Square Girls
A support group for women in or formerly involved in sex trafficking or prostitution. Women interested in participating can contact Natashia Wilson at natashiawlsn@yahoo.com.Wilson also recommends the following groups for women seeking assistance:› Love’s Arm Outreach Ministries — 423-580-6553› Sister to Sister — Shawn Johnson, 423-708-1363› Voices For Dignity — Christine Marie Katas, voicesfordignity.com
A woman who spent more than 20 years as a prostitute will be the first in her family to get a college degree when she graduates this spring from Chattanooga State Community College.
Prostitution has been the family business for at least three generations, said Natashia Wilson, who moved to Chattanooga from her hometown of Las Vegas in Nevada, a state where prostitution is legal in some counties.
Her late mother, who died of a drug overdose, and her grandmother also were sex workers. Wilson said she was just 14 when her mother introduced her to prostitution.
The work left Wilson with unspeakable emotional and physical scars. She doesn't want to share details, but tears roll down her face when she thinks of them.
The youngest of five siblings, she broke that cycle when she left Nevada for Chattanooga nearly two years ago. An organization called Cupcake Girls helped her to get to Chattanooga, and now she wants to help others.
The 35-year-old single mom is starting Square Girls, a support group to help women involved with prostitution get out and stay out.
The Chattanooga Police Department made 38 prostitution-related arrests in 2016, a decrease from 51 in 2015, said Rob Simmons, public information officer. Arrest reports show several women have been arrested multiple times for prostitution.
"God brought me out for a reason. I've got a lot of women who have to be successful and they've got to come out," said Wilson, recalling the message that she says God put in her heart.
"I want to empower somebody else. I'm not saying if I can do it, then they can do it. I'm just saying they're not alone," she said.
Her group will differ from others in that instead of focusing on counseling, the group will focus on friendship. Participants will meet for coffee on weekends, see movies and go to activities together.
Wilson, who will graduate this spring with an associate's degree in human services, said she will share with other women the resources that have been helpful to her.
She also hopes professional women will get involved, and she wants the group to include people who can show women coming out of prostitution the steps they need to take to be successful in other careers.
Wilson said she once was a model. Some of her modeling pictures are posted on the website Voices of Dignity, a website that shows life possibilities for people presently or formerly involved in prostitution or sex trafficking. And she wants to model again.
More than 90 percent of women say they want to leave prostitution, but can't because of a lack of money or food, according to the website sex-crimes.laws.com.
And with prostitution comes crime, like drug sales, theft and robbery, Simmons said last week.
"Many of these individuals are victims in one way or another," he said.
Wilson said she wants other women to know they're not the only ones to survive traumatic situations or to do unspeakable tasks to sleep and eat. She wants them to know they can get through it and come out, she said.
The desire to offer a better life for her son, Ra'Quan Smith, motivated her to leave her family and familiar environment in Las Vegas and come to Chattanooga when he was 13 years old.
A childhood friend also from Las Vegas told her that Chattanooga is a good place to raise children.
Ra'Quan, now 15, said his mother's determination to stay in school keeps him motivated. If she gets her degree in May, she will be the first in her family to even attend college, not to mention graduate.
Smith said he also wants to attend college and become a doctor, because he "wants to help people live."
Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.