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Girls Like Us

Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself

Rachel Lloyd

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Girls Like Us
 

Marketing Campaign

•National Media, Print, and Radio Campaigns
•Online Publicity Campaign Targeting Major National Sites and Women’s Interest Sites, Book Blogs, and Non-Profit Networks
•Cross-promotion with the Author’s Platform and through GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services)
•Academic Outreach
•Social Networking Campaigns on Facebook and Twitter
•Features and Enhanced Author Page on HarperCollins.com
•Author’s Organizational Website: www.Gems-Girls.org

Rachel Lloyd

Rachel Lloyd is the Founder and Executive Director of GEMS—the Girls Educational and Mentoring Services in Harlem. She earned her B.A. in psychology from Marymount Manhattan College, and an M.A. in Applied Urban Anthropology from the City College of New York, and has received numerous awards for her service and contributions, including the Community Works’ Long Walk to Freedom Award, the Manhattan Institute Social Entrepreneurship Award, and the prestigious Reebok Human Rights Award. Lloyd is an Ashoka Fellow and a Prime Mover Fellow, and was a leading advocate for the Safe Harbor for Exploited Youth Act which passed in 2008, making New York the first state in the nation to protect not prosecute sexually exploited children. She lives in New York City.
 



Photo Credit: Tracy Toler Photography


 

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“Extraordinarily inspiring . . . [Girls Like Us] illuminates the complexities of the sex industry. . . . I hope that Lloyd’s important and compelling book will be a reminder that homegrown American girls are also trafficked, and they deserve sympathy and social services—not handcuffs and juvenile detention.”


—Nicholas Kristof, New York Times
"Powerful, superbly reasoned, and articulate. . . . Girls Like Us tells the whole story with visceral power. . . . It is a page-turner, an eye-opener, a call to action, and a moving and inspiring story. It is told throughout with wit and candor. Lucky for us there are girls and women like Rachel Lloyd."


—Jane Wells, Huffington Post
"Riveting. . . . [Lloyd's] passionate, persuasive arguments for recognition and protection give a voice to the thousands of girls all around us who work and suffer in near invisibility."


—Corrie Pikul, Elle
"Fascinating and moving."


—Marie Claire
"A brutally honest and disturbing look at sex trafficking, challenging society's indifference and offering portraits of the occasional victory of girls who, like [Lloyd], heal and recover from their abuse."


—Booklist (starred review)
"Heartbreaking. . . . But the book is also at times funny, bawdy, and optimistic, as is Lloyd herself."


—Jennie Yabroff, Daily Beast
"Rachel Lloyd's astonishing stories of life on the street have an accumulative power that left me reeling. What makes Girls Like Us such an extraordinary achievement is that her storytelling is unflinchingly honest, and yet filled with a sense of promise, filled with a profound sense of hope."


—Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here and The Other Side of the River
"This book will burn a hole in your heart. The beauty of Rachel Lloyd's searing memoir is how she exorcises the pain of her own troubled girlhood by connecting with hundreds of young women on a brutal path. The truth and power of her writing takes us to a place where common humanity becomes the ultimate healer."


—Mira Nair, director of "Salaam Bombay!", "Mississippi Masala", and "The Namesake"
"Powerful . . . [Lloyd] details her life, seamlessly interweaving her current work and a more socio-political analysis of the domestic trafficking of girls and women. . . . But what really "makes" the book is what a truly gifted writer she is. The memoir moves quickly, propelled by skillfully drawn scenes and important insights about risk and recovery."


—Courtney Martin, Feministing.com
"Powerfully raw, deeply moving, and utterly authentic. . . . Exposing the complexities of 'the life,' Lloyd takes you inside a world most prefer to pretend doesn't exist, and puts you front and center with the realities of the commercial sex industry and the modern day slave trade right here in America."


—Demi Moore, actress and activist
"With this moving new memoir, Rachel Lloyd takes her rightful place next to groundbreaking authors and activists like Dorothy Allison, Sapphire, and Jeannette Walls. . . . I turned the last page feeling like I'd just earned a Ph.D. in injustice, but also a profound and rare sense of hope."


—Courtney E. Martin, author of Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists, and editor, Feministing.com
"With empathy and intellect, Rachel Lloyd brings to light the heart-breaking stories of these lost, forgotten and abused girls. Her own life story is a source of inspiration and hope. She is an important new voice of conscience to which America needs to pay attention."


—Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO, Harlem Children's Zone
"While attention is finally being paid to victims of international trafficking, their sexually exploited American counterparts as young as eleven are criminalized for their heinous victimization. Rachel Lloyd's memoir should be mandatory reading for every cop, prosecutor, judge, and 'john', but also every mainstream American who thinks racism, classism and misogyny don't exist."


—Sarah Jones, Tony Award-winning playwright/performer and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
"Girls Like Us is a life-changing book, in every sense of the word. Rachel Lloyd changed her life in order to help change the lives of thousands of others-read her incredibly powerful story, and your life will be changed too."


—Janice Erlbaum, author of Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir and Have You Found Her: A Memoir
"Girls Like Us is a powerful and eloquent recounting of the lives of children and young women caught up in the ravages of sexual exploitation by someone who has 'walked the walk.' This introspective and reflective book offers valuable insights into understanding the complex emotional and economic factors that contribute to the exploitation of children and youth. Lloyd is to be congratulated."


—Richard J. Estes, Professor of Social Work, University of Pennsylvania