Meet the MMA Fighter Who's a Victim of Human Trafficking | Ep. 631

Amanda Catarzi survived a cult-dominated childhood and abuse at the hands of traffickers. In the years since, she has helped law enforcement bust trafficking rings, written federal anti-trafficking legislation, and worked to save countless victims.

Full show notes can be found here: https://jordanharbinger.com/631

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What We Discuss with Amanda:

00:00 - Intro
00:28 - The cult taught Amanda how to be a submissive woman
05:20 - Amanda was a “circus Italian”
07:27 - How Amanda went from a circus to cult
09:04 - The cult made Amanda pick abusive relationships
11:27 - Amanda’s p*dophile neighbor
15:38 - The FIRST time Amanda got trafficked
26:45 - Amanda was sold to get beaten up because as an MMA fighter she could “take it”
28:29 - Since she was a fighter nobody questioned her black eyes
29:37 - Disassociation and how the brain saves you from itself
37:42 - Amanda is surprised she’s alive
39:04 - How Amanda escaped: a car crash saved her life
43:49 - Trafficking victims usually die within 7 years
46:28 - Defining what trafficking exactly is (misconceptions)
50:24 - Trafficked women in the p*rn you watch
53:08 - Most child trafficking victims are actually boys
55:27 - Why Amanda had a meltdown grocery shopping for the first time
58:07 - How much of trafficking is actually like Liam Neeson’s “Taken”?
59:44 - The thriving trafficking industry in Thailand
1:01:41 - Undercover operations to bust trafficking rings
1:08:25 - How to spot signs of a trafficking victim

As someone who grew up in a cult that encouraged the middle-aged men in its congregation to take teen brides who were raised to obey their every command, it’s hardly surprising that Amanda Catarzi became easy prey for traffickers when she tried to escape from home without a support system. What is surprising is that Amanda has leveraged what her experiences have taught her to help fellow victims escape abusive relationships and situations before they disappear within the seven years or so most people trapped in such circumstances have to live.

On this episode, Amanda shares how her family became entrenched in a cult that has since received national attention for recent abuse scandals, how her upbringing programmed her to regard abusive relationships as normal, why moving across the country from this situation wasn’t enough to keep her away from expert manipulation by traffickers, and how she was able to make a clean break and begin her life anew to help others overcome similar ordeals.

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Welcome to The Jordan Harbinger Show, a video podcast where each week you get to join a conversation with some of the world’s highest performers and incredible personalities. I’ll ask them the tough questions to tease out their top tips so that you can reach levels of personal growth and mastery that you never imagined possible.

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