Audrey has dedicated her life to shedding light on human trafficking and the injustices taking place in our world. After graduating from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Science in Education, she moved to Belgium to work with international students and refugees throughout Western and Eastern Europe. While living in Europe, she learned of the horrors of human trafficking firsthand when a children’s home she had been volunteering at was exposed as a front for prostitution. At the time she was a charter board member for the organization, Make Way Partners, which helped to close down the home. In an effort to rescue vulnerable children before experiencing the trauma of trafficking, Audrey moved to Alabama in 2005 to support the foundation and expansion of LUV’s indigenously directed anti-trafficking network that today spans Sudan and South Sudan. In 2018, Audrey became CEO of Lift Up the Vulnerable and leads the mission of preventing trafficking and empowering changemakers. Contact: audrey@liftupthevulnerable.org

Eugenio has a business degree focusing on clearing, forwarding, warehousing, distribution, and shipping management. He worked for 17 years at Firestone Tire Company, gaining experience working and traveling in East and Central Africa. Since 2009, he has been serving the anti-trafficking network spanning Sudan and South Sudan and played a pivotal role early on in massive infrastructure development. Through his experience in the corporate world he negotiated for better terms of payment with suppliers and better tax relief methods on supplies and construction materials. He also devised a more efficient, secure, and reliable transport system which enabled the ministry to move materials across borders. In 2019, he became LUV’s Chief Program Officer and oversees operations, programs, and leadership development in Sudan, South Sudan, and Kenya. His entire family opens their hearts and home to care for those who require emergency medical care and rehabilitation at the Kenya Safe House. Contact: eugenio@liftupthevulnerable.org

James is the founder and executive director of New Life Ministry (NLM) located along the border of Darfur. During the Sudanese Civil War, James’ village was attacked and he began a three-month trek by foot to Ethiopia with other Lost Boys. Violence in Ethiopia caused them to flee again toward Kenya. It was during this period that he was conscripted as a child soldier, carrying an AK-47 and leading other armed children. When he was eventually released, James lived in the refugee camps in Kenya where he attended school, and eventually earned the opportunity for a visa to the USA. Just as he was about to travel, he had an epiphany, and decided to return home to protect and support other survivors of the warfare in his country. In 2005, NLM became the founding member of the anti-trafficking network that today spans Sudan and South Sudan. In 2018, James was awarded the Tanenbaum Peacemaker in Action award for his years of dedication to transforming lives in warzones. Read more about NLM: Where We Work

Peter serves as the Executive Director of Hope For South Sudan (HFSS) located near the South Sudan and Ugandan border in Eastern Equitoria. Growing up in a warzone, Peter became interested early on in pursuing something greater than himself. Because educational infrastructure in his region had collapsed, when Peter was about nine years old, he left his village and walked alone for days and without food to the refugee camps in Uganda in pursuit of educational opportunities. Living as a refugee, Peter was focused on completing elementary and high school so he could be a part of growing a solution back at home. Later, he received a scholarship for a teacher training course with Emmanuel Christian College in South Sudan which led to a missionary training opportunity in Zambia. In 2013, he joined HFSS as a teacher, then deputy director, and, in 2017, Peter was promoted to serve as the executive director. Read more about HFSS: Where We Work

Peter Mangar is the deputy director of New Life Ministry (NLM) located along the border of Darfur. Peter grew up at NLM and graduated in 2016 in the first graduating class from the NLM high school. He later went on to study Public Health at Kampala University in South Sudan and graduated with a degree in 2022.  In 2024, he returned to work at NLM as deputy director. Peter is a dedicated and compassionate team member in LUV’s anti-trafficking network and plays a vital role as deputy director at NLM. Read more about NLM: Where We Work

Anthony is the deputy director of Hope For South Sudan (HFSS) located along the border of Uganda. He is originally from the region of HFSS where his father was a primary teacher in a village school. During his secondary education, war re-erupted and he left Sudan for Uganda searching for education. He returned to South Sudan in 2003 to begin his long teaching career. In 2007, he went with Peter Lomago and Ezekiel Ayub to Zambia for further training through Emanuel Christian College on primary school teaching where he acquired a diploma. In 2010, he joined HFSS’s teaching staff, rose through the ranks to serve as Head Teacher and in 2019 he was promoted to Deputy Director. Read more about HFSS: Where We Work

Tara Herget received her BS in Psychology, Graduate Certificate in College Teaching and Leadership, and MA in Applied Learning and Instruction from the University of Central Florida. She began her career working in the private sector, assisting people with bankruptcies, family law, and criminal law but felt a desire to increase her impact in the lives of others. As a result, Tara worked at a public university to assist students in pursuing their education goals. Through this meaningful career experience, Tara obtained knowledge in various facets of nonprofit work. Additionally, She gained proficiency working on the Finance, Human Resource, Operations, and the Business Incubator Program teams. This impactful experience intensified Tara’s calling to empower and enrich the lives of others. In 2021, she became LUV’s Finance and Administrative Officer and works on all financial and administrative functions at LUV. Contact: tara@liftupthevulnerable.org

