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Marti MacGibbon            

Humorous Inspirational Speaker, Award-Winning Author, Expert on Trauma Resolution, Human Trafficking & Addiction

Marti MacGibbon, CADC-II, ACRPS, CAPMS, is a humorous inspirational speaker, author, and expert on trauma resolution and addiction. She holds five professional certifications in her specialized field. She is a Human Trafficking Expert Consultant to the US Dept. of State.

Few speakers have a personal comeback story as riveting and inspirational as MacGibbon’s. She has recovered from and triumphed over nightmare experiences such as being trafficked to Tokyo and held prisoner by Japanese organized crime, homelessness, domestic violence, childhood sexual assault, PTSD, and addiction.

In addition to speaking to criminal justice and healthcare professionals on overcoming adversity, empowerment, addiction recovery, and inspiration, MacGibbon speaks on human trafficking, DV, and other violence against women. She has spoken at The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, at The Museum of Tolerance, at colleges and universities, and from the center of an MMA octagon at an anti-human trafficking cage-fighting event. She’s been interviewed in Investor’s Business Daily, Entrepreneur, and Glamour, on ABC-TV, CBS-TV, FOX-TV and numerous radio stations.

An advocate for victims and survivors, MacGibbon has spoken at the California State Legislature, the White House and the Dept. of State. She served on the Indiana Attorney General’s state-wide anti-trafficking task force and developed curriculum for and taught a life skills class for women with trauma history in Marion County Jail. Ms. MacGibbon is an engaged leader who currently serves as President at MENTARI Human Trafficking Survivor Empowerment Program in NY, NY, and on the Advisory Board at Justice At Last in San Francisco.

From 2011 to 2019, MacGibbon was founder, producer, and emcee of Laff-Aholics Standup Comedy Benefit for Recovery, an annual charity fundraiser in Indianapolis that features nationally headlining comedians. One hundred percent of the profits from the show went to transitional housing facilities in Indy that provide access to addiction treatment and mental health services for the recovery community’s most vulnerable.

The Indiana Addictions Issues Coalition (IAIC) honored MacGibbon with the 2015 Indiana Lifetime Recovery Advocate Award for outstanding accomplishments in support of recovery, and her work in breaking away the stigma surrounding addiction, mental illness, and human trafficking.

MacGibbon has performed at the world-famous Hollywood Improv and at the Comedy Store in Hollywood, and has traveled the U.S. as a professional standup comic.

Speech Topics


Human Trafficking: Victim to Triumphant Survivor

Many sex trafficking victims do not survive — even after rescue. The experience is so traumatic that survivors kill themselves, lose their lives to drugs, or are drawn back into the world of trafficking and disappear. Marti MacGibbon survived, healed, and now works as an advocate and activist, lending her voice to the anti-trafficking movement. Marti brings inspiration, hope and even humor to her own story of survival, how she turned her life around, and what is being done to combat human trafficking, a billion-dollar criminal industry.

Hope After Dope

When it comes to carrying the message of recovery, laughter wins. Marti shares stories of hope with humor, drawing from her life experiences as both addict and addiction treatment provider. She offers clinical information about the disease of addiction and insight into implementing a successful program of recovery and relapse prevention.

Laughing All the Way Up from Rock Bottom

Marti shares her personal comeback story-from human trafficking, addiction and homelessness to standup comic, professional speaker and bestselling author. Using humor, Marti reveals the core beliefs and simple, effective strategies she used to pull herself up from rock bottom.

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