In this episode of the Knoodle Founders Hour, host Rosaria Cain sits down with Lea Benson, the founder of CeCe’s Hope Center.
After recognizing a critical gap in services for young women aging out of the foster care system, Lea co-founded the organization in 2017 to provide a lifeline for highly vulnerable women and survivors of human trafficking and sexual trauma. Today, CeCe’s Hope Center operates as a nationally accredited transitional housing facility that rejects “cookie-cutter” programs. Instead, they meet each woman exactly where she is, offering highly customized care, job readiness training, transportation, and vital medical and mental health support to help these survivors rebuild their lives.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- Shattering Trafficking Myths: The heartbreaking reality that human trafficking is rarely the “abduction by strangers” you see on television. Traffickers are often trusted family members, friends, or neighbors who methodically groom vulnerable victims, sometimes starting as early as two years old.
- Filling the Gap in Care: How CeCe’s Hope operates in the crucial space between initial rescue centers and intensive behavioral health facilities. Lea discusses focusing on women who are ready to reintegrate into society but need help learning fundamental life skills—including basics like budgeting or even how to clean a house.
- Removing the “Masks” of Survival: The deep, non-linear psychological journey survivors face to overcome deceit, shame, and anger. Lea explains the process of shedding the different “masks” these women had to wear just to survive their trauma.
- Navigating Nonprofit Challenges: The unique struggle of raising funds for an issue so dark that it often paralyzes potential donors. Lea also shares her crucial advice for new nonprofit founders: collaborate and support existing organizations rather than duplicating services.
- Turning Pain into Purpose: Lea’s inspiring background of immigrating from the Philippines due to violence, and how surviving profound personal tragedies—including the loss of a child and her husband—fueled her passion to serve others and recently inspired her to begin writing a book.
Nonprofit leaders, advocates for vulnerable populations, and anyone seeking inspiration on turning profound personal tragedy into a beacon of hope will be deeply moved by this powerful conversation.
Listen to the full episode of the Knoodle Founders Hour podcast to hear Lea’s incredible story of resilience and the generational change her organization is creating for women in need.
Full Transcript
Rosaria Cain 0:00
Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Lea. Thank you for joining us.
Lea Benson 0:04
Thank you for having me.
Rosaria Cain 0:05
Well, we’re going to talk about CeCe’s Hope today. Despite your accomplishments in business, which are quite extensive and impressive, you’ve done something many people dream of and never do. You’ve started a nonprofit to help others tell us about CeCe’s Hope.
Lea Benson 0:24
So, CeCe’s Hope Center was born in 2017 as a result of seeing the gap in services that were missing for those aging out of the foster care system, and so as a result of that we felt that in order to keep these women, young adults, out of being trafficked, that we had to give them certain services and skill sets in order to become resilient, and so we did that in 2017.
Rosaria Cain 1:01
So tell me, what the elevator speech is, so everyone knows what CeCe’s Hope does.
Lea Benson 1:06
So CeCe’s Hope Center exists to support women who are at risk and those who are survivors of human trafficking and sexual trauma, and we do that by providing safe housing, we provide job readiness, supportive services from medical to mental health. We provide them with transportation, they have volunteer opportunities, career explorations. It just really depends on the woman that we’re serving, it is about meeting them where they’re at. I’ve always said I don’t believe in cookie cutter programs, because we as humans are not cookie cutter.
Rosaria Cain 1:52
We try sometimes, but it just doesn’t work out.
Lea Benson 1:54
It doesn’t work out.
Rosaria Cain 1:56
Well, how did this come by you? How did you become a founder of such a place, and what called you? What drew you in?
Lea Benson 2:05
You know, it’s really seeing the young women age out and not have the skills to understand how to budget, not understanding needs versus wants, not understanding their giftings, not having the skill sets to maintain hygiene, their daily living styles, and the hope for a future. It was always about today and never about tomorrow.
Rosaria Cain 2:38
What do people don’t know about human trafficking. There’s probably a lot of misinformed people out there, people that don’t really think about it on a regular basis.
