She’s a survivor, entrepreneur, mentor, local baker and most recently the recipient of Charlotte’s Neighborhood Leadership Award for Child Advocacy.
Seven awards were presented to outstanding neighborhood leaders and associations in Charlotte who work tirelessly to improve and enhance their local communities. All of the award winners and nominees were recognized for showing exemplary leadership and making an outstanding impact on Charlotte and its neighborhoods.
Childs came to win this award after using her life story as human trafficking survivor to try to help at-risk youth in and around the Charlotte area.
She founded the Market Your Mind Foundation. The non-profit’s mission is to encourage and support survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic sex trafficking by providing resources and services to help them overcome their past, realize their dreams and find other means of earning an income.
Childs also wants to do what she can to prevent other girls from falling into that lifestyle by teaching them to “market their minds, not their bodies.”
She wants to inspire them to dream big.
“I got away from my dream,” she said. “But I was able to revisit that dream and start baking and finding my passion again… I feel that my story represents resilience in that I was able to get out of that and go back and help other girls.”
Antonia Childs is currently the owner of “Neets Sweets, Inc.”
