Vanessa Russell has developed children in dance, teaching
hundreds, ages 3-25, lyrical, flags, hip hop, and mime since 2000. In 2010, one
of her 14-year-old dance students was sold into human trafficking. Although she
was eventually located and is now being restored, Vanessa encountered many
others who, like her student, were US-born women, men, and children trapped in
modern-day slavery.
Her response was to launch Love Never Fails, a nonprofit dedicated
to restoring, educating, and protecting those involved or at risk of becoming
involved in domestic human trafficking. Love Never Fails has educated thousands
of children and community members on the issue of human trafficking, opened
seven homes that provide long-term safe housing and restorative services for
over 300+ women, men, youth, and children impacted by human trafficking and
launched an IT Academy connecting under-served community members with
financially sustainable careers. Vanessa believes that the issue of human
trafficking can be solved through love expressed in prayer, safe housing,
mentoring, job training, outreach, and education.
Vanessa also worked for 23 years in leading technology and sales
organizations in the IT industry. She retired from Cisco Systems in January
2019 to lead Love Never Fails full-time. Her professional hope is to inspire
and motivate people to develop businesses and themselves. She and her husband,
Pastor Timothy Russell, are blessed to have seven children and five
grandchildren.
Vanessa graduated from the University of San Francisco with a B.S.
in Information Systems Management and is currently enrolled at the California
Southern University pursuing a Master's/Doctorate in Psychology. She is a
sought-out keynote speaker, a Professor of Computer Science and Information
Systems for Peralta Colleges, a Vistage Worldwide Professional Speaker, a
Pastor with the International Foursquare Gospel (ICFG), where she co-leads the
national Anti-Trafficking Causes Network, and published author of the Fight
For Love workbook. Vanessa sits on the Contra Costa County Family Justice
Center Board (Board of Directors – Family Justice Center (cocofamilyjustice.org) ), East Bay
Interagency Council, and Thrivent Financial Pacific Sierra Board (About Thrivent Financial | Thrivent Member Network). She chairs Oakland's
Violence Prevention Coalition (oaklandvpc.org).