Lea Benson 2:49
Well, what you see a lot on TV is abduction. In reality, the trafficker is someone known to that person, it is either a family member or a friend, a neighbor, it’s anyone of that sort, and so when we talk about trafficking, it’s not necessarily those that are abducted.
Rosaria Cain 3:19
So, it’s people that they know, doesn’t that seem crazy?
Lea Benson 3:24
You know, if I could tell you stories of the things that I’ve heard from the women that we serve, about how could my parents do this to me, parents, my family do this to me, how could my friend do this to me. It’s amazing, it’s amazing, but it’s the grooming process that they take in place, and it doesn’t happen just like that. It happens over time.
Rosaria Cain 3:49
So it’s very intentional.
Lea Benson 3:52
Very intentional.
Rosaria Cain 3:54
What age does this start?
Lea Benson 3:56
It starts as early as two years old.
Rosaria Cain 3:59
Wow, so are there certain types of women that are at risk, or is it a certain age group, or who’s most at risk for this?
Lea Benson 4:12
Those that are most at risk are vulnerable, those who are homeless, those who have experienced trauma in their life, those who have had life changes, kids aging out of foster care, you name it, it’s across the board, but the mean I would say label is vulnerable.
Rosaria Cain 4:35
Wow, okay, so it’s all shapes and sizes, it’s not just the mall or strangers that come into our lives and tell us things. These are the people closest to them.
Lea Benson 4:49
Yes.
Rosaria Cain 4:49
Most of the time.
Lea Benson 4:50
Most of the time.
Rosaria Cain 4:52
Okay, now you offer, I was looking at your website to get a feel. Is it a 12 month structured program? Program, do I understand that right?
Lea Benson 5:01
So, we’ve kind of put in some timelines, but really each person finishes at different times. It really depends on what they need in order to become financially stable and integrated back into community. There are some that their credit reports were just a wreck, and so they spend that time with us, earning dollars, repaying things, whereas the next person may not be healthy. We had one that was on feeding tubes for quite some time, because it was used food was used to punish her, and so she just stopped eating, and so it’s someone from that perspective, you know, trauma trafficking doesn’t stop after rescue, it’s many years of going through therapy to ensure that you can, I guess, get rid of those things that you were told that were lies about yourself.
Rosaria Cain 6:14
How long does it take, and what do these rescues look like? Do they know to come forward and go to someone that can help them, or does somebody usually catch on to this and report it to the authorities.
Lea Benson 6:27
That’s why there’s many levels of service. There are those who are just drop-in centers where the women can just go and get help. There are behavioral health facilities where they, it is completely healing, and where we serve is in that gap, where it is those women who are no longer interested in life and really want to get back into society and rebuild their lives.
Rosaria Cain 6:53
So often it starts with the actual person involved. I don’t want to call them victims, is that, is that right? They’re more like survivors,
Lea Benson 7:05
They are survivors, and that’s what we call them.
Rosaria Cain 7:08
Okay, so the survivors, how do they get over this?
Lea Benson 7:13
It’s like any trauma, we all have trauma in our lives, and what I can share is that these women are very strong to be able to get over the deceit, the shame, the anger, all of those things that have come up for them as a result. One of my mentors, she calls it masks, the different faces that they’ve got to wear in order to continue through life. They now have to shed those masks.
Rosaria Cain 7:42
Well, tell me about the faces, because I was reading about those on your website.
Lea Benson 7:47
So, the faces are really, it’s the levels of trauma again. One person may experience one set of trauma versus another, and so many of the women that come to us, they have been on some type of substance in the past, who are survivors, and those at risk are not necessarily ones who have been on substance, they are, they have been manipulated and abused into relationships that now make them vulnerable for trafficking, because they’re looking for that person to trust, and in many times the person that they end up finding is not the right person to trust.
