Announcing the New Executive Staff Team at SWOP-USA

SWOP-USA was founded in 2003 with the hope of one day being able to provide services to sex workers under a decriminalized model. While the fight for full decriminalization of sex work is still an ongoing battle in the US there are many more struggles for the sex workers rights movement to confront. Criminalization of sex work is an intersectional issue, and many members of our community continue to be criminalized regardless of their sex working history or lived experiences. The fight to defund and abolish policing, capitalism, and white supremacist patriarchy must be central to our movements and that extends to the leadership of our organizations.

SWOP-USA is thrilled to announce our new staff structure of three co-directors, working collaboratively and horizontally to fight for the rights and safety of sex workers most impacted by criminalization. SWOP-USA hired our first full time staff member Christa Daring as Executive Director in 2018, additional part time staff members Sangam ‘Alopeke and Casey McKeel were working at the helm, with Alexandria LaRue joining early 2020 as an Associate Director. SWOP-USA will move forward with three full time staff to better serve, represent, and develop our communities and members.

Founding the new Executive Staff Team will be Alexandria LaRue as Chapter Director, Phoenix Calida as Communications Director, and Velvet as Managing Director. Together with a shared vision of prison abolition, restorative justice, and racial and gender equity this team will lead and listen to the needs of the sex workers rights movement.

Sharing their welcoming words and visions:

“I love and crave being in space with other sex workers and organizers — it’s where I feel most at ease…This work gives me purpose.” —Velvet

“Restorative Justice starts with changing the folks who are supposed to represent the people we serve.” —Alexandria LaRue

“I want SWOP to be an inspiration to others who want to get involved with activism, and I want SWOP to be an example of what it looks like when an organization takes its mission statement seriously. We are putting our beliefs into practice” —Phoenix Calida

Full profiles for the new Executive Staff Team can be found at: https://swopusa.org/blog/