Carol Gomez, '07

Founding Director, Matahari: Eye of the Day and the Trafficking Victims Outreach and Services Network, Boston, Mass.

Working to end human trafficking and gender-based violence

Carol Gomez says her passion for raising awareness to social issues stems from her childhood. Growing up, her mom and sisters taught her to be "community minded." As a teenager in Malaysia, she performed with a dance company that incorporated social themes into modern dance. Now, the School of Social Work student is leading an organization devoted to eliminating the abominable practice of human slavery.

Gomez is founding director of Matahari: Eye of the Day, and its program, Trafficking Victims Outreach and Services, a Boston-based network started in 2003 to create community solutions to end human trafficking and gender-based violence. The organization has intervened in more than 50 cases in the Greater Boston area, assisting young "mail order" brides, domestic workers trafficked as human slaves from Asia and Africa, and young girls coerced into prostitution throughout Massachusetts and other states.

"Our goal at Matahari is to create a social transformation that prevents these kinds of human rights violations from ever happening or being tolerated," says Gomez.

In order to better achieve that goal, Gomez decided she needed to augment her undergraduate degree in women's studies with a master in social work from Simmons. "Through my various professional and personal contacts in Boston, I had heard great things about Simmons's School of Social Work. I attended an informational event at the school and was immediately impressed by the diverse faculty and by the sense of community. But what I found most appealing was the curriculum, which incorporated non-traditional ways of looking at clinical work and the importance of social action."

Gomez is enrolled in the school's extended program, which allows her to continue working at her organization while taking classes part time. "The extended program is really flexible and caters to working professionals. It helps me maintain a healthy balance in my life and keeps me from burnout. It also allows me to spread out the costs of securing my master's degree in a way that is financially feasible for me. I'm very pleased with my decision to attend Simmons."