Rosaria Cain 8:34
I can see how these programs must be so customized, because there’s a million different ways to be trade when you look at these phases, how long does it generally take for them to return to, well, I guess there is no normal life, right, for anyone, there’s no such thing, but how long does it take for them to regain their sense of self?
Lea Benson 8:58
You know, it really depends, I mean, if you look at domestic violence, they say it takes seven times before they go and actually seek help. Imagine someone who’s been trafficked, and what the horrific things that they’ve been through, it takes many different trials for them to want out of the life. Finally, and not everybody wants out of the life and so it’s where do you focus your energy and who do you help and so we’ve decided to focus on that gap of helping those women so we are actually a nationally accredited transitional housing facility and so, but not only this housing important for the healing, it’s also this life skills. This morning I was on a call with a case manager, and Mom and Dad coddled this daughter to the point where she doesn’t even know how to clean house. And so it’s the, it’s amazing the different traumas that are out there.
Rosaria Cain 10:05
Well, I don’t know how to clean my house either, but I mean, we try to overcome that, but I understand even the basic skills must be difficult for some, for some of these people.
Lea Benson 10:19
Yes.
Rosaria Cain 10:19
Because they’ve been through so much.
Lea Benson 10:21
And they’ve not been taught some of them.
Rosaria Cain 10:23
So now you’ve founded this organization. How long has this organization– I believe you said 2017?
Lea Benson 10:30
2017 with my co-founder Renee Lopez. He was vice mayor in Chandler at the time, and so Renee’s heart for the issue was genuine, and he supported the issue of, you know, we need to do something beyond 18 to help women recover from this.
Rosaria Cain 10:55
And now that you’re up and running, and I imagine successful in the way that you’re helping people. What are your, what are your goals as you’re looking forward? How many do you hope to help, and are you planning to expand into other states? What are your goals?
Lea Benson 11:15
So, the goal of CeCe’s is to help as many individuals as they can, we believe that women deserve hope, they deserve dignity, they deserve the opportunity to rebuild their lives after all that they’ve gone through. So, the goal is not numbers, it’s more generational. For every woman that we support, eventually they’re going to have a family, and so it’s about generational change. So it’s not numbers of 1000s now, it is the life long generational change that we are after.
Rosaria Cain 11:54
And you’re, you’re just in Phoenix, or how big is your footprint?
Lea Benson 11:58
We’re actually, we receive girls nationally.
Rosaria Cain 12:02
Great. Okay. All right. Are you one of the few organizations that focus on this?
Lea Benson 12:07
So, no. As I mentioned, there are organizations that focus on rescue. There are day centers, there are hotlines, there’s many different levels in Arizona. There are other facilities, but we don’t take women with children.
Rosaria Cain 12:26
Okay.
Lea Benson 12:26
Whereas some other facilities take women with children, so our focus is it’s no different than when you get in on an airplane, they tell you to put the oxygen on yourself first. So we work with women, and they may have children, but not in their possession, and we will work to help them with reunification after they’ve become stable.
Rosaria Cain 12:49
That’s great. Okay, so what does your average day look like? I mean, because this must be all over the place with the different types of people you work with, and the different needs that they have.
Lea Benson 13:05
It is very much all over the place. I start my mornings thinking that here’s my schedule for the day, and I’m lucky if I actually finish the administrative stuff that I start in the morning. It’s very different this morning. I started with a phone call for one of the women that has relapsed in her trauma, and so, and then I went from that to a phone call for a possible intake, and then from that the next call was a meeting with a donor, setting that up. The next thing was having a conversation with staff as far as what’s going on at the facility. So it’s really, it just depends on what that day looks like. So I’ve actually learned a lot with reference to acceptance, and have been okay with being able to accomplish whatever I can that day,
Rosaria Cain 14:03
So, you do the development side as well as the actual care and help for that for the women that you work with.
Lea Benson 14:14
Yes, well, we have a domestic manager who is responsible for the life skills in the home, but with reference to case management of moving the program participant forward. I actually develop that plan with her when she first enters our program, and then there are staff or interns that support us in moving them forward. After that, we also have a great volunteer team that transports them to their medical appointments, to DES, job interviews, whatever it is that we need them to.
