Meet Marie!

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 Trigger warning: Content discusses childhood abuse and exploitation.

Survivor | Leader | Advocate | Author

Marie Striebel is a survivor of child sex trafficking, a dedicated advocate, and the Founder of The Empowered Child Alliance Inc. (TECA), an organization committed to child exploitation prevention. TECA’s mission operates full-circle: ending child sex trafficking by empowering children with the knowledge, understanding, and language needed to protect themselves and report abuse, while simultaneously confronting its root cause—the cycle of unhealed trauma that fuels demand.

Marie was trafficked from the age of 13 to 16 by a trusted family friend. During this time, she was sold, controlled, and repeatedly exploited—her identity stripped away before she ever had the chance to form one. She was held alongside approximately 30 other children, both boys and girls, most of whom were under the age of 10.

Marie didn’t just witness the system—she lived inside it. She knows exactly what happens behind closed doors, understands how easily a vulnerable child can fall through the cracks, and recognizes a critical truth: trafficking doesn’t start with the traffickers—it begins much earlier.

In many ways, Marie feels like one of the lucky ones. Having entered the anti-trafficking movement and connected with other survivor leaders in the field, she noticed a distinct difference in their experiences: most survivors she speaks with dealt with trafficking in adulthood, which often leaves their memories vividly intact.

Because Marie was trafficked so long ago as a child, much of the horrific trauma was buried deep inside. By God’s grace, she only recalls the details that are absolutely necessary for her healing and her writing. Through EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy, she has learned that she doesn’t have to unearth or remember every horrific specific to release the trauma from where it is stored in her body.

Marie eventually escaped at 16, but the impact of the trauma did not end there. Like many survivors, she spent decades navigating the aftermath—living without boundaries, disconnected from her own worth, and repeating patterns rooted in complex trauma she didn't yet understand.

She survived by operating in a state of High-Functioning C-PTSD. To the outside world, Marie’s life looked perfect. She built a highly successful career, rising into executive leadership within the automotive industry and breaking barriers in one of the most male-dominated fields throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. She went on to open a thriving real estate appraisal business in Minnesota, expanding into Wisconsin, before finally settling in her home of Naples, Florida.

But internally, Marie was fighting battles no one could see. High-Functioning C-PTSD adds a heavy, invisible burden onto its victims; because she looked like she was thriving, no one asked Marie if she needed help. No one asked if she was okay.

Everything changed when Marie chose to face her past head-on. Through deep personal work, she began to understand the full scope of what had happened to her—not just the abuse itself, but the systemic cycle behind it. That profound understanding became her life’s purpose.

Today, through TECA, Marie is focused on disrupting that cycle at its source. Her work challenges the conventional narrative by addressing an uncomfortable truth: the demand for child exploitation is often rooted in untreated, generational trauma. She passionately advocates for prevention through education, early intervention, and deep healing—before harm can ever be passed on to another child.

Marie doesn’t speak from theory. She speaks from an experience most people will never understand, and many don’t want to face. She shares this vital perspective as the author of her forthcoming book, Silent Screams.

She refuses to stay silent—because silence is where this cycle survives.