ABOUT US
Step Up Stop Slavery is a non-profit organisation committed to creating a conscious free world, built on love, compassion, respect and collaboration.
Our objective is to end modern slavery and human trafficking, through conscious awareness, education and holistic support to survivors.
We are passionate about educating and empowering people and institutions to become powerful players in the fight against modern slavery. We are dedicated to providing expert professional and emotional support to survivors, to help them on their journey of healing from the trauma and reintegration into society. We implement a comprehensive multi-disciplinary trauma informed approach in our training to all stakeholders to empower them in being powerful players in the fight against modern slavery.
Our team brings a wealth of professional experience from varied disciplines, which is essential to ensure the implementation of an effective multi-disciplinary approach which is what we need to fight human slavery. Our board consists of passionate professionals, committed to bringing about global change by creating a sustainable, ethical and transparent society which values dignity, freedom and humanity. Our team brings with it professional experience in law, law enforcement, anti-financial crime compliance and corporate governance, as well as supply chain management and psychotherapy. We also have the honour of incorporating the
powerful survivors voice in our work.
Meet the Team
Katerina Stephanou
Founder, CEO
Katerina is a pioneer and change maker, with over 20 years of corporate experience as a Solicitor, CAMS-certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and the Head of Global Compliance at a multinational organisation.
Katerina’s personal commitment to eradicate modern slavery and human trafficking, was the driving force behind the establishment of Step Up Stop Slavery. Her high level Compliance experience gives her the unique perspective to approach the problem of human slavery from a holistic angle, appreciating the multi-disciplined element and the need for a co-ordinated approach to creating and implementing solutions.
Katerina uses her background in financial crimes compliance and holistic corporate governance structures to support corporations and financial institutions identify and report proceeds emanating from human slavery. Uniting all elements needed to effectively fight trafficking, Katerina also bring the survivors’ voices into the conversation.
Katerina is also a speaker, writer and a mentor.
Rita Theodorou Superman
Director
Rita acted as Head of the Office for Combating Trafficking in Persons in Cyprus for 15 years until June 2020. Under her tenure, Cyprus was upgraded by the US Department of State to tier 1 and in 2016 she was awarded as a trafficking expert by the US Secretary of State.
As a member of the European Commission’s Group of Experts for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, and the Group of Experts Against Trafficking in Human Beings of the Council of Europe (GRETA), Rita has participated in several European funded projects, in collaboration with universities, law enforcement, prosecuting authorities and NGOs. She was also the first Head of the Group of Experts on Trafficking in Human Beings of Interpol.
At Step Up Stop Slavery, Rita draws on her experience training law enforcement and judiciary, to run workshops combating human trafficking. She also runs the survivors support legal centre and is preparing a handbook for law enforcement about financial investigations.
Artemis Evangelidi
Director
Artemis is a Holistic Business Lawyer and Conscious Business Change Agent. Through her company Aipeia Consulting, she has developed the necessary tools to help people integrate and innovate as they expand their consciousness in the world of business.
With +20 years of experience working across four continents and with some of the world’s largest investment companies, CEOs and government bodies, Artemis is dedicated to helping create Conscious Leaders, by expanding mindsets and empowering people to ‘Be The Change’.
Artemis is passionate about raising global consciousness through ethical and transparent business practices; and at Step Up Stop Slavery, she brings this expertise and commitment, to help companies across a broad spectrum of industries run their businesses consciously.
Dr. Shawn Bhimani
Director
Shawn is a researcher, lecturer and leading voice in global supply chain corporate social responsibility. His research is focused on mitigating the supply chain risk of human trafficking, by implementing social responsibility programmes and deeply understanding how human trafficking works as a business.
With a background in the supply chain division of a leading Fortune 500 company, Shawn has taught undergraduate and MBA supply chain courses across top tier universities and presents his research at global business conferences. Today, he also engages with multi-sector partners to apply real word supply chain knowledge to protect government and corporate supply chains combat trafficking and limit its ability to operate.
Bringing all this expertise to the Step Up Stop Slavery table, Shawn will be running workshops and training to support corporations to spot and eradicate slavery in their supply chains.
