Vednita Carter is the Founder of Breaking Free, a non-profit organization based in St. Paul Minnesota in 1996, whose mission is to end all forms of prostitution and sex-trafficking. Ms. Carter is also an author, sought-after speaker, trainer and award-winning pioneer in the abolitionist movement. She has extensive experience in developing, planning, and implementing programs for sex trafficked women and girls and training law enforcement/FBI. She was awarded the prestigious Norma Hotaling Award for her life-long service to victims of sex trafficking.
She has traveled to many countries within Europe, South East Asia and South America to educate service providers and community members on Breaking Free’s pioneering work and to offer assistance in helping them to create similar programs. In 2014, Vednita was awarded the Path Breaker Award from Shared Hope International for her tireless efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex. She was named a CNN Hero for her work in ending sexual exploitation of women and girls in the United States, and attended President Obama’s State of Union address as the guest of Representative Erik Paulsen.
In 2015 Vednita Carter graduated from the CICA International University and Seminary and received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity, Ambassador-at-Large and Chaplaincy. This school is the first and only full gospel organization with special status with the United Nations. In 2016 Ms. Carter received ‘The Life Time Achievement Award’ from President Obama for the outstanding work she has done over the last twenty-five years to end the sex trafficking of women and girls. Ms. Carter states that she has been called by God to bring education and knowledge about the harms of prostitution and sex-trafficking, in Minnesota, the Nation and Around the World – and to ultimately “set the captives free”.
