Sandy Biback, Founder, Meeting Professionals Against Human Trafficking
Words of wisdom: "Find your passion and follow it."
Country: Canada
Website: https://mpaht.com/
Industry: Hospitality/Conferences/Events/Tourism
Organization size: 0
Interview with Sandy Biback, Founder , Meeting Planners Professionals Against Human Trafficking, Canada
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CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS:
Eyes Open: Recognizing and Combating Human Trafficking in Our Midst
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and the Fight Against Human Trafficking
01:41 Meet Sandy Biback: A Crusader Against Human Trafficking
03:33 The Catalyst for Change: Sandy’s Journey to Combat Human Trafficking
06:57 Understanding the Complex World of Modern Slavery
09:00 The Harsh Realities of Sex Trafficking and Its Victims
18:53 The Role of Meeting Professionals Against Human Trafficking (MPAHT)
26:12 Expanding the Fight: Education, Awareness, and Supply Chain Ethics
31:52 Measuring Social Impact: Personal Stories and Strategies
32:37 Recognizing and Reporting Suspicious Activities
38:24 Expanding Awareness: Strategies and Challenges
45:57 Building a Volunteer Network: Engagement and Sustainability
50:47 Rapid Fire Round: Insights and Inspirations
55:24 Closing Thoughts: Making Your Contribution Count
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Interview with Sandy Biback, Founder , Meeting Planners Professionals Against Human Trafficking; Canada
Sandy Biback has been a member of the conference/business/event business for over 40 years. Along the way, she has worked for planning companies and a hotel and has owned her own professional planning consulting company since January 1990. For about 15 years, Sandy taught hospitality and conference management at several colleges. She has served on countless boards within professional associations. She has collaborated on industry textbooks. Sandy has spoken at many industry events and has been published widely. Along the way, she has continued to learn and grow within her profession. She has won several awards for her work, teaching, and mentoring. Aligned with her retirement in 2017, she began researching the horrors of sex trafficking and realized it WAS happening in hotels at all levels, at conferences, and sporting events. She formed Meeting Professionals Against Human Trafficking (www.mpaht.com) as a grassroots organization with a group of passionate professionals to create awareness and collaboration between planners and hotels. Ultimately, MPAHT wants to see every planner ask about training for every hotel they intend to use AND to see every hotel have training for all staff. Sandy was named a 2019 Smart Women in Meetings Award winner in the Visionary category. This prestigious awards platform honors women who have significantly impacted the meeting industry and inspired female meeting ambassadors worldwide. In 2021, she won a Women Who Rock Award-one of only six women to win. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/women-who-rock-awards-1.6225113 In October 2022, Sandy was named to the Event Industry Council’s Hall of Leaders, for career spanning achievements. https://www.meetingsnet.com/global-events-planning/eic-announces-2022-recipients-its-hall-leaders-other-global-awardsUnited Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal(s) addressed:
#1. No Poverty, #4. Quality Education, #16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
Social impact:
MPAHT is dedicated to addressing the critical issue of human trafficking and slavery, with a continued emphasis on combating sex trafficking. As a leading organization, we strive to maintain and expand our role in providing education and resources to the hospitality and travel industries. Our efforts include:
Educating and networking with other organizations.
Advocating for industry-wide action to address trafficking issues.
Supporting their initiatives.
We are committed to creating an online library of resources and sharing global resources through our digital media. After nearly six years of raising awareness about human trafficking in the hospitality sector, we are witnessing a shift in our purpose and mission. With increased awareness and active engagement in the fight against sex trafficking and the broader issue of human trafficking within the hospitality, tourism, and conference industries, MPAHT is redirecting its energies to further our impact."
Website: https://mpaht.com/
Sandy Biback, Founder, Meeting Professionals Against Human Trafficking, Canada
Note: This conversation was transcribed using AI software, so the transcription was imperfect. Watch the video or listen to the podcast to hear our guest’s wisdom in her own words. If you want to see more interviews like this, please comment below!
To read about Changemaker International, check out Suzanne’s book Make Your Contribution Count for You, me, and we.
[00:00:00] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): Welcome to You Me We Amplified Podcast conversations with sheIMPACTpreneurs, transforming, where we live and work with sustainable social solutions. This is a really important podcast today, as we’re talking about human trafficking. And it goes way beyond sex trafficking. And yes, it is happening in your backyard. But what I find really important about this particular topic. It’s a citizens we have a voice.
We have eyes and we have a gut. And we often can see, hear when people are actually being trafficked. And all we need to do is speak up. This happens in hotels. It happens in our neighborhoods. This is where each one of us can take responsibility to uplift the life of somebody else. Also in this podcast, you learn a lot about advocacy, how to partner and collaborate with voices louder than your own. And how to lead volunteers. So dive in, enjoy the podcast and please share this important message with the people you care about.
Meet Sandy Biback: A Crusader Against Human Trafficking
[00:01:41] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): Welcome to YouMeWe Amplified Podcast, where we have conversations with sheIMPACTpreneur addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Hello, I am Suzanne F. Stevens, an international speaker, author, sheIMPACTpreneur, community builder and a multi award winning social entrepreneur, and yes, your host of YouMeWe Amplified podcast. Today we’re going to have a serious conversation about something that’s extremely important with a very inspiring woman named Sandy Biback.
She is the Founder of Meeting Professionals Against Human Trafficking. She’s from Canada and she has retired meeting planner and amongst other things. So when we talk about Meeting Professionals Against Human Trafficking, we’re going to use an acronym called MPAHT. M P A H T,
just
to facilitate our conversation today.
Sandy started MPAHT in 2017. MPAHT is dedicated to addressing the critical issue of human trafficking and slavery with a continued emphasis on combating sex trafficking. As a leading organization, they strive to maintain and expand their role in providing education and resources to the hospitality and travel industries.
