The Cherished Lounge

What if one of the most important ways to fight sex trafficking is to confront the demand that fuels it?

This week on The Cherished Lounge, Kate Ouimette-Wedell sits down with Helen Taylor, Vice-President of Impact at Exodus Cry, an organization working to combat sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Helen shares the work being done to shift the conversation toward demand, accountability, prevention, and stronger protections for p...

This week on The Cherished Lounge, Kate Ouimette-Wedell sits down with Keyana Wheatley, author, entrepreneur, lived experience expert, and survivor advocate.

Keyana shares her journey from surviving domestic minor sex trafficking and the commercial sex industry to rebuilding her life through faith, entrepreneurship, advocacy, and community.

She opens up about the barriers survivors can face when trying to find traditional employment ...

This week on The Cherished Lounge, we're flipping the script.

Bronwen Healy returns, this time taking over the host's chair to interview Kate Ouimette-Wedell.

Kate shares how she came to Los Angeles at 18 dreaming of a career in music, only to experience betrayal and exploitation that led to an eleven-year journey through the commercial sex industry.

Kate and Bronwen talk openly about trauma, addiction, identity, recovery, and why &ld...

Human trafficking isn't just something that happens somewhere else. It can exist in our own communities, often hidden behind trauma, shame, isolation, and circumstances most people never see.

This week on The Cherished Lounge, Kate Ouimette-Wedell sits down with Dan Broyles, pastor, therapist, and current leader of the Santa Clarita Valley Human Trafficking Task Force.

Dan shares how his work as both a pastor and therapist shaped his...

This week on The Cherished Lounge, Kate Ouimette-Wedell sits down with Armand King, nationally recognized speaker, author of Raised in Pimp City, and founder of Walk With Me Impact.

Armand shares his journey growing up in San Diego and entering the pimping lifestyle as a teenager while searching for identity, belonging, and direction. He talks openly about the broken homes, violence, gangs, drugs, lack of mentorship, and cultural in...

This week on The Cherished Lounge, Kate Ouimette-Wedell sits down with Mariah Rief, Founder of Undox Content Removal, Director of Client Experience & Trust at Protect Privacy AI, and a survivor-informed policy consultant.

At 19, what Mariah believed was a modeling opportunity became sexual exploitation. She shares the manipulation that led her there, the trauma of discovering the content online, the doxing and public shaming tha...

This week on The Cherished Lounge, Kate Ouimette Wedell sits down with her dear friend Bronwen Healy, an overcomer and survivor, author, speaker, counsellor, charity and social enterprise founder, mom, pioneer, and self-described life-delighter.

Bronwen’s story is one of survival, recovery, faith, heartbreak, rebuilding, and hope.

After becoming addicted to heroin and spending years in the sex industry, Bronwen entered rehab at...

What actually happens to the brain after trauma, and is it possible to truly heal?

This week on The Cherished Lounge, Kate Ouimette-Wedell sits down with Katie Green, a licensed clinical social worker, certified advanced alcohol and drug counselor, clinically certified human trafficking victim services provider, and survivor of human trafficking.

Kate and Katie explore what trauma actually does to the brain and body, including PTSD, ...

For 17 years, Marjorie Saylor lived through different forms of exploitation, abuse, trafficking, addiction, and trauma. Today, she uses her lived experience to fight for survivors and help change the systems that once failed her.

In this powerful episode of The Cherished Lounge, Kate Ouimette-Wedell sits down with nationally respected survivor leader Marjorie Saylor for a deeply personal conversation about survival, faith, freedom, ...

What does it mean to truly belong?

In this powerful episode of The Cherished Lounge, Kate Ouimette-Wedell sits down with author, speaker, neurodivergent poet, salsa instructor, and somatic strategist Michael Thornhill to explore identity, race, belonging, trauma, and the courage to tell the truth.

Michael shares the deeply personal journey behind his groundbreaking book, The First, The Few, and the Only, and explains why he wrote it ...

What happens when one survivor refuses to stay silent?

In the premiere episode of The Cherished Lounge, Kate Ouimette-Wedell welcomes Kelly Dore, survivor, advocate, policy leader, and one of the few survivors elected to public office in the United States.

Kelly has served under the last four U.S. presidential administrations as a Commissioner, helping shape victim-centered policy, educate government leaders, and advocate for survivo...

Welcome to The Cherished Lounge, where soul, story, and wild grace meet.

Hosted by survivor leader, author of EXPOSED, teacher, and Cherished founder Kate Ouimette-Wedell, The Cherished Lounge invites you into meaningful conversations about faith, purpose, resilience, leadership, and the stories that shape who we become.

Each week, Kate sits down with survivors, advocates, attorneys, policymakers, ministry leaders, and changemakers, ...