After finishing his high school education, Francis began at the Kabete Technical Training Institute where he started a Diploma in Business Administration. Before completing his degree, he returned to his home village in order to teach for several years at the primary school he grew up in. Since 2011, he has been serving the anti-trafficking network spanning Sudan and South Sudan. Today, he leads as LUV’s Kenyan Administrative Coordinator. He is responsible for personally overseeing acquisition and delivery of life-saving supplies from food to medicine to building supplies. Francis also facilitates the child welfare program and documents children in our network and trains and collaborates with the indigenous welfare team members.

Pauline Jacqueline Njoroge received her bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics from Egerton University and has experience as an agricultural specialist and a project manager. She is passionate about sustainable agriculture and zero hunger and has worked in the ASAL areas (Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands) in leading sustainable agriculture development, social impact, and economic empowerment projects. She joins the LUV team as a project coordinator to focus on the agricultural development of the three centers in Sudan and South Sudan. In her personal life, Pauline is passionate about women and girl-child empowerment and social impact. It is in this capacity and her previous experience in mentorship programs as a volunteer that she will continue to empower girls and all children under LUV programs in accordance to LUV’s mandate.

Jane oversees and coordinates the care for and empowerment of women and children in LUV’s Kenya Safe House and throughout the anti-trafficking network.  Prior to her journey in service of the most vulnerable, Jane worked as a receptionist for 7 years with Hyundai Motors Company and then started her own shop in Nairobi until 2009. Her heart was moved for the needs of the orphans early on and she served as an active volunteer at a children’s home in Nairobi. Jane, Eugenio and their daughters regularly open their hearts and home to love and care for the women and children that are medevaced to Kenya for emergency care. When these patients are strong enough to be released from the hospital, but not strong enough to endure the tough conditions of Sudan or South Sudan, Jane oversees their rehabilitation. Read more about the Kenya Safe House: Where We Work

Louise, LCSW, is a University of NC alumna, earning both her BA in Psychology and Masters in Social Work. She is a psychotherapist in private practice in Wilmington and a Board Certified Diplomat in Clinical Social Work. She has practiced psychotherapy since 1974, seeing individuals, couples, families and groups.  She has been active on issues related to the status of women, domestic violence and child abuse. She was honored with the YMCA Academy of Women Human Services Award in 1999, the School of Social Work Outstanding Alumna of the Year 2006, and in 2019 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award by the YWCA. Louise joined the board of Make Way Partners in 2004 and in 2018 continued her service as chair for Lift Up the Vulnerable.

She shares, “As (my husband and I) learned more about the massive problem of human trafficking worldwide, we both knew we had found the cause of our lifetime—fighting the greatest evil of the 21st century through helping the ‘least of these’ in the most forsaken countries. I have served on many nonprofit boards, and Lift Up the Vulnerable is the most compelling and rewarding work I have ever had the privilege of doing. We have seen God use this ministry to bless helpless victims who had no hope before LUV became their advocate and protector. I urge everyone who is interested to come partner with this dedicated group of life-saving volunteers, indigenous leaders, and staff.”

John is an artist originally from Ontario that lives and works in New York. His paintings over the past three decades explore many genres, from figuration to abstraction, small scale portraits and seascapes to very large-scale cityscapes painted on the streets of New York City. He has been committed to ending human trafficking and has been involved in the mentoring and spiritual development of youth as well as the housing of the homeless through his church communities. John joined board of directors in 2018.

He writes, “Having grown up in Canada as a child of uneducated immigrants from the Netherlands I suffered, for various reasons, some of the isolation that even a Western European immigrant can face when entering a somewhat closed rural environment. I calculate that this, along with my understanding that Jesus of Nazareth calls us to identify with the poor and in some way be the poor, formed me in such a way as to have empathy for those who suffer both individually and corporately. To provide for the orphans of South Sudan was an easy move for me. Violence and corruption are not always easily corrected. Butto provide for the innocents left in the wake of incalculable horror is easily identifiable as a good. How often does the scripture make reference to the widow and the orphan?”

