally recognized expert on the issue of child sex trafficking in America, and played a key role in the successful passage of New York States groundbreaking Safe Harbor Act for Sexually Exploited Youth, the first law in the country to end the prosecution of child victims of sex trafficking. Now the nations largest organization offering direct services to American victims of child sex trafficking, GEMS empowers girls and young women, ages 12-24, who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to exit the sex industry and develop to their full potential.

Since its inception as a one-woman outreach program in 1998, GEMS has grown steadily, building its services and programs and garnering increased visibility and recognition under Lloyds leadership. In 1998, Ashoka Fellow, Reebok Human Rights Award winner and leading child sex trafficking advocate Rachel Lloyd established GEMS: Girls Educational and Mentoring Services to support American girls and young women survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking.

Girls Like Us by Rachel Lloyd