It achieves its mandate by wonderful volunteers that show up to meet their needs. this mission.
Please welcome Sandy.
So to meet you.
[00:03:20] Sandy Biback: thanks. Thanks, Suzanne. It’s really a pleasure to be here. It really is. And thank you for the opportunity.
[00:03:26] Suzanne F Stevens: it is such an important topic. And so many of us know so little about it.
The Catalyst for Change: Sandy’s Journey to Combat Human Trafficking
[00:03:33] Suzanne F Stevens: So what was the catalyst for you to start Meeting Professionals Against Human Trafficking?
[00:03:40] Sandy Biback: I love to travel. And when I travel, it’s not about staying at some place that would remind me of home. My husband and I took a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in 2016, and it was a river cruise. And we love river cruises. And we thought, oh, we’ve never thought of this part of the world, but gee, this is really inexpensive. And when we were in Cambodia, we asked the people on the ship, so where can we go where we can get stuff to bring home and, the people, the local people would also benefit. And the company we use does a lot of work in this area and they suggested we walk literally up the street to a place called Daughters of Cambodia. We walked in and I saw a sign that said, we help young women in need. They also have a Boys in Cambodia, but I was obviously more focused on the girls because I happen to be female and, and my husband just tagged along and we bought a whole bunch of stuff to bring home. And I talked to them and they literally provide, jobs, they make jewelry, they make sweatshirts and all that stuff. And I also saw things along the roads that we were on that I said to our main guide, Mal, at the time, and I said, so what is this? And they were literally women coming home from, Garment Shops making the t- shirts that we all buy with little children. And he said, this is where they go cause they can earn money to feed their kids.
And I just went, ah, something’s not right. So I came back to Toronto and I started looking into this and I found out, Oh my God, this is happening right here in my city, right around the corner from where I live. Cause I do live in downtown Toronto. And I met with the then,Head of Human Trafficking Division of Toronto Police. And he said to me, he said, Sandy, it’s not what we think it is. It’s not ha It is certainly happening out there. It’s also happening right here, right in our city. And I said, we need to be educated in this. And that’s how we started. We started with the morning breakfast that everybody said nobody will show up.
We hoped for 20. We had 40. And we’ve grown from that.
[00:05:53] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): I need a clarification around when you were in Cambodia, And you saw these young kids working and something said to you, it wasn’t right. Did anyone there ever refer to it as slavery? Or was that a word you realized when you came home that these young kids were working and that’s slavery.
[00:06:19] Sandy Biback: There was two parts. The part when I saw them on the back of the truck, they were just working in garments. And I’d heard before about how some of the garment places, were basically slave labor, but they didn’t use that term. In Daughters of Cambodia, they had signage that said that they had rescued these young girls. Many with children. they don’t live, they didn’t live in the premises of daughters, but daughters was working with them to help them make a better life to get out of the system. And that was the part where it was pretty obvious it was sex.
Understanding the Complex World of Modern Slavery
[00:06:57] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): Okay, so let’s explore that further because modern slavery as we know it, and it’s my understanding that at no time in history, do we have more modern slaves or slaves then at this point in time. So when we say slavery, what, exactly are we referring to in that context?
[00:07:27] Sandy Biback: Most people think of slavery as sex trafficked, exploited, they also think it’s young girls. We know now it’s many different forms It’s also, human slavery, indentured, I just read about a case the other day where this family is, from an embassy and they work in an, they work in another country as the embassy leaders and they have indentured slaves there.
And they say that they’re exempt because they’re in embassy soil. so there’s that, there’s, bringing somebody in who works six or seven days a week and you don’t pay them. And there’s the ones that struggle in the garment places. There’s the ones that pick the cocoa that don’t get paid. It’s a massive amount now and it’s indentured and they don’t have control over their own future. Most of them don’t even have control over their own papers that say I can come and go as I please. They don’t get paid enough. This is what we see other places, but I can tell you that in Canada, it happens here too. It happens on the, we think of farm to table and we have all of the people coming in from other countries in the summertime to work the fields. Up until recently, they were not allowed to move from that farm. Even if they were feeling that they were being exploited. I understand that they can now in Ontario anyway, I can’t speak for others.
The Harsh Realities of Sex Trafficking and Its Victims
[00:09:00] Sandy Biback: Sex trafficking is the sexy one. It is in fact the least amount. Please don’t ask me for stats because I forget what they are, but it is of the 50 million more are in indentured human slavery other than sex trafficking. And this also includes child brides.and that’s a whole other story. And that doesn’t just happen in India, and it’s child labor. Some of the child labor statutes in some of the U. S. states say a child as young as 12 can work. My 12 year old kids didn’t work unless they babysat, and they were paid. but we think of it as sex trafficking, and that’s how I got into this. It was mostly about the sex trafficking in hotels. That’s manifested itself to even more now, because we know that since COVID, a lot of housekeeping is outsourced. is that outsourced company legitimate? Or do they have indentured slaves who are going out and cleaning the rooms and then coming back to 20 to a room, not getting enough food, don’t have their passports and so on and so forth.And with the advent of sadly the wars that are going on, and not just in Ukraine and not just in the Gaza, but in, in Haiti now and in parts of Africa, this all just adds to it.
And with the advent of easier access to information we now know more.
[00:10:25] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): It reminds me of a conversation I had with someone in Lesotho who explained to me why it happens there is because people believe that their child would be better off Raised by somebody else and they need to eat so their child’s getting paid for and they think they’re going to be better off somewhere else.
And yet, they’re not. It’s coming from a good place, but it, unfortunately, doesn’t translate into a good place.
