For many prostitutes, the prospect of escaping the industry seems impossible or at the very least too dangerous to endure. Jackie McReynolds is a former prostitute and now executive director of the Angels Project Power, a program that helps women leave prostitution. McReynolds explains how the program works and Nakita Harrison, who is enrolled in the project, shares her experience and her attempt to turn her life around. The program also reaches out to sex workers working on the streets.
Jackie McReynolds joins us now from her home in Maryland to talk about her life and work, and also joining us here in our Washington, D. Harrison is also a former sex worker.
She's currently going through Jackie's program. Thank you so much for joining us, ladies, both of you. MARTIN: Jackie, everybody always wants to know the same thing, I'm sure, up front, which is how did you get into the sex industry to begin with?
As a matter of fact, he lived across the street. He asked me to come to his house, and when I got there, he offered me some money for sex. So that was my first introduction to prostitution.
It wasn't that I was hurting for money or anything. I'm the only child. I probably was just curious more than anything. I thought I was just having sex for money. I didn't relate to the title at all.
