Fueled by her passion for justice, Kay Buck has over 25 years of experience leading anti-trafficking initiatives in the United States and abroad. Joining the Los Angeles-based Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (Cast) in 2003, Kay leads one of the longest-running anti-trafficking organizations in the United States, serving thousands of human trafficking survivors and their families with comprehensive care to rebuild their lives.
Kay is responsible for opening the first shelter for trafficked women in the country and leading a team of compassionate, culturally diverse staff who provide comprehensive care to nearly 1,300 victims and families annually, including emergency response, housing, case management, and legal services. In 2004, Kay created Cast’s one-of-a-kind survivor leadership program, which empowers and trains survivors across the country who are ready to use their voices to inform public policy and social change, resulting in better laws to combat human trafficking, a National Survivor Network, and several publications.
Under Kay’s leadership, Cast was the first organization to receive the Presidential Award to Combat Slavery and Trafficking in 2014 for their innovate programs serving survivors, when Secretary of State John Kerry said, “No one reaches survivors of human trafficking like Cast.” Cast’s reach is global, serving survivors who are trafficked to the U.S. from over 90 countries around the world.
Kay is an innovator and collaborator. Prior to Cast, she served California’s rape crisis and sexual assault prevention centers as the Director of the Rape Prevention Resource Center at California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, where she collaborated in the development of the first national College Campus Sexual Assault program. She also started the first CA Sexual Assault Response (SART) Team in the country with the San Diego Police Department and was responsible for the publication of the first California SART Manual. Understanding the link between local and global challenges, Kay spent more than 5 years working in Asia leading up to the United Nations Conference on Women in 1995, when human trafficking became a global spotlight for countries around the world. What she learned from this extraordinary experience can be found in her tireless advocacy for trafficking survivors today.
Kay has a wealth of nonprofit management, coalition-building, and private public partnership experience. She holds a bachelor’s degree and an honorary doctorate from Mount t. Mary’s University, and she is a Senior Fellow at Marshall School of Business, Social Innovation Lab, University of Southern California. Kay is also a Stanton Fellow, researching global public health–centered models to improve systems of care and advance preventative and community centered responses for Angelenos. Kay is a founding board member of End Violence Against Women, Inc., a current board member of QueensCare Charitable Foundation, and a steering committee member for the Victims of Crime Act at the California governor’s office.
Kay was recognized by the California Women’s Foundation as a Change Maker alongside Hillary Clinton and named the #1 Los Angeles Visionary by C-Suite Quarterly in 2017. As an immigrant, Kay received the 2018 Ellis Island Award for her contributions in elevating immigrants’ contributions to the country.
As a visionary leader, Kay has a deep commitment to diverse partnerships to build innovative social change. She believes that through partnerships and leadership, this generation of human trafficking survivors will be our last.
Interviewed by Winn Claybaugh, Kay shares a powerful message about her lifelong commitment to ending slavery and trafficking. It may cause you to lose sleep but will definitely empower you to join the side of solutions.
RELATED LINKS
Website: https://www.castla.org