[00:10:57] Sandy Biback: And I think also,rape is an act of war. And what happens to those babies, I know an article where a young woman was raped by a young soldier. We all know about, the Soldiers as well. And she couldn’t go home because she was, trash now in her family.
So she couldn’t eat. So another part of that army offered to take her baby so she could be fed. I don’t know the outcome. I don’t know if she gave that baby up or if she kept that baby. So it’s exactly what you’re saying. So we’re putting things on young people and people who are destitute, people who don’t have the luxury of living in a country like Canada or the US or other countries.I don’t know how I would react in that. this is, it’s also about moral courage and ethics and I don’t know, but sex trafficking is what drew me to this. And I, I’ve worked with survivors and I have nothing but Absolute praise for these, and the ones I know are women, and they’re just awesome.
They’re just awesome what they’ve been through and how they’ve made a life for themselves and how they are helping others.
[00:12:09] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): And when you say the ones you’ve spoken to, those are women who’ve been trafficked to Canada?
[00:12:16] Sandy Biback: The ones I know are local Canadians.
[00:12:33] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast):
I just want to make that point really clear. Some of the other slavery that we’ve been talking about happens internationally, but sex trafficking, happens in our backyard and often, and I just want to punctuate that point. In Canada, do you know, typically, is there a certain demographic that gets sex trafficked
more often?
[00:13:00] Sandy Biback: 90 percent of those that are trafficked, unless you sex trafficking, first of all are locals, so they’re from Canada. They’re from, the major cities. Vulnerability seems to be a big, number on them. That vulnerability can take so many courses. One that, that works with us on our advisory. She came from a middle class family just outside of the city. And in high school, she worked at a Timmy’s and she was trafficked from there. She felt vulnerable. She felt, she was 14, 15 years old and nobody loves me. And we have social media today. We have all that, all those other things. It took her a long time. She came out, she went back, she came out, she went back, and that’s what we need to understand that they may not want to come out right away because they are lured and this is my boyfriend, he loves me, and I’m generalizing again, and it took her a while to come out. She holds down a pretty good job now. She does a lot of volunteer work with a group home, just outside of Toronto. And she has a partner and she just, now she has a five month old son. And it’s cool. And another one is working on her PhD, working with Women’s College Hospital. So those are the good stories. Sadly, they aren’t the norm, from what I understand. And about 53 percent of those that are trafficked across Canada, of that 90 percent are Indigenous. And, again, it’s vulnerability.
[00:14:34] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): To that point, do you know where a parent, an auntie or somebody who is watching for those vulnerabilities, what, let’s first talk about what kind of vulnerability are we talking about? Like you, mentioned even being alone or that sense of being wanted. Are there any other vulnerabilities that one should be watching for in somebody?
[00:14:59] Sandy Biback: some of it is, sadly street kids, who don’t have a home, who probably left a home that’s not very good for them. so they don’t have money. They only have the clothing on their back. They, are open because they want a good life. Many could be addicted to alcohol and or drugs. And so they need a fix.And they can’t, they feel that they can’t go home for whatever reason. And, we have a lot of homeless. I live in downtown Toronto, so I see a lot of homeless and it’s not all their fault.I don’t think there’s one thing and, what makes one person vulnerable maybe doesn’t make another person vulnerable. I do know that in the beginning it was about, and this is before COVID, it was about, malls were a great place for the traffickers to find young girls, although we do know that trans and males are really coming up, sadly,four or five young girls are hanging out at the mall, and there’s a Canada Goose store there, and they want a jacket, and just like you see on TV, the traffickers can profile them.
You see the police profiling the bad guys. the traffickers do the same thing. And they find the one girl and they say, Hey, are you ever cute? Let’s go into Canada Goose and I’ll buy you a jacket. and it moves from there until the girls are captivated. Sometimes those that are being trafficked are still living at home and still in school. And that’s where the parents can come in and see subtle differences.
So why isn’t Mary Jane doing as well in school? Why is the door closed more in her room than it used to be? why is she sneaking around on her phone more than she used to be? contacting the school and saying, is she doing okay at school?
Or is she skipping classes? Because often the traffickers, honestly, If they’ve got a spare, the traffickers will come and take them away for a hit over the spare and then send them back to school. Has their demeanor changed? All of those things. and there’s a fear that sets in because ultimately the trafficker will say to the young person, if you don’t do this for me or you don’t do it as often as they tell you or whatever, that brother you really I’m going to tell him.
You know that dog you love? I’m gonna kill it. So there’s that fear that sets in. Someone who’s being trafficked is a reusable commodity. If you’re selling drugs, that’s not reusable. You sell the drug, you have to go out and get more. You sell a girl, you can sell her 10, 15 times over in one day and then send her out the next day and sell her again.
[00:17:37] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): They may start out at a five star hotel and they wind up on a street corner. (START) I’m curious when in this sex trafficking, I always thought they wouldn’t get paid anything. But, do you know if that’s the case?
[00:17:53] Sandy Biback: You mean the girls that are
trafficked?
they get nothing. And in fact, oftentimes there’s a bank account set up for them, but that’s to hide money. And that’s where the banking industry is doing a great job these days of looking for all those kinds of things. So often there’s a second phone, only for, the trafficker and the the person being trafficked. So they really get nothing. They may get a pittance where they can go to McDonald’s or something, but if they don’t perform the number of times they’re supposed to, or if they tick off a John, they lose that privilege. They’ll lose the privilege of getting a pack of cigarettes, or taking a shower, or getting food, or sleep. That’s in the really deep cases. There’s sometimes cases where you wouldn’t even know that it’s happening. We know it’s happening in five star hotels and,it’s happening all around.
