Deciding What Matters Most With Alezandra Russell
Alezandra Russell
“An activist is someone creating a space where people are invited to come and learn.”
When you’re living in alignment with your purpose, everything falls into place. That was Alezandra Russell’s experience, after she visited Thailand and decided to do everything in her power to help restore, rebuild, and empower the lives of boys affected by human trafficking. That turning point led to her non-profit, Urban Light, and resulted in her being awarded the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice. In this episode, we talk about what it means to have an impact—even if you start small.
Alezandra’s official bio:
Alezandra Russell is an entrepreneur, author, activist and founder of Urban Light, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring, rebuilding and empowering the lives of young men affected by the human trafficking industry in Thailand. Since opening its doors in 2009, the organization has provided services to over 7,000 vulnerable young men and boys through an array of health, education, creative and recreational activities at its Urban Light Youth Center in Chiang Mai. Urban Light remains one of the few organizations working specifically on behalf of boys and young men who are so often overlooked, forgotten, and ignored in the global discussion of trafficking and exploitation. Russell, who was forced to flee Thailand in June 2018 as a result of her work, continues to advocate across the globe for restoring the young lives of boys served by Urban Light.