Joann is the founder and CEO of Joann She & Co, a successful fashion jewelry design and import company established in 1987. Joann is also actively engaged in the Chinese Business Association in NY.  Joann has played an integral part in serving vulnerable populations in NYC through the nonprofit Garden of Hope and through the ministries of LUV. She joined the board of Make Way Partners in 2017 and in 2018 continued her service as board treasurer for Lift Up the Vulnerable.  She supports the mission of LUV because, “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, and penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”

Lauran has been working for more than three decades on behalf of and caring for women and children who have been exploited and abused. She currently serves as a Consultant with grassroots organizations, encouraging the development of projects and networks which are dealing with the issues of prostitution, trafficking in persons and other forms of abuse and exploitation. She travels extensively throughout the world, teaching, training and consulting. Lauran was honored in 2005 with the Human Rights Award of the Baptist World Alliance, which was presented to her by President Jimmy Carter. In 2009, she was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters from Palmer Seminary for her “longstanding and focused ministry of justice and compassion”.  She joined the board of Make Way Partners in 2006 and in 2018 continued her service as board spiritual director for Lift Up the Vulnerable.

Lauran shares, “Abused, exploited and otherwise vulnerable women and children, living in one of the most volatile places on earth, have the opportunity for protection, healing and thriving through LUV. I’m passionate about serving them in any way I can!” 

Mary is a graduate of Duke University and the University of NC School of Law from which she received the “Distinguished Alumni Award” in 2016.  She practiced law for 38 years with her last legal job being her five-year term as the U.S. Commissioner for Trademarks. As Commissioner, she served as the highest-ranking U.S. Government official devoted solely to brand protection, led a 950-employee team with a $360 million budget and testified before Congress twice. Mary has received many awards throughout her career, is a lifelong Episcopalian, and actively serves with a number of non-profit groups. In 2021, she launched an interior design business: Boney Decor Solutions, LLC. Mary joined the board in 2021 to further her support for trafficked persons and her interest in telling the story of trafficked people.

“Human trafficking continues to be a global problem and is particularly widespread in the lawless regions of Sudan and South Sudan. By using indigenous leaders, LUV has found a way to effectuate change. We have to continue to help these shockingly abused women and children to help them have a life and to give them hope of a brighter future. LUV is the answer.”

Marilyn graduated from the University of the South, Sewanee with a degree in philosophy. She has a heart for encouraging women to be confident givers, and has served as a facilitator for Women Doing Well, an organization whose purpose is to help women of influence live lives shaped by God’s generosity.

Marilyn began her journey in supporting the charge against human trafficking in 2004 when she came alongside Make Way Partners with a heart for rescuing children from the bondages of oppression. She has since developed an interest in and passion for aiding survivors of stateside human trafficking, most recently being named to the board of The WellHouse, the largest single-site residential service provider for women rescued from trafficking in the United States.

Marilyn joined LUV’s board in 2021 and shares: “I am so enthused by the model of Lift Up the Vulnerable, our focus not only on the children needing shelter, food and education, but also on the health of the broader community. One can imagine real change on a macro level in the decades to come thanks to the work LUV is doing in Sudan and South Sudan. I am excited to be a part of this change!”

Linnea Smith, MD, graduated from UNC School of Medicine and received her training in psychiatry at UNC-Chapel Hill and has maintained a longstanding concern about the relationship of health as well as mental health to trauma and violence. The focus of her work has been in the fields of child maltreatment and sexual exploitation and she has organized national conferences on sex trafficking in 2006 and 2008. Throughout her career, she has looked at sociocultural factors that may contribute to these serious problems. She remains an advocate and an activist against the dehumanization and violence against women in sexually explicit media, which she views as a public health and human rights issue. She and her late husband, Coach Dean Smith, then retired UNC basketball coach, received the Champions Award in 2006 for their advocacy for social justice programs including anti-human trafficking work. She joined the board of Make Way Partners in 2005 and in 2018 continued her service as a directors of Lift Up the Vulnerable.  She shares, “We are all interconnected and, I believe, are more fully human when we respond to the everyday and the profound needs of others. Among the more compelling are those of children in Sudan and South Sudan suffering from trauma, loss, and grinding poverty.

I am grateful to participate for several years on LUV’s Board of Directors to provide and expand outreach to this vulnerable population. I appreciate the emphasis of the organization on the primary prevention of human trafficking. The US based group working with a strong network of committed indigenous leaders continues to build a ‘community of love’ while bringing more ‘hope and healing into the world.’

It inspires and strengthens me to learn of the children’s resilience, their capacity for joy, and their working toward ways of giving back to others and their community.”

Gustavo is currently an Executive Director at JPMorgan Chase, leading strategy for Corporate Impact Marketing. Throughout his career, Gustavo has led strategy development and implementation across a wide variety of clients and practices, including Dell, the US Navy, and IBM. He holds a BS in Communications and Advertising from the University of Tennessee and speaks fluent Spanish. Gustavo began working with LUV in 2018, offering strategic guidance and feedback across a variety of efforts, and joined the board of directors in 2019.

Gustavo shares, “I believe we are all here to help one another, and that being able to do so is a privilege. Working with LUV provides an opportunity to help some of the most vulnerable people in the world – and more importantly, empower them to be able to help themselves and others around them. It’s a blessing to be able to contribute.”