Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Debbie Millman: I'm Debbie Millman, and I'm a designer and educator, a brand consultant, a podcast host, and a survivor of sexual assault. I'm also a long time board member of the Joyful Heart Foundation, which has been working since 2004 to fulfill the vision of our founder, Mariska Hargitay, to transform society's response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse by working to build a world that prioritizes survivors' healing. Survivors are at the center of our work at the Joyful Heart Foundation, and at the center of Survivor Stories, a podcast we launched in 2025 to highlight the inspiring people fighting to end abuse and support survivors like themselves. I hope you'll join me for our new season, where I introduce you to people like Susanna Gibson, whose campaign for the Virginia House of Delegates in 2023 was undermined when her political opponents distributed sexual videos of her without her consent. The experience was devastating, but it didn't stop her from fighting back and standing up for survivors of image-based abuse.
[00:01:20] Susanna Gibson: I knew how horrific having your images viewed, shared, distributed without your consent was. And so I started looking at why is it not a federal crime?
[00:01:33] Debbie Millman: Susanna went on to found a nonprofit dedicated to preventing image-based abuse and strengthening responses to technology-facilitated sexual violence. I'll also sit down with Ashley Spence, a survivor of sexual assault who created the DNA Justice Project, which has been fighting to fill huge holes in the national DNA database.
[00:01:58] Ashley Spence: There's so many people that are waiting for justice, and we don't want them to lose hope. But when we continue to not pass these collection DNA laws, or when we miss the DNA collections or even convictions, victims will continue to have justice withheld.
[00:02:12] Debbie Millman: And I'll introduce you to an amazing mother-daughter team. Elliston Berry, a teenage survivor, and her mother, Anna McAdams, who'll talk about the devastating impact of having fake nude images of Elliston distributed by anonymous accounts on Snapchat and how they became outspoken advocates for federal legislation to protect victims.
[00:02:37] Anna McAdams: Well, immediately I knew something was wrong because she was so upset. And, you know, as a parent, you never want to see your kid breaking down and crying like that. Never in a million years did I ever imagine that this would be what she's dealing with at that moment. And she shows me these pictures and I'm just horrified.
[00:02:52] Elliston Berry: I was hoping it would ultimately go away, but unfortunately, that's not how it goes. But my mom used this terrible situation and she changed that anger into fuel. So I went up in D.C., where I shared my story. It was super healing to have someone listen to us, especially when we got nowhere with our school.
[00:03:14] Debbie Millman: Our guests share a fortitude and resiliency that helped them deal with their own traumas, and then go on to help others. I hope you'll subscribe to Survivor Stories, a podcast of the Joyful Heart Foundation, and join us in the coming weeks to hear these stories of resiliency, courage, healing, and hope.
