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Winner Story

Christine DeMaria
Christine DeMaria
Christine, a survivor and law student, launched SWITCH to provide education, career development, and legal aid for sex workers.

Christine is a survivor of childhood human trafficking, a former stripper, and a third-year law student at New York Law School. In her short life, she has opened and led mixed martial arts schools, toured the US as a comedian, published a book, and headlined strip clubs as the featured dancer. She became a law student to learn about the legal systems that impact sex workers.

Christine is launching a non-profit organization called SWITCH (Sex Workers In Transition Compassion Home) to provide education, career development, and legal representation for sex workers. Informed by her own experience in the industry, Christine intimately understands the challenges sex workers face, including ones related to legal representation, education, physical and mental health, and financial literacy.

At SWITCH, Christine plans to provide holistic and respectful support for sex workers to exit the profession if they want to. In an industry that puts a price on people, Christine envisions a New York where people can instead be priceless. Long term, her goal is to provide quality legal representation for sex workers; lobby to change and strengthen laws that impact sex workers, including immigration, criminal, financial, tax, and employment law; and seed a union for sex workers to collectively advocate for their rights.

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