Rebecca McGill is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Aurora Freedom, a nonprofit that works towards freedom from human trafficking through survivor advocacy, organizational allyship, and community awareness. Rebecca currently serves as Chair of the Coalition to End Human Trafficking in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties. Her dedication to this work spans more than fifteen years, rooted in a belief that every survivor deserves a pathway to empowerment and that healing happens best in the context of relationships.
Rebecca’s advocacy began in high school, when she founded a club to mobilize students in the fight against human trafficking. She then supported the initiative’s growth beyond its founding chapter, extending it to other local schools.
Her career bridges direct survivor care, clinical practice, and macro-level advocacy. Rebecca spent over three years supporting minor survivors internationally with Agape International Missions in Cambodia, gaining deep expertise in the complex needs of vulnerable youth. Since returning to the U.S., Rebecca has furthered her experience and understanding by serving as a teen resource family parent, a human trafficking caseworker, a county social worker with Housing for Health, and a therapist at a residential therapeutic program in Santa Cruz County.
As an Associate Social Worker, Rebecca brings specialized skills in trauma-informed care, therapeutic interventions, complex care case management, culturally responsive services, and interdisciplinary partnerships. Rebecca graduated summa cum laude with her master’s in social work from California State University, San Bernardino. Her research on the effectiveness of services for youth who have experienced CSEC was awarded Best Social Work Research and was nominated for Best Master’s Level Research in 2025.
Rebecca is driven by the belief that sustainable change requires meeting survivors where they are — with compassion, cultural humility, and a commitment to their long-term healing and agency.
Suleman Masood, an internationally recognized subject matter expert on labor
trafficking and male victimization, has been dedicated to his advocacy work since 2013.
His experience has positioned him to work with local, state, and federal government
agencies and non-profit organizations, creating culturally responsive services for
underserved populations. Mr. Masood has led collaborations with victim service
providers and task forces to build trust among survivors and the surrounding community
while holding perpetrators accountable. His work emphasizes building partnerships with
survivors and ensuring that strategies and implementation influence a survivor-informed
approach. Mr. Masood previously served as the Council Chair for the United States
Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, a Presidentially appointed position. Through his
leadership, the Advisory Council provided recommendations on federal anti-trafficking
policies to the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in
Persons (PITF).
Mr. Masood’s partnerships with service providers and first responders include serving
as a senior program manager on behalf of the Office for Victims of Crime. In 2017, Mr.
Masood was credited with coining the phrase”survivor-informed,” adopted and
published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The term
“survivor-informed” is now integrated throughout the anti-trafficking field. In 2021, Mr.
Masood wrote, produced, and narrated a one-of-a-kind visual PSA on labor trafficking
with the New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking. Mr. Masood now serves as
an attorney with the internationally renowned law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, where
he aspires to create meaningful change within ESG compliance and antitrust law to
better support trafficking survivors. Mr. Masood lives by the mantra, “success is the best
revenge.”
Alia Azariah is a compassionate advocate, visionary leader, and survivor of trafficking whose work is reshaping the field of survivor care and anti-trafficking response. With her rare combination of lived experience and professional expertise, she has become a trusted subject matter expert on human trafficking, sex trafficking, the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), and best practices in survivor aftercare.
Currently serving as Director of Collective Impact at Safe House Project, Alia leads national initiatives to establish standards of care, implement trauma-informed training, and expand services that now reach more than 1,500 survivors annually. Her prior roles include Local Programs Manager at Forever Found, where she designed trafficking training programs and helped launch the Freedom Ranch Project, and 3 years of membership on the California CSEC Action Team’s Advisory Board, where she advanced statewide reform efforts for children impacted by exploitation.
Alia’s expertise spans speaking, training development and implementation, juvenile justice, child welfare reform, policy advocacy, minor care, and trafficking-related investigations. Drawing from her own experiences as a survivor, she brings depth and authenticity to her work—whether testifying before the UK Parliament, speaking at the U.S. Capitol Building, or serving as an expert witness in trafficking-related cases. She has trained over 250,000 professionals nationwide, developed a widely attended monthly webinar series, and authored curriculum addressing trauma-informed care, survivor engagement, and systemic reform.