Rosaria Cain 14:53
It’s really a full scope of services, isn’t it?
Lea Benson 14:58
It is, and collaboration is very important, this is not something that we could do on our own. Dignity Health is a huge collaborator for us when it comes to health care. They have a program called Safe Haven, which is geared specifically and targeted specifically for women who have experienced violence.
Rosaria Cain 15:19
Well, what kind of challenges are you seeing right now in running a nonprofit?
Lea Benson 15:26
I would say the challenges for us is when I speak about the issue, it’s so dark that people become paralyzed, and although their heart is to reach out, they don’t know how, even though we list the different things, but I think something to remember is that we become that light without each individual stepping up and becoming that light. These women stay where they are in the dark.
Rosaria Cain 15:55
Looking back, was this harder than you expected?
Lea Benson 15:58
It was. It’s very hard to manage this as well as my own personal life, yes.
Rosaria Cain 16:04
How do you go home at night and turn it off, or is it impossible to turn it off?
Lea Benson 16:10
You know, it’s been a lifetime of learning how to develop boundaries. It’s not easy to turn it off when you know someone else is in crisis, but it’s the only way that I can keep my own sanity and know that tomorrow will come and we’ll deal with the issues that couldn’t be dealt with today.
Rosaria Cain 16:33
What kind of misconceptions are there about nonprofits, and do you ever see that in your work as you’re working with donors and everyone else involved?
Lea Benson 16:45
I do, I would say that the hardest thing for us in raising dollars is understanding capacity an organization’s need during that transitional growth time, providing funding for that, that’s that’s really where we’re at right now, is we are actually about to expand and finding options, opportunities, and support for that can be difficult. We have not really applied for a lot of government grants, and strategic-wise, we’ve done that through this, the cuts that have happened with many nonprofits, because they’ve had many grants, it didn’t affect us at all, and that’s because we receive, I would say, a good 90% of our funding comes from individuals and foundations.
Rosaria Cain 17:44
Does the current climate make it more difficult to have a nonprofit right now? Or I’ve heard from some it does, but perhaps that’s because it’s they’re more grant heavy?
Lea Benson 17:58
You know, I with reference to starting another nonprofit right now, my advice is always don’t duplicate. There’s so many out there that you can work with. There’s so much need out there that needs to be met, and someone is probably already meeting it, and so if you want hands on, go to that nonprofit and have a conversation with them about how you can be hands on. If it’s funding, I’m sure they would be more than happy to receive the funds from you. But before you duplicate, really find someone to collaborate with, because it’s important.
Rosaria Cain 18:37
That sounds like good advice. How do you let people know that you’re here. I mean, how are they finding out about you?
Lea Benson 18:45
It’s been one person at a time. Being able to have opportunities like this to be able to share what we do is very important for us to be able to do. A lot of people want to hear the back story, but that’s not what CeCe’s is about. We’re about the forward story. If individuals want to hear about the issue, you have law enforcement that deals with this every single day, and so, and therapists, and school counselors who are responsible for the in the muck type situation, but for us, we believe that staying in the muck doesn’t give hope, and so when the women come to us, they must be enrolled in therapy. It’s a must, but our conversation is moving forward, but making sure that they are in therapy.
Rosaria Cain 19:38
That’s great. So, being a founder and all, what makes a good founder? Did you ever see yourself in this spot?
Lea Benson 19:47
No, I never saw myself in this spot, but I think it’s the passion and the willingness to sacrifice.
Rosaria Cain 19:56
Okay, what kind of characteristics do you think make a good leader?
Lea Benson 20:02
I think it’s understanding where your weak points are and being willing to bring others alongside of you to be able to take those weak points and carry,
Rosaria Cain 20:12
what are the biggest milestones that you’ve seen that let let you know you were on to something?