[00:18:53] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): Wh
The Role of Meeting Professionals Against Human Trafficking (MPAHT)
[00:18:53] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): at is Meeting Professionals Against Human Trafficking doing to curtail, educate, assist in this process of,
Eradicating trafficking?
[00:19:09] Sandy Biback: When I first started this, I was going to save the world. And it’s not going to happen. What we do is we create awareness. So we’ve created resources. We’ve just, with the help of a fabulous volunteer Mahima have just redone our website maybe four or five months ago and she’s got us doing blogs now which will soon be posted and all kinds of things thank god for her. This all started with me as a planner who was saying, I’m putting this in my RFP if I’m looking for space. So say I’m looking for 500 room nights in meeting space for 500 people over three days. And I go to a hotel and several hotels. And I say, here’s what I’m looking for. Tell me what your hotel is doing in terms of training your people to understand human, human trafficking. Most sales people at the time didn’t even know what I was talking about. It opened up the doors of conversation. That’s all I was interested in. So now if I’m asking that question and a hotel says, here’s what we’re doing, what else can we do?
Or even just here’s what we’re doing, or we’re not doing anything. How can you help us? And this hotel doesn’t even respond to the question. Same money, same location, same everything. I’m going to this one. So it does become about money.and we’ve just launched something with Ottawa Tourism, which as far as we know, is the first Tourism Bureau in Canada that is doing this. And eventually they’re going to do some data collection, which will result in some extra training. Our ultimate goal is to get signage in hotels. Our ultimate goal is to get signage in bedrooms. We know that in the U.S. signage, depending on the city, depending on the state, depending on the hotel chain, signage is mandatory by law. We don’t have that here.So it means we’re not going to hit the one star hotels. We know that the most of the chain hotels are being trained in some way, shape or form. They’re being trained, in my estimation, they’re being trained to answer A, B, C, or D. That doesn’t tell me why you chose A, B, C, or D. I want to know why you chose it. And I want to know more about it. I want you to know more about it. I want you to understand what’s going on. And that’s where we come in.
[00:21:38] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): Help me with the A, B, C, or D. What do you mean by that?
[00:21:42] Sandy Biback: So the question might be, if somebody comes in, to your hotel, to the front desk without, identification, a lot more asking for ID now, is that a sign? Yes or no? Okay. The obvious answer is yes, it is. Okay. But tell me why you think it’s a sign. What else is it about this person? Is it because they’re with somebody who’s withholding their information? Is it with somebody that looks under or overdressed for her age or the weather? Is it somebody whose eyes are downcast like this? Is it somebody who looks frightened? That’s a different kind of training. And that’s more where we come in. And we also believe that the salespeople have to understand this training too, because more and more people like me are starting to ask questions. You better have those answers.
[00:22:39] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): There’s two groups. There’s the meeting planner, which I believe you’ve been speaking to meeting planners over the course of the last few years and educating them to ask that question. Am I correct? And what do you think the uptake is on them asking that question?
[00:22:59] Sandy Biback: More and more are. We know that because we get results back. We get, because we also go to hotels and stuff. Okay. But we’re more and more are saying, Hey, and they’re usually. Planners, who have been in the business a long time. So independent planners who’ve been around a long time. Or we know that there’s a couple of banks that are asking the questions when they go out looking for space because of training that we’ve done with their planners in some of the bank locations. Or, there’s one woman who’s been with me since the beginning, who was out of work for a while. She now works for one of those banks. So she infiltrated into her role.we also know, we also go and speak to,colleges and universities in hospitality programs, they’re the next generation.
When they’re going,for a job, they’re asking the question if they’re working in a hotel. We had a particular hotel come back and say, Hey, this person was looking for a job and they actually asked the question and I went, that’s what we want. And in fact, I’m going to keynote, on April the 6th at Toronto Metropolitan University.
They’re doing a whole day on human trafficking. And it’s in their, conflict resolution course, which I think is amazing. So I’m going to be keynoting and then there’s some other activities and then I’m coming back at the end of the day. So it’s getting out there more and more, and this is what we want.
It’s not in the closet anymore. It’s just not in the closet.
[00:24:34] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): If we have planners, Asking the question, and that means money to hotels, they will respond because it means money. and let’s face it, some hotels are socially conscious and want to do good. But not all are motivated by the same thing. So if we have that, if we have in the hotels on the back of the doors about human trafficking, that would assist, or in the lobbies in the washrooms would be very helpful, because that’s one thing that I had noticed in traveling in Africa, I saw a lot in washrooms, and I also saw it at border crossings, which are both important, and also they’re asking for ID.
As well as a huge shift at hotels
where, before we didn’t even, that was in the last, I don’t even know, five years that we started getting asked everywhere we go. That would be helpful. So those are big shifts. I’d like to see those signs. I’m with you on the signs because that’s when I became aware of it in my travels through the signage everywhere
about how big of an issue it actually was.
[00:26:01] Sandy Biback: Yes. It’s in a lot of airports in the women’s stalls and apparently I did a session for a group a while ago and there’s a couple men on there and they said it’s also in the men’s stalls, which is really good.
Expanding the Fight: Education, Awareness, and Supply Chain Ethics
[00:26:12] Suzanne F: I understand your purpose had changed after starting six years ago. I believe it started with awareness. now you’re moving more to education. Is there anything else that’s shifting?
