RAINN:
1-800-656-HOPE
"One year ago, I locked my door and went to sleep; like we all do on any given night. Unfortunately, this night was like no other before and was one I will never be able to forget. I woke up that night to a co-worker who had undressed himself, crawled into my bed and raped me. "
Kathleen, rape survivor
Rape is a crime, talking about it isn't.
SPEAK.
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After
Silence
is a message board, web-based support group, and chat room for rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse survivors founded in 2003 by Vera S.
and Lindy O. Since its founding, After Silence has blossomed into a compassionate, supportive, and fast growing community for survivors on the internet. Over the past 2 years,
Kelly, Nicole, Jessie,
and Ashley-Michelle have joined the After Silence
team, and volunteered their time to make a difference in the lives
of rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse survivors.
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Vera,
Co-Founder
Vera moved
to New York in search of a new beginning after having been raped at knifepoint in her home country. She has a degree in Human service, and is currently studying toward a second degree in Social Work.
Vera is commitment to provide ongoing social support, advice, and guidance to these living through trauma and life crisis. She has volunteered for numerous organizations, including New York Cares, has worked for a Manhattan-based social agency whose mission is to prevent and reduce the number of children entering the foster care system unnecessarily, and is about to train to become a certified sexual assault advocate.
Vera has lived and worked in England, Ireland, and Italy. On
her spare time she enjoys spending time with her close friends, reading, attending art events in New York, and has a passion for movies based on true stories.
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Lindy,
Co-Founder
Lindy is in her very early 30's, and currently resides in the City of Brotherly Love, (Philadelphia). She created and maintains a website called, Survivors Healing Quest, which was inspired by Tori Amos, (also a rape survivor). Lindy was awarded a full scholarship, and was accepted into a nursing program, where she's currently attending full time, while also maintaining full time employment in the real estate profession.
Her interests include photography, music, fashion, shopping, and travel. Her recent travels include London, England, and Reykjavik, Iceland. Lindy is gentle, kind, intelligent, professional, and compassionate. While she balances many demands in her personal life, she still finds the time to be an effective administrator at After Silence, and a loyal friend. She's overcome many struggles in her life, and from them, she's grown into a strong woman with a bright future and a positive attitude about life.
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Kelly,
Team Member
Kelly, 40, is a survivor of incest and rape. She grew up in the Midwest and now lives in Massachusetts with her three daughters. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, reading, doing crafts, and writing. She enjoys her job as a teacher and works with children with special needs. She recently completed her master�s degree in education.
While in college, Kelly decided she wanted to reach out to others survivors and their supporters. She has spoken to high school students about the effects of sexual abuse. She was interviewed by the teacher to whom she disclosed the abuse and was videotaped sharing her experiences. This video is used to educate students in the child development program. Kelly has also spoken to a group of volunteers at a rape crisis training and would like to do more of this in the future. More recently, she has participated in RAD (Rape Aggression Defense) classes and has found great personal empowerment through this.
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Nicole,
Team Member
Nicole, 25, lives on the beautiful island
of St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. A survivor of
child molestation, domestic violence, stalking and two
rapes, Nicole began speaking out and working with other
survivors in 2004. Nicole has gone on to create her own
website,Finding My Voice, a resource for
survivors and an educational tool for everyone. A jeweler
and gemologist by trade, she has found ways to incorporate
her passion for jewelry designs in ways to benefit survivors
of sexual and domestic violence, including working with
Kellie Greene on jewelry lines for SOAR and Operation
Freefall, and a specialized survivor inspired jewelry
line for RAINN. Both designs are available from the respective
websites. In 2005, Nicole joined survivors across the
nation, participating in Operation Freefall for the very
first time, where she was able to meet Kellie Greene and
plans to attend and jump each year.
Nicole is also a dancer with a concentration on classical
ballet, but a love of modern and lyrical dance. She teaches
and choreographs and also dances and performs herself,
reclaiming the use of her body she felt she had lost after
her rapes and emphasizing healing through body movement.
Nicole’s future goals include developing a more
proactive presence for supporting sexual assault survivors
in the Virgin Islands and to continue to speak out, raise
awareness and educate others on the truth about rape.
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Jessie,
Team Member
Jessie is twenty eight years old and lives in Dublin, Ireland. She is currently studying to be a fully qualified Financial Advisor, an area which she works in at the moment.
She hopes to create her own website in the future to help survivors of rape and sexual abuse and has enrolled at the local college to study web Design to help her with this.
Jessie is trustworthy, friendly and can be quite shy until she gets to know you. She enjoys spending time with her friends, watching tv and reading. She spends lots of her spare time online, and is especially dedicated to spending time at After Silence.
In the summer of 2002, Jessie was raped. It wasn�t until some years later she began to speak out and get help. Once she finishes therapy she is hoping to volunteer at her local rape crisis centre and help other survivors heal from the trauma of rape.
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Ashley-Michelle,
Team Member
Ashley-Michelle is in her early 20's, and is the survivor of two acquaintance rapes, the first at age 18. She spent much of the initial recovery period in despair, unsure of how to move on until she discovered activism. Since 2003, she has been involved in a number of anti-rape projects, including serving as a keynote speaker for Emporia State University's Take Back the Night in 2007 and a featured subject in "Swimming Upstream," a documentary on the revictimization of survivors of sexual assault during medical examinations.
Currently residing in the midwest, she splits her time between Kansas and California, where her fiance, B, runs a successful law practice. When she isn't visiting him, in addition to her anti-rape activism, Ashley-Michelle spends her time working, spoiling her two dogs and going to school on a debate scholarship, for which she is nationally ranked and recognized. A member of the National Dean's List, her hope is to earn her doctorate of psychology and eventually open a rehabilitation center that focuses exclusively on treating the trauma of sexual violence.
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