Sharmila (Sam) Wijeyakumar
Co-founder & COO
Rahab's Daughters
Sri Lankan by ethnic origin, British by birth, I've lived between North America and Europe for the last 22 years. I’m a survivor of human trafficking, part of my journey to healing from this atrocity was acquiring faith in Jesus Christ and a passion to do something about this issue.
I first fought human trafficking with Pro Nino where we reduced the rate of child trafficking by 49 percent in 13 Spanish-speaking countries in the early 2000s thanks to data. This led me to founding Rahab's Daughters, a nonprofit that fights to prevent, rescue, and rehabilitate survivors of trafficking. I serve alongside my husband of 21 years and my daughter to prevent trafficking as well as provide rescue and rehabilitation. I lead over 200 volunteers and employees across multiple states and countries.
Today, as well as leading my nonprofit, I work in the high-tech world of digital transformation and data science for Veriday, a software and professional services company. I serve enterprise organizations with the help of an amazing team. I am blessed to have the support and freedom to balance my faith, family, vocation, and passion.