Lea Benson 20:20
It is conversations with individuals that come from many different types of addictions that say, you know, I think I would have probably recovered faster, though your job is probably harder, because your program is about choices, it’s not about making us go through a structured program that says at 8o’clock you’ll do this, at 10 o’clock you’ll do this, and it’s all about therapy. It is sitting down with each of us and having that conversation of what does a fruitful life look like for you, and how are you going to get there, and it’s about having the choice, it’s about education for them, and then letting them know the pros and cons of their decision. We can’t fix people, we can only give them the choices and the resources.
Rosaria Cain 21:14
Was there a specific situation or person that that led you to being the founder of this nonprofit?
Lea Benson 21:24
So CeCe’s, the organization was named after a beautiful young woman who exceeded in the program where I was at the time, I was working with 11 through 17, and she did really well. She finished the program, got a job, got married, had kids, reunited with her family. She was Native American and was just full of bright joy all the time, and that’s contagious when you see someone constantly smiling and happy, you know that’s where you want to be, and so CeCe’s really signified who we wanted others to admire and to be inspired by and to work towards, and so CeCe did pass from natural death, and so you know, as we thought about the name for the facility, CeCe’s was the model.
Rosaria Cain 22:31
And was she the person that kind of led you here? Was that the point or the inspiration behind being the founder?
Lea Benson 22:41
I think the inspiration of being the founder came from seeing the gap in services and that no one was serving there, and that we had all these young women falling into those pits, and I just could not bear not being part of a solution.
Rosaria Cain 22:58
Where there one of those times that made you see the situation, so this gap, this situation between the gap of services and where you were, was there was there ever something that lit the light in you to go ahead and be the founder of this? Is there like a particular story?
Lea Benson 23:22
It’s not a particular story. I think it was a gradual thing. One of my board members, she was taking one of the girls to a college to sign up, and she said she gave me all these barriers, and why are there barriers to her getting education, this is ridiculous. And so it was instance after instance after instance, and I just said, this is ridiculous. These barriers shouldn’t exist.
Rosaria Cain 23:50
So you’ve been working in this area for a long time, long before this amazing nonprofit was founded.
Lea Benson 23:58
Yes.
Rosaria Cain 23:59
And it just got to that point, where that’s where you saw the gap in service.
Lea Benson 24:02
Yes.
Rosaria Cain 24:03
Okay. All right. All right. Just trying to understand, who are your role models? You’re my role model, I can tell you that, but who are yours?
Lea Benson 24:13
Gosh, role models. I would say my mentor, who’s taught me so much about this issue is my role model, you know. Having gone into this field, I was so naive, I knew nothing about the issue. And she’s taught me a lot, a lot, and she’s still around, and she’s still teaching me.
Rosaria Cain 24:37
And she’s still your mentor.
Lea Benson 24:38
And she’s still my mentor.
Rosaria Cain 24:40
Growing up, did you have a lot of mentorship and support that kind of led you here?
Lea Benson 24:46
I didn’t, and that’s why.
Rosaria Cain 24:48
Oh, okay. All right,
Lea Benson 24:49
You know, they say you serve where you weren’t served.
Rosaria Cain 24:53
I know you had said that, but I didn’t know that related to to you.
Lea Benson 24:57
Yes, it has deep meaning for. Me, in that it was so important coming from a foreign country, not being here by choice, and it’s a long story with reference to that, but having to survive in a new country.
Rosaria Cain 25:14
What country were you from? Can you say?
Lea Benson 25:16
From the Philippines.
Rosaria Cain 25:17
Okay, all right. Were you born a founder or did you develop into one, because you do have a, an extensive business background, and so did, did that light your fire, or when you were younger, did you have those kind of leanings, like you had your own paper route?
Lea Benson 25:39
You know, I think that I was always, I went back for the first time, took my 91 and 95 year old parents back to the Philippines, because it was their wish, and so they said we’d love to just go back one more time. So when we went back, I learned a lot about my mom’s side of the family, they owned plantations. I had no idea, so they were in business the whole time. And then my dad’s side of the family, they owned a lot of land, and when my mom and dad got married, they were proponents of putting up schools and churches, and so they were always service oriented, and so I think just growing up and seeing that it just became something natural for me to want to do is to serve others.
