LI YA: My Story of Hope

When I working in the brothels, I met members of the Starfish Project outreach team. They invited me to come to work for the organization in March of 2012. I worked at Starfish Project for three years, but decided to leave to spend more time with my son. We moved to a different part of the country so he could attend culinary school. Upon his graduation, we returned to our Headquarters city and I rejoined Starfish Project on May 4th 2016! I work on our production team now, and love making long necklaces with pendants.

I have many significant memories since I’ve been at Starfish Project, but one of my favorites is from an annual retreat we took a couple years ago. At the retreat we celebrated Starfish Project’s 10th anniversary! It was amazing hearing all the stories from the past 10 years and seeing how much we have grown as a company. I also loved reuniting with my coworkers and friends from the Riverside Branch. We had a great time celebrating as a big Starfish Project family.

Having the opportunity to study has also been really significant for me. I have recently completed and earned my Microsoft Word Certificate and am now taking Microsoft Outlook and math classes. My current goal is to get certified in Microsoft Outlook.