FREE-THEM WRITERS

Sophie Christensen

Sophie Christensen has lived in Canada for almost 30 years after having spent the early part of her life in Europe.  In her teenage years, Sophie discovered that writing was a powerful outlet for escapism and a creative way to preserve experiences, thoughts and life in general.  She thoroughly enjoys writing both fiction and non-fictions texts, for a wide range of readers, both young and wise.  Sophie has great enthusiasm for the spoken word as well and has studied numerous languages; an asset which she applies daily in her work.  She has held numerous employment positions, from being a real estate salesperson to managing data for major banks and corporations.  However, after obtaining a BA Hons in Psychology in Canada and MSc in Education in the U.S., her path has taken her into a career in education, where she feels a true sense of fulfillment.  She is also deeply passionate about music and is a part-time, professional musician.  Sophie’s concern for the prevalence of human trafficking worldwide and the injustices faced by victims of this illegal industry was first sparked approximately ten years ago as she accidently stumbled upon a few related documentaries.  Since then, it has been her goal to continue educating herself on the nuances of this global concern and she is inclined to continue spreading awareness through volunteering, research and fund-raising events.  Sophie is determined to bring greater awareness of this issue into the education system through collaboration with various professionals in order to build a stronger platform for preventing victimization among youth.

Tara MacIntosh

Tara MacIntosh has always been a lover of words, writing and communication.  Her father was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, leading to extensive international travel and living abroad for eight years during her childhood.  After returning to Canada at 16, she graduated with a BBA and HBA, consequently spending 15 years working in Advertising at Shaw Media’s Toronto office.  Tara worked with the world’s most recognizable brands creating innovative and award-winning multi-platform interactive advertising campaigns for HGTV, FOOD Network, Global Television, and prominent Canadian Productions.  In 2016, Tara founded her company, The Writing Suite, to pursue her love writing, language, and communication full-time.  Tara is a language specialist, certified in NLP, focused on editorial and blog writing. Tara founded Blog Bootcamp in 2019 to teach effective blogging techniques to the Entrepreneur community.  Tara is a Corporate Speaker frequently sharing how the power of language improves self-expression in a variety of disciplines.  As a professional writer, Tara lives to share her love of writing with the world. 

OFRA NISSANI

As a founding member, Ofra’s passion for stopping human trafficking began long ago, and stemmed from an experience in her early 20's when she was confronted with human trafficking first hand. This experience led her to watch the movie, Human Trafficking and shortly thereafter she began researching organizations and hosting fundraisers.

Ofra is now Free-Them’s Academic Officer, where she works on projects of education through the school system and is always exploring new education concepts to prevent and stop human trafficking.

KRICIA ROMERO

Kricia Romero can often times be found ghosting others, ghost writing that is.  She believes every person has a story to tell and she wants to help you write it and share it with the world.  She is an incredible listener who truly wants to hear what you have to say and will not only tell your story, but will write your story in your voice, not hers.  After all, it’s your story, and the world should hear what you have to say.  She too has a story and is currently writing it in her voice and will one day share it with the world.  In the meantime, when she’s able to put her phantom pen down, she picks up her sword and is a strong advocate for those who are or who have been victims of human sex trafficking.  Having worked in both civil and criminal law for 10 years, and an additional 13 years as an Administrative Assistant in the Crimes Against Persons Unit for her local police department, Kricia knew what her next mission was after she came face to face with two young women who were being sex trafficked right in her own community.  While it wasn’t certain they were being trafficked, she sensed their fear not only in her gut, but deep down to her core as well.  She knew those two young women needed help and after trying to communicate with them with their trafficker just feet away, watching their every move, they wouldn’t speak to her and even though she reported the incident to fellow officers and detectives, a preliminary investigation led to nowhere. Ever since that daunting moment, Kricia has vowed to make every effort possible to further educate herself and others to know the signs of human trafficking and how best to communicate with and save those who are being trafficked.   She is both honored and proud to be writing for the Free-Them Blog and hopes that her voice is being heard.  She will do everything she can to help expose the exploiters and end human trafficking and she hopes you will too.

Robin Zee

Robin Zee endured a tough beginning in life that included becoming a street walker, an active addict, and a survivor of ongoing early sexual abuse, human trafficking and violence. She turned it all around and not only worked for many years in social services, is a Certified Addiction and Mental Health Counsellor as well as a certified Life Skills Coach but has found her voice through her art. Robin reflected on her life and realized that she has always been a storyteller with quite a story to tell which lead to workshops including her first one with Tracey Erin Smith of SoulOTheatre. These workshops led to Robin deciding to put pen to paper and writing her first one-woman play, BorderLine Me. Her talents through this work were recognized when Robin Zee was awarded the Hamilton Arts Award (Emerging Artist) for Performer of the Year in 2015. Robin spent 2016 creating her second one-woman play, No Dick Pics Please, which debuted at the Hamilton Fringe Festival in July 2017. Since then Robin has been very busy with acting in a couple of plays and has begun to hit the stages with stand up comedy to add to her repertoire. Another important part of 2017 and 2018 has been her contribution as a speaker, story teller, consultant, community builder in the area of human trafficking due to her first hand knowledge and expertise. Robin Zee is a single Mother, an artist in a multitude of media and a volunteer whose passion lies in making a difference in her community.