[00:26:23] Sandy Biback: we’re talking more about supply chains and human slavery and we’re saying to hotels, where’s your coffee coming from?Is the person picking your coffee getting a fair wage for where they’re living? we don’t expect them to get the wage that they would in Toronto. And so that may increase the price of your coffee. Coffee’s always been a big one, especially for me in hotels when I was planning, because it was like about 150 plus taxes, and there’s labor and all of that. So if that then becomes 160 dollars, how can the hotel create that message that says, look, we’re charging you more for the coffee, and here’s why. Cause we’re paying proper wages. And it’s hard to go right through the supply chain, but you’ve got to start somewhere. It’s getting easier to do that with blockchain and so many other things out there now, and I don’t understand all that stuff. And then what it does is it says to me as a planner, if I work for a bank or if I work for myself, which is what I did, I can say to my clients, look, this is a hotel, or convention center or whatever that’s really looking at trying to help the world and so yes your coffee’s going to cost a little more so that means your registration fee might be five dollars more for each attendee but tell them why. I guess if I go back into my own travels, and like I said, I love to travel.
My husband and I were in French Polynesia a number of years ago and we stayed at one of those over water bungalows and it was one night, and that was it. In the room, it said 10 dollars from our room night was going to a biosphere foundation to help them keep the waters in good condition around the island. That was it, 10 bucks, right? The cost of that room, what was 10 dollars? And that’s where we’re going, and that’s another side of a little bit of what we’re working on behind the scenes with Ottawa tourism as well. That’s, that’s far from coming down the road. We need to get the rest of this in order first. And that’s where we hope other destination, organizations will come on board with us.
[00:28:36] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): Yeah, and that’s what I was going to ask you about Ottawa’s announcement and coalition and being the first tourism organization to actually do that, I wonder what it’s going to take for it to get everybody else on board. Is Ottawa Tourism going to try to spearhead it and share their strategy with other tourism boards?
[00:28:56] Sandy Biback: Yes, what we’re developing is the template for their membership. So that will be the data questions that go out to them and so on and so forth with templates for signage and so on. By the same token, side by side, there will be a template that any other can pick up on. And I have to tell you that since we were in Ottawa in February, we have a meeting three other groups around Ontario. I think it’s three and, to see if they’re interested and then there’s some talk with two or three out in Western Canada. So it’s, it’s that momentum. And I cannot give enough praise to Tourism Ottawa for taking this on and just remarkable.
[00:29:43] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): I’m glad they’re taking it on and it is such an important message. And you’re collaborating with them to do that, correct?
[00:29:51] Sandy Biback: It’s three groups. It’s us, it’s, Ottawa Tourism, actually it’s four. And it’s VoiceFound, which works with survivors in Ottawa. Cynthia Bland, she’s amazing. And we also push a lot of this through and they’ve been very helpful with us with the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking. Which a Canadian organization, that gets a fair bit of government funding, and they’re doing some wonderful work. And they have a lot of research that I use when I speak that’s Canadian oriented because up until now, a lot of research has, quite frankly, been American or out of, Hong Kong and places like that. So we now have Canadian stuff.
[00:30:32] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): Which is so important with a topic like this.
It’s wrong. It’s terrible everywhere, but there is that reality that,we connect with what’s closest to us.
Now I say us, I won’t say that’s me necessarily, but It’s psychologically proven that we do connect to when we say Canada instead of the U.S. All of a sudden we’re that much more emotionally removed from the issue. So I’m really happy to hear that they have statistics for that.
[00:31:05] Sandy Biback: Yeah. And the 401 Highway is the most used highway to traffic people across the country. And that’s a statistic that came out of the Center, among many others. and what most people don’t know is that, we’re helping them spread the word, is that there is an 800 number they can call in Canada, that’s 24 7, and it’s in a number of languages, that if you see anything, or you don’t understand something, this is a number that anybody can call, and you can be anonymous.
[00:31:34] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): Can you, do you have that number off the top of your
I sure do. 1 833 900 1010 would
Okay, great. Because we’ll make sure that’s also on your page with your, all your bio and information and video and podcast information
as well. So thank you for that.
Measuring Social Impact: Personal Stories and Strategies
[00:31:52] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): Now, how do you personally, measure your impact? Because like you said, changing the world, us social IMPACTpreneurs, we want to, but we know that we’re going to make a little bit of a dent if we’re so lucky.
So how do you measure your impact?
[00:32:14] Sandy Biback: Now that I realize I’m not going to change the whole world and get rid of human slavery, I measure it one success at a time, one story at a time. I’ve always been a storyteller, and One of the people on our advisory council, Matt Friedman from the Mekong Club in Hong Kong has always said it’s about the little bits and it’s, it’s the butterfly effect.
Recognizing and Reporting Suspicious Activities
[00:32:37] Sandy Biback: And to me, the greatest thing is when I get somebody in my business who sends me a note and says, you know what, Sandy, I saw something in an airport. in a Canadian airport that didn’t look right. And I reported it. What happened? I don’t know.
But if it hadn’t been for the work you’re doing, I never would have reported it. And another one who said she was on a train and saw something.
[00:33:04] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): It’s a small wins. It’sit’s when someone says, because you asked me that question, I changed, started to think differently. And we forget the ripple effect that we create by just asking a question.
Making somebody aware, and all of a sudden they make somebody aware, and then somebody’s aware, and that ripple effect is, we, you never know how big the impact is. You’re not funded, which we’re going to talk about in a moment, but when you are funded, you need to have an answer to that question.
How do you measure impact in order to continue to getting that funding? You’ve got this freedom, and yet, at the same time, performance, because you’re doing this all for volunteer because of something you believe in. But I’m gonna, I’m gonna dive deeper into that in a moment. But I’m gonna go back to what you were saying that those two people saw something because of you.
Help all of us. You gave a couple examples earlier when you were talking about educating. What should we look for? and as a result of seeing that, make a phone call.