Her leadership has been recognized with the 2022 Resiliency Award from the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office and, in 2025, with her selection to the Obama Leaders USA Program (2025–26 cohort). These honors reflect her growing influence as a leader shaping both practice and policy.
At the heart of Alia’s work is her belief in the inherent dignity and potential of every survivor. She is dedicated to creating pathways of healing and empowerment that not only restore lives but also position survivors as changemakers within their communities and across systems of care.
Since 2006, Francesca has been a transformative leader in the Bay Area, dedicated to dismantling racial and gender inequities and fostering environments that champion social impact and community empowerment. Her journey from a passionate volunteer to an executive leader in nonprofit operations and programs highlights her commitment to advocacy and equity. With deep-rooted expertise, Francesca has built, sustained, and expanded a diverse array of programs, ranging from grassroots initiatives to national service models, while operationalizing organizational strategy and vision with precision.
As a foster youth growing up in a system often fraught with challenges, Francesca’s advocacy began at an early age. At just 15, she addressed the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C., advocating for the rights of foster youth—a transformative moment that fueled her lifelong passion for systemic change. Since then, she has worked tirelessly with mission-driven organizations across the Bay Area, shaping trauma-informed programs in youth development, early childhood education, food justice, LGBTQ+ services, senior care, and workforce development.
Throughout her career, Francesca has achieved remarkable milestones, including spearheading initiatives that have driven regional growth and strategic expansion for leading organizations. She has developed impactful educational programs for at-risk youth, introduced innovative models to public school systems, and created frameworks for workforce readiness. Notably, Francesca launched the nation’s first LGBTQ+ community-based Adult Day Program, blending innovation with equity to meet the needs of underserved communities. Her expertise in grant writing and event management has secured substantial funding, further amplifying her impact. Her visionary leadership consistently results in programs that address critical community needs and inspire meaningful social change.
Francesca’s commitment to transforming systems extends through her work as a Fellow of Foster America and as a member of their National Leadership Advisory Group. In these roles, she contributes to pivotal conversations and strategies aimed at reimagining the foster care system on a national scale.
Francesca’s dedication extends to her personal life, where she thrives as a creative and compassionate individual committed to her own healing journey. She actively participates in mindfulness, meditation, and other spiritual practices, celebrating the many ways to cultivate joy and resilience. A lover of life’s simple pleasures, she enjoys cooking, spending time in nature—especially on the beach—exploring movies and music, and cherishing moments with friends and family. Her creativity shines through her passion for collaborative art, mixed media, and photography, where she finds unique ways to express and celebrate the beauty of connection and shared experiences. These passions infuse her work with innovation, balance, and a commitment to uplifting those around her.
Rose Mukhar is a social justice, human rights and crime victims’ rights attorney with experience in cases involving children, women, refugees, and survivors of domestic violence, torture, and human trafficking. Her pro bono practice specialized in providing direct legal services to trafficked survivors, including immigration relief, legal advocacy of crime victim’s rights, expungement of criminal records, divorce, custody and restraining orders. Modeled after her pro bono practice, Rose created Justice At Last to expand the legal services and outreach she provides. Rose is inspired and driven by the strength, courage and grace of her clients.
Rose earned an LL.M. degree in International Legal Studies, with a focus on human rights, and her J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco, and spent the summer of 2012 studying the prosecution of war criminals and war crimes involving child combatants in The Hague, Netherlands, through American University, Washington College of Law. It was during her graduate law studies that Rose realized that child soldiering is a form of human trafficking during armed conflicts and this inspired her to serve survivors of all forms of human trafficking and in particular with commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) and children that are labor trafficked.
Rose provides leadership to ensure that Justice At Last achieves its overall mission to protect the rights of trafficked persons so they can achieve justice on their own terms.