Debbie Lassiter

In 2012 Dr. Lassiter launched the Human and Sex Trafficking Support Initiative and began hosting community awareness events. In 2013 she led the collaboration to present The Epidemic and The Game – an annual community awareness event focusing on human trafficking highlighting a specific topic.

She is a sought-after panelist, presenter, and trainer raising awareness of human trafficking and launched the HEMAD (Human trafficking Educators working with Men and boys Against the Demand) project to address the demand side of the commercial sex trade reaching over 45,000 men that now take a stand against human trafficking.

In 2014 Dr. Lassiter was honored by the Department Of Justice with the National Crime Victims Award for her work with Human Trafficking Survivors and again in 2016 by the Department of Corrections. A few months later, Dr. Lassiter was named one of the 50 heroes of Fortune 500. In 2016 she received the Citizens Distinguished Service Award from the Sheboygan Police Department.

She is the host of TRIUMPH Rising – a weekly radio show that shares information on human trafficking and provides encouragement.

Dr. Lassiter has a Doctorate in Divinity from St Thomas Christian College (Jacksonville, Fla) and she is a licensed Associate Minister at the New Testament Church of Milwaukee where she leads the Judah Praise Team. Dr. Lassiter is a Certified FASD Educator, an Ending The Game Facilitator, and one of only three Ending The Game Trainers in the world.

Dr. Lassiter is a Certified Heartmath Coach and the only Heartmath Trainer in Milwaukee. Dr. Lassiter is a VIP Researcher for Ending The Game (the first intervention-based curriculum for women exiting the commercial sex trade). Dr. Lassiter served on the State Criminal Justice Coordinating Council Evidence-Based Decision Making Sub-Committee and the Peer-to-Peer Advisory Board for Mental Health and Substance Abuse for the State of Wisconsin. She coordinated the Survivor Identify and Provide research project funded by The Women’s Fund of Greater Milwaukee with the end goal of improving the quality of service given to survivors.

She was awarded the Dr. Joan Gillece Award for Trauma-Informed Care from the Healing Neen Conference and the Humanitarian Heart Award from the Heartmath Institute (Cancun, Mexico) in 2017. Dr. Lassiter was awarded the It Takes A Village Ex-Offender Community Celebration Award for serving members of the re-entry community from the Destined to Succeed Institute and the Thomas G. Cannon Equal Justice Medal from the Legal Aid Society for her work with human trafficking in 2018.

Dr. Lassiter and Convergence continue to receive awards, acknowledgments, and coverage in all forms of media. The Convergence team works with Rahab’s Daughters providing phone support and on-the-ground rescues during the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl annually.

Dr. Lassiter delivers the hard truths with humor and humanitarianism making her unique and highly effective.