[00:34:22] Sandy Biback: I think it is the things I talked about earlier There’s a lot of work being done on a lot of the airlines and there was one and I can’t remember the airline, a couple of years ago where a young girl was not allowed to go to the bathroom by herself and it twigged the staff who reported it and they were both picked up as soon as the flight landed. So instead of going to that person and saying, what are you doing, which is very dangerous, never, ever. There. Yeah. and it resulted, what happened after that? I don’t know, but I do know that she was trained in such a way, and I know it was a female, in such a way to say that, what do you mean she couldn’t go to the bathroom by herself? That this guy was standing outside. so it’s, and sometimes it just becomes your gut. and I go back to my career and I can remember wandering the back halls of a hotel at four in the morning, making sure that my AV guys were setting up and seeing things that “I don’t’ know.” Now I know what it probably was and what I would do about it, had I known then I, what I would’ve done about it then was I would’ve gone to security. And that’s what we’re telling people to do is first of all, never jump in on your own because you’re putting yourself in danger as well as the victim. Okay, so we’ve been in told by hotels, directors of security, contact the hotel. Phone and say there’s a noise.a noise complaint and they will send security up. And security will deal with it because you’re not equipped to,you’re just not. And maybe you’re wrong, but that doesn’t matter. What if you’re right? So look for things that just don’t look right. If it’s really cold out and there’s a young girl running around with a really short skirt and a crop top, she’s got no jacket on. We used to live in a 40 story building. And we lived on the 24th floor and I would get up every morning about quarter to six ish and walk my dog. And I got on one morning and there was two young girls who got on floors above me and they were doing up their jackets and you could see that they had really skimpy tops on and they had a phone in their hand. They were phoning to get, to get their ride. And that’s another issue with some of the Ubers and Lyfts and everything else out there. and I went, Oh, this is off. This is just off. And as we came down the elevator, 6 o’clock is the shift change. So there was nobody at the front desk. I watched them run out to that car and get in as quick as they could with their coats still undone and all of that stuff. I reported it and there were, videos in the elevators, obviously. And I was told this was a private residence. And I said, yeah, no, that doesn’t work for me.I reported the story to a man who writes a magazine for condominiums and he wrote a whole story about it. And it was excellent because it gets keeping repeated and repeated. And I made sure our board of directors got copies of it. They didn’t want it. They didn’t want to deal with it. I know what I was seeing. And this was before the 800 number came out. So look for things that just. Don’t look right. Don’t look right. And if they don’t have control of their own phones, of their own ID, if they look skimpy, and it was at one time when they were going into hotels, they would, and housekeeping sees a lot. If they were ordering extra towels and sheets, that could be a sign. So now what they do is we get smart, they get smarter. Now they have rollaway bags that they take in with extra sheets and extra towels and they take those out with them with used condoms and used needles. So again, it goes back to training. It goes back to training and it is something that, I’m not knocking on the door, call front desk. And usually it’s security that they send up.
Expanding Awareness: Strategies and Challenges
[00:38:24] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): So what is your expansion strategy? I know that you’re starting something with Ottawa. what are your next steps to get this message out loud and spread? You know, maybe not changing the world, but growing your impact.
[00:38:41] Sandy Biback: really bad at stuff like that. That’s why I have a board and we actually have a meeting in April. I’m just a doer. I’m a doer. My goal would be to get more tourism bureaus on board. And that’s part of what we’re doing. In terms of getting the laws changed, that’s not me. I know that the Canadian Centre is looking at doing that.That’s a long term thing. I don’t have patience for that. It’s just, it’s not me. What can I do right now? Right now, I can talk to schools. I can talk to hotels. I can talk to planners and so on and so forth. That’s what I can do. And since COVID, we’ve gone from about 22 volunteers to about five. Okay, so we’re really lean. I do probably 90 percent of the speaking. Mahima handles all of our social media. Janet keeps me on track because she’s much better at it than I am. Gail cuts in and handles a lot of the administrative stuff. And Robert, God bless Robert, he has sponsored all of our audio visual over all these years, his company. We’ve never paid for it.
[00:39:49] Suzanne F. Stevens (podcast): Give his company a shout out.
[00:39:51] Sandy Biback: Yes, AV Canada, and they are tremendous. And you know what? We have a lot of support from a lot of planners, now. We have one planner who is,an independent planner who’s very in touch with, I have to meet this deadline, this one and this one. And she has a number of, and she likes accountability. So she’s put out on her LinkedIn, if she meets all, for every one of her,things that she meets, by the end of the month, a certain amount of money is being donated to MPAHT. And I went, Oh my God, this is amazing. And she was one of them that saw something that did something.And it’s mushroomed because another company has come in and said, if she meets it, we’ll meet it.
[00:40:33] Suzanne F: I’m a huge advocate, there’s so many things in the speaking industry, in the planning industry, at events that we can do. Now I get into the nitty gritty of, how to do that to make sure you’re constantly fulfilled and you’re also making an impact in that regard.
If donating a small amount, if that is something you really care about, then commit to it. Amplify it. Share it. Celebrate it. and it’s so easy to, easy and yet difficult to do, to cut through the noise, but you differentiate yourself. And like even AV Canada, They’re trying to get to the zero omissions.
So I know they’re doing that as well. So the fact that they’re helping you, I’m like, okay, now somebody. I want to elevate people making a social impact like yourself. I’ll say, Hey, here’s a speaker. Here’s AV Canada. Because if we work together to elevate the people that are making a difference in this world, let’s amplify the good stuff.
I’m tired of amplifying, or I don’t personally, shaming, blaming. Let’s focus on the people that are actually making the change. The other thing I love that you said is, I don’t do that. That’s not me. We all have talents, right?
And find your talent and use that talent for something you care about.
Because you can’t do it all. Oh goodness, I am trying. But you cannot!
