This TED Talk features anti-trafficking champion Nikki Clifton, recorded live at TED at UPS 2018.

A few years ago, I got a call from the highest ranking legal official in the state of Georgia, the Attorney General.

That moment was a wake-up call.

It was 2013, and the city of Atlanta

was hosting the Final Four basketball tournament.

The AG called to ask if the company that I work for

could help sponsor billboards that would be put up around the city

as part of an anti-human trafficking campaign.

He said this was important

because sex trafficking spikes

with big sporting events

and with conventions.

And the billboards would help to raise awareness.

Now, if I'm being honest with you,

my first inclination was to politely decline.

Let's face it, there are thousands of things that corporate America could get involved in.

Sex trafficking seemed a little messy. Little bit too difficult, something that's better left for someone else. But then I started

to understand and learn how big the problem really is, and that it's rampant in my company's hometown.

I lived and worked in Atlanta for years. I practiced law here,

and yet I had no idea that the birthplace of my children

is among the most prevalent cities for sex trafficking in the U.S.

At last report, Atlanta's illegal sex trade

...