Epstein survivor, advocates hold human trafficking awareness event in Topeka

TOPEKA — As survivor and advocate Lisa Phillips shared her story of sexual abuse by financier Jeffrey Epstein to a large crowd, she asked the audience to “bear with her” as she spoke.

A crowd member shouted from their seat that she was in a safe space. 

Phillips spoke alongside other anti-human trafficking advocates during a conversation about trafficking and support for survivors at Washburn on Tuesday night.

“We all have survivor stories in us,” Phillips said. “The people who endure unimaginable things and still choose to keep going. There’s so much strength. That’s the place I want survivors to get to.”

Phillips is a former model who was sexually abused by Epstein in her early 20s while working for a modeling agency for which Epstein recommended her. Phillips now says it was one of his first grooming tactics. 

She was sexually assaulted by Epstein on his private island, with the abuse continuing for multiple years until Phillips moved across the country. Phillips did not speak publicly about the abuse until after the businessman’s death in 2019. 

“Every conversation was another layer, and with every layer came another realization,” Phillips said. “How many opportunities weren’t opportunities at all? How many introductions were actually transactions?”

Phillips is now an advocate for survivors, lobbying lawmakers in the United States and United Kingdom to release all files connected to Epstein and co-conspirators. 

Organizer and sponsor Dennis Taylor began the event by saying he was pleased with the large turnout. Taylor and his wife, Karen, saw Phillips on TV and immediately knew they wanted her to visit Kansas. 

The panel featured Phillips, as well as Center for Safety and Empowerment Director Christina Chavez and professor and director of Washburn Children and Family Law Gillian Chadwick. The panel was moderated by International Public Policy Institute director and survivor advocate Sharon Sullivan. 

“We have got to work with our survivors in our community and state to make things better,” Sullivan said. “In Topeka, we’re doing a good job. We’re getting better.”

Phillips, who calls fellow Epstein victims “survivor sisters,” said when she began telling her own story in 2019, she went looking for “people to care,” saying it was the decision of her life to come forward.

“We realized that we probably won’t ever get justice, but we can hold people accountable and have hearings,” Phillips said. “We can do everything we can. We’re owning our stories.”

Questions to the panel covered children’s online safety, believing survivors and how trafficking can look different. Members also discussed concerns about children’s access to the online world through social media games such as Roblox. 

“It’s so important that we continue to talk to our friends, our kids, our families, about online safety. The internet’s not going anywhere,” Chavez said. “The internet is part of their life, so we have to teach ourselves and each other how to be safe.”

Phillips said that even though she has three sons, she emphasizes the importance of safety at a young age. 

“I talk to my boys to try to get them to understand what’s going on,” said Phillips. “But I also don’t want to scare them too much. There is no way to kind of prevent these things without context.”