[00:42:09] Sandy Biback: I tried. It didn’t work.
[00:42:11] Suzanne F: I’m still fighting it. I think I’m just starting to let go of some stuff. You can’t do it all. So find your talents. Now, this as well as I do, that typically we, especially over the last few years, we interview people that are making an income and bake social initiatives into their business.
You are not doing that. You are retired. You created this path upon your retirement and are giving all your time, your energy, and so are the volunteers.
[00:42:42] Sandy Biback: Yes.
[00:42:43] Suzanne F: No one is getting paid. You are not a charity. You are not a not for profit. You are a group of people. You’re advocates.
How can someone become an advocate alongside you? Why don’t we start with that?
[00:42:59] Sandy Biback: Okay.talk about it. Talk about it to your children. And this is, I think, the other thing that we try and say. Is that, it starts at home. Or if you don’t have that kind of home. But I think it starts in the schools. I think we need more in the schools. We have to get away from thinking children don’t need to be told about these things.
They need to. It’s just, it’s how you tell them. It’s at their age. It’s got to be age appropriate and all of that stuff. I had somebody a few years ago who I spoke at her class and her son was 12 at the time and she said, so we’re just starting to talk about, Now I have to tell them about this too?
And I said, yeah. And I do know some of the schools in Ontario are doing this, age appropriate. I think the more we talk about it, I think it starts there. I think we have to raise our males differently. The Johns get away with everything. Pretty much. There are some places in the world where, they can be thrown in jail or they’re, I, there’s a, a small town somewhere in the States that years ago actually listed the Johns. So what? So what? The ones that are the big shots, the judges and the lawyers and the financiers and all of that, they don’t care. Honestly, if they cared, they wouldn’t be doing it, right?So I think we just really have to start at the bottom. So we talk about the social media a lot. I find when I speak, to our industry, a lot of stuff happens in the hallway after.It’s Oh my God, my daughter went to a modeling school, should I have been frightened? She okay now? Yeah. Okay. Oh my God. My daughter went to apply for a job in a restaurant and the guy came on to her and she ran. As she should have. So it’s about knowing. I guess I go back a long way. I marched to ban the bomb when my, when I was in high school, I skipped school to march to ban the bomb. Many people listening probably don’t even know what that is.And I just think, in terms of money, I do insist that my expenses are paid. I have to, and anybody who speaks, and again, it’s mostly me, we don’t ask for a lot of money. We have a set fee. and it’s not that high, to be honest, 30 percent gets turned back into MPAHT coffers so that we can keep ourselves going for some of our expenses, if we’re at a trade show or something, and we normally don’t pay for the booth. But there’s still expenses. So that’ll cover that off and, the annual fees and everything. We do have a place on our website where you can donate and we do say that it’s not charitable. And that’s, Mahima’s bucket list of promoting that a little bit more. She’s one person with a full time job.
[00:45:43] Suzanne F: What would be a great idea is looking at one of these organizations that actually you can put your, initiative under their fund and they manage it and then you can do the charitable and you don’t have to do the administration.
Building a Volunteer Network: Engagement and Sustainability
[00:45:57] Suzanne F: Now, do you have any advice on how to engage your volunteers?
[00:46:04] Sandy Biback: I go for the heart.That’s where I usually get them. I told you who all is on our board. Another one member of our board, Janet, who keeps me online. she has a 22 year old daughter and that’s her focus. I’ve had volunteers come and go.
Now, here’s something we lost a lot of them during COVID. We had one who was tremendous and she had a film background and so we did a few things online and she was great at that. She really helped us through it with her and Robert from AV Canada and she works for a very large hotel in downtown Toronto
[00:46:39] Suzanne F: and they’re looking at doing something right now. and I met with them a while ago. And, she is one of their, salespeople with a specific, hers is more the entertainment and it was so good to see her. And she said, I’m so glad to be able to help a little bit now. We haven’t quite gotten to where we’re hoping to go yet, but I know that they’re having conversations because they’re a very large international chain. And so they have to go through phases and causes. They actually want to do a movie like a,Documentary.
[00:47:12] Sandy Biback: Yeah, not necessarily a documentary, but a, like a short movie on what hoteliers can do and can’t do.
[00:47:19] Suzanne F: Oh, that would be fabulous.
[00:47:21] Sandy Biback: Yeah.
So that’s but they have to get some buy in and I understand that. so I’m just kind of,so I’m working with her and her counterpart, who’s the one that contacted me, is responsible for DEI for North and South America for this particular chain. So I go where it takes me.
[00:47:41] Suzanne F: Yeah, no, I understand. Now, in order to make this sustainable, even the advocacy of it and the volunteers of it, what would you say would be three things you, to make this initiative sustainable. What needs to happen?
[00:48:00] Sandy Biback: We need more buy in by the tourist bureaus. I think that’s the big one.With Ottawa Tourism, one of their salespeople, who’s really behind this initiative, is on our board, and their CEO is on our advisory council.They’re driving it. They’re driving a lot of it. so I think it’s, and I think it’s about passion. I think it’s about understanding that we’re not going to save the world. I think it’s about understanding that we can save a part of the world and getting to people who want to save a part of the world within their own industry or without. Sometimes this moves outside of the industry and it takes them further, which is great.
I have been a volunteer pretty much all my working life and I believe that sometimes volunteers have to drop off. And I believe that if a volunteer takes on a role and then for whatever reason, they can’t fulfill it, just tell me. Just tell me instead of keeping me hanging.I’m not sure that answers your question.
[00:49:02] Suzanne F: It does answer the question. I think the new relationship, though, that I just want to emphasize with Ottawa tourism is so massive of an opportunity that collaboration with a voice louder than yours
is really imperative. And also
what was it called again?