Rosaria Cain 26:32
That’s great. So I know we talked about how you have to somehow turn it off when you go home to kind of recharge your batteries and to stay sane, what kind of habits and routines keep you grounded?
Lea Benson 26:48
So I love fruits and being able to, my dad always said, if you plant something, you’re going to spend money to nurture it, make sure it’s something that you can eat, and so my backyard is full of fruit trees, and so it’s just nice to be able to go out and see those fruits come about and ripen and become something other than this little flower that it started out as, and just seeing the hummingbirds. I love hummingbirds, and so just the curiosity of how little they are and how they are able to withstand the wind. It’s about life, right?
Rosaria Cain 27:34
So it’s kind of a metaphor for you.
Lea Benson 27:35
It is.
Rosaria Cain 27:36
In your backyard about the way life goes. Well, how do you divide your time between work and family? Because it seems like this would probably be an all-encompassing work vocation.
Lea Benson 27:55
People normally say, how do you do all of this, but I think when you have the passion to do something, you find ways to make it happen. I’m always multitasking, and I know there is no such thing as multitasking, because then you…
Rosaria Cain 28:11
Oh, I think there is. There actually there actually is. Men say that because they can’t do it.
Lea Benson 28:17
Yeah, and so you know, I’ve learned to multitask if I am, you know, at home, I’ve got the laundry going, I’ve got something in the background that I’m listening to for self care, and at the same time doing some work on the computer, and so you just, you find ways, and you just get it done, if you really want to get it done, you will.
Rosaria Cain 28:44
So you can juggle.
Lea Benson 28:45
I can juggle.
Rosaria Cain 28:47
That’s great. What do you want to be known for?
Lea Benson 28:53
You know, I’ve never thought about what do I want to be known for. I would probably just say someone who serves.
Rosaria Cain 29:04
That’s very modest of you. Tell me one thing about you, or I’ll ask Sandra, that would surprise you, that would surprise other people about you.
Lea Benson 29:16
You know, people are always amazed when I say I’m more of an introvert than an extrovert. They’ll go, ‘No, you’re not, and I’ll say, ‘Yeah, I am.’ I really am. I like my peace and quiet, you know, my self time, and that’s how I rejuvenate myself. And they say, ‘You’re such a people person. I said, well, yeah, I love people, but I’m still, you know, I still like my peace and quiet.
Rosaria Cain 29:47
Well, they say the difference between an introvert and an extrovert isn’t really how we act, it’s what gives you your energy, is it people that give you your energy, or do you get the energy from within and obviously you get it from within, so you fit that description perfectly.
Lea Benson 30:05
Thank you.
Rosaria Cain 30:06
If you were going to write a book about your life, what would you call it?
Lea Benson 30:11
You know, I don’t know what I would call it, but I am actually starting to write a book.
Rosaria Cain 30:14
Ah, perfect. What are you writing a book about?
Lea Benson 30:18
Various different traumas I experience. Most people have experienced one set of trauma. I think where God has prepared me is I’ve experienced, I think, more trauma than most people have in their lives, from losing a child to coming from a foreign country due to violence, to working with girls, to losing my husband, you name it, there’s been so much trauma in my life, and for me to still be able to withstand all of that, it’s amazing. A lady out of Ohio, they wanted to start a CeCe’s program up there. In fact, we’re still in conversation about that, and she says, “You need to write a book. And one morning, I just said, “I need to write a book, and I got up and I started writing, and it’s amazing. I was crying at the same time, so that tells you that even through all of that trauma and all about the self care, it’s still not all gone, it’s still there, and you still have to work on it.
Rosaria Cain 31:36
Well, that’s a great inspiration. I can’t think of a better way to finish this conversation with that thought. I thank you for coming in, Leah. You are an inspiration to us all.
Lea Benson 31:48
Thank you.