Timea Nagy Payne
Expert Advisor
A best-selling author, international keynote speaker, expert trainer and award-winning social advocate, Timea Nagy is also a survivor of sex trafficking, who uses her experience for good. Following her escape, Timea founded the first victim’s safe house in Canada, as well as the world's first survivor-led global education and awareness organisation, Timea’s Cause, working to prevent trafficking and modern slavery.
Timea has also played a key role in setting up the Canadian National Financial Human Trafficking Task Force called Project Protect and has helped change several human trafficking laws in Canada.
The first survivor of human trafficking to train banks and financial institutions on human trafficking detection through transactions, today Timea is a sitting member of the UN Financial Sector Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. She continues to be active in encouraging all levels of government to implement effective and systematic changes.
With Step Up Stop Slavery, Timea draws on her life experiences to help advise the team on the best ways to support survivors. In her capacity as an expert trainer, she will also be helping to spearhead training workshops for the police in Cyprus, to help them better understand how to detect human trafficking activity and victims.
Jerome Elam
Expert Advisor
As a survivor of child abuse, child sex trafficking and child pornography, Jerome Elam has dedicated much of his adult life to saving others from the fate he suffered as a child. He is a member of the International Survivors of Trafficking Advisory Council at OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), as well as the President and CEO of Trafficking in America Task Force - an NGO which stands in the gap for male victims of sex trafficking.
Jerome’s work as an anti-trafficking activist, focuses on being a voice for the men and boys who are also victims of trafficking, but who often get overlooked within the conversation. There is an element of shame that comes with male victims, which can often cause them to not speak out. Jerome is sharing his own story to help others feel empowered to tell theirs.
For Jerome, human trafficking activism has become a way to survive the struggles he has faced in his life. He is also passionate about writing, and his inspiring way with words has seen him take the stage at multiple public speaking engagements, where he raises awareness and advocates for against these heinous crimes.
Xenia Papandreou
Head of Psychological Support Team
Xenia is a licensed Counselling Psychologist who works with adults and adolescents struggling with anxiety, depression, addiction, relationship difficulties, childhood trauma, domestic violence, physical and sexual abuse, work related stress, and confidence issues.
Xenia holds a pluralistic perspective, meaning that she orientates therapy around clients’ individual needs and wants at that particular time in their lives. Her approach is integrative and collaborative, adapting to the client’s needs as an individual.
She has training and experience in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Person-Centred approaches. She also incorporates psychoeducation, attachment theory, mindfulness and acceptance-based approaches, internal family systems, as well as neuroscience and creative arts therapy.
She completed her BSc in Psychology at City University in London, and her MSc in Counselling Psychology at the University of Nicosia. As a registered member of the Cyprus Association of Psychologists (CYPSA) and a graduate member of the British Psychological Society (BPS), Xenia will use her experience and knowledge to head up the psychological support centre for victims of trafficking in Cyprus, guiding them on the path to healing and reintegration into society.
Tina Pavlou
Expert Advisor
Tina Pavlou is a licenced clinical psychotherapist specialising in substance abuse, addiction and family therapy.
Having completed a Masters in Clinical Social Work and Family Therapy, as well as a BA in Psychology and Sociology, Tina’s career began with roles as a Counsellor at the National Institute of Health, National Cancer Institute and as a Clinical Social Worker for the Washington DC Government’s Department of Human Services, Child and Family Services, providing intensive psychosocial counselling, case management and crisis intervention for children of drug addicted families, as well as the parents themselves.
Tina returned to Cyprus in 1998 to design the inaugural clinical programme for Agia Skepi Therapeutic Community – a rehabilitation centre for people struggling with long-term substance abuse. Today she is the Clinical Director of the centre, assisting patients to recover from substance abuse and reintegrate into society. Since 2013, Tina has also run her own private practice in Nicosia where she conducts clinical psychotherapy with individuals, couples and families.
Tina is a certified HIV and AIDS counsellor, a member of the Parole Board of Cyprus and the Prison Board for the Cyprus Prison and has also been a member of the Anti-Drug Council of Cyprus and a Lecturer of Clinical Treatment