[00:49:21] Sandy Biback: It’s the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking.
[00:49:24] Suzanne F: Again, that you’re partnering with them as well, that’s where the real impact can come and your advocacy so that you started this process to connect with those groups will allowyour voice is going to get louder. The impact is going to get much louder, faster than you on your own.
So even that, from a sustainability standpoint, connecting with people who have more of a profile, if you will, without belittling your profile, but more of a profile than you do is really a great strategy to get momentum faster and to more people.
[00:50:05] Sandy Biback: And I think too, it’s that they’re bigger than I am. And I’ve always been grassroots. Yeah, and I’ve always been grassroots. And that’s what’s important to me. And we’re, you know what, we’re playing into each other. and, we’re like a jigsaw puzzle and I think that’s cool.
I’ve met some wonderful people, and I’m,and I’ve come away from trying to take the mission into other directions that we’re really not capable of. This is where Janet comes in. She’ll say, Sandy, our mission is within the hospitality tourism conference business. And she brings me back to this. And I think that’s really important for me. Because I tend to go all over the place.
[00:50:44] Suzanne F: Yeah, I think that’s, wise.
Rapid Fire Round: Insights and Inspirations
[00:50:47] Suzanne F: Let’s, wrap ourselves up here in our rapid fire. Let’s dive in. Are you ready to have some fun?
[00:50:52] Sandy Biback: Ready to go.
[00:50:53] Suzanne F: Okay.
Excellent. What is the one thing you wish you knew prior to engaging down this contribution path?
[00:51:00] Sandy Biback: That I could do it.
[00:51:03] Suzanne F: What is the worst piece of advice you ever received?
[00:51:08] Sandy Biback: You can’t do it.
[00:51:10] Suzanne F: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
[00:51:13] Sandy Biback: Just go do it.
[00:51:15] Suzanne F: A lot of doing it going on. What is one piece of advice you would give to an entrepreneur who wants to have a social impact?
[00:51:26] Sandy Biback: It becomes really a part of what you’re trying to accomplish.
[00:51:31] Suzanne F: What is one recommendation you would suggest to promote a culture of contribution? So I want you to think about your volunteers right now and creating that culture that they all want to contribute.
[00:51:43] Sandy Biback: Let them contribute what they can, when they can, as they can. And be cognizant of their other lives.
[00:51:50] Suzanne F: Great advice. Now, I don’t know if you have any children, but do you have a daughter?
[00:51:57] Sandy Biback: have two.
[00:51:58] Suzanne F: Okay, so if you had a daughter who was 10 years old today, okay, because a lot’s changed, what advice would you give to her?
[00:52:10] Sandy Biback: I would tell her to be very careful in who she says what to, particularly online. Because there was no online when my kids were growing up.
[00:52:19] Suzanne F: What advice do you wish you received when you were 10 years old?
[00:52:23] Sandy Biback: That I really was capable of doing a whole lot.
[00:52:27] Suzanne F: What’s one thing you have to do that makes you uncomfortable, but if you didn’t do it, you wouldn’t have the desired impact on your social initiative?
[00:52:39] Sandy Biback: Talking, learning, and reading about things that are really uncomfortable to find out about human beings and what they go through.
[00:52:48] Suzanne F: Who is the greatest female influence in your life and why?
[00:52:53] Sandy Biback: Jonah Eisenstadt. And you’ve probably never heard of her. She is a, she’s a planner. She’s an independent planner out of Washington, D. C. She’s a friend. She’s a colleague. She has her fingers in so many social justices and injustices. and, can I mention two people? Can I mention two?
[00:53:15] Suzanne F: Go for it. Excellent.
[00:53:21] Sandy Biback: in a lot of ways.
My moral courage. she’s shown me a lot. She’s taught me a lot. She’s on my shoulder a lot. And the other one is Joy Fox out of Vancouver, who, Was an independent planner like me and we’ve known each other probably as long as I’ve known Joan. Joy just keeps going. She’s 89 years old and she’s just keeps going.
She keeps traveling. She’s in a choir. She’s actually off to Italy this summer to sing with the choir. I’m gonna see her this summer. She’s an amazing inspiration. So when I get aches and pains, I think of her.
[00:54:02] Suzanne F: What three values do you live by?
[00:54:06] Sandy Biback: Having a moral compass, honesty, and I think compassion and empathy. Housing.
[00:54:15] Suzanne F: Besides yours, which beneficiary do you think needs the most investment of time, research, and money? A book
[00:54:28] Sandy Biback: Housing.
[00:54:29] Suzanne F: that you would recommend for others to read. A book in your wheelhouse would be preferred, or a business book, but go ahead. Anything is good.
[00:54:42] Sandy Biback: Be the Change. And it’s by Matt Friedman, of the Macon Club. And that’s where I learned that it’s the little pieces that count.
[00:54:51] Suzanne F: And where can people reach you?
[00:54:56] Sandy Biback: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, sandy.Biback@outlook.com m p
a h t. com. Google my name. You’ll find me.
[00:55:09] Suzanne F: Sandy’s with a Y and Biback’s with an I. Do you have any words of wisdom for our audience regarding making a conscious contribution to society? Sandy. Final words.
Closing Thoughts: Making Your Contribution Count
[00:55:24] Sandy Biback: Find your passion and follow it.
[00:55:27] Suzanne F: Thank you so much, Sandy, for sharing your insight, your inspiration, and your social commitment and your advocacy with us today. And discover more podcasts with sheIMPACTpreneurs transforming where we live and work with sustainable social solutions, visit podcast.youmewe.ca
- Please share, and subscribe. Until next time, I’m Suzanne F. Stevens, and I encourage you to make your contribution count for you, me, we.
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