Polished Pearl in Fort Thomas fights sex trafficking

• Polished Pearl gives women in India and Moldova jobs to keep them from being sexually-trafficked.

FORT THOMAS – Nicole Robyn and Teresa Eklund are using free enterprise to help women in India and Moldova at risk of becoming victims of sex trafficking.

They are waging their fight through the sale of lace, jewelry, purses and other accessories through Polished Pearl, a web-based business with goods made by women who live in the targeted countries.

Robyn, of Fort Thomas, and Eklund, of Montgomery, Ohio, will open a new showroom for the business May 26 inside a three-story brick at 118 North Fort Thomas Ave. in Fort Thomas' burgeoning arts district. Atop shelves inside the antique tin ceiling and hardwood-floored showroom, are handmade lace jewelry and examples of embroidery from women working in Moldova. Women working in India create purses and other accessories, said Eklund.

Polished Pearl is one of many businesses and organizations based around Cincinnati fighting human trafficking and sex trafficking, said Brook Hathaway, director of human trafficking at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Northern Kentucky-based Freeset USA employs women India to keep them from slipping back into being sex-trafficked. It's Only Fair, a free-trade store in Covington's MainStrasse Village, sells Freeset and Polished Pearl goods, Hathaway said. Foundations and nonprofits including the Restavek Foundation in Cincinnati also make Cincinnati a place full of people and groups fighting human trafficking, she said.

"There is a great group of people who are leaders on the issue, I would consider Polished Pearl some of those people," Hathaway said.

Robyn said she previously had a Polished Pearl store in London, England, which has since been closed. Robyn said she moved to her hometown of Fort Thomas and opened the store to be close to Downtown Cincinnati. Ecklund joined Polished Pearl in 2010 after working as a custom bridal designer.

Working with an after-care program in India provided through Crossroads Church in Cincinnati, Polished Pearl employs women who were victims of human sex trafficking, Robyn said.

Working with women in Moldova in Eastern Europe is about giving women jobs to keep them from being victims of sex trafficking, she said.

Unemployment in Moldova leads women to unknowingly become victims of human trafficking for sex, Robyn said.

"Most are trafficked with promise of a job elsewhere in Europe," she said.

Brides, by shopping at Polished Pearl, can order customized embroidery, purses, jewelry and head-pieces with crowns. Work done in Moldova is often the fine lace work and embroidery, and bracelets and purse decoration are often done in India, she said.

"We do high-end luxury accessories," Eklund said. "We're not a fast fashion company, we're selling something that is meaningful."

It's a chance to do something special for a bride, she said.

"You can get an accessory you can pass down to your daughter," Eklund said said.

Robyn said Polished Pearl has participated in Freedom Center events focused on fighting human trafficking. They are members of Northern Kentucky's Partners Against Human Trafficking (PATH) and End Slavery Cincinnati. PATH is now changing it's name to Pathways to Freedom.

"We come in on the reintegration side of trafficking," Robyn said. "It's just helping to see survivors be sustained long-term and not be re-trafficked,"

Reegan Hill, owner of It's Only Fair at 610 Main St., Covington, said her daughter got her selling jewelry out of their home made by survivors of sex-trafficking.

"When we first started we had no dream of opening a store," Hill said. "We just wanted to help some girls in Bangkok, Thailand who were victims of sex-trafficking and now were making a living making jewelry."

It's Only Fair works with similar groups of women in Cambodia, and sells goods from countries around the world, including the U.S., to fight forced-labor, human trafficking and sex-trafficking, she said.

"Just like Polished Pearl, we realized by creating jobs for women, they have a choice, and then they have a way of earning a living with dignity instead of in the sex trafficking industry," Hill said.

Hill is co-director of the nonprofit PATH.

"We work in partnership with End Slavery Cincinnati, and historically we've been involved in victim services, community education, educating people including emergency room staff, fire department, and police officers," she said.

Education is needed because human trafficking, especially forced labor, happens in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, Hill said.

"Several victims have been identified because of previous PATH training," she said.

Hill said a young man brought in for medical services by his trafficker led a health care worker to tip off the FBI in Northern Kentucky. The case remains under investigation, but the man was separated from his alleged trafficker by the FBI, she said.

"Human trafficking, it's something far bigger than the Freedom Center or Polished Pearl or us, and together we're having an impact," Hill said.

Finding Polished Pearl

Polished Pearl, at 118 N. Fort Thomas Ave., Fort Thomas will be open Tuesday and Thursday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., and Wednesday from 10-6 p.m. By appointment hours will also be available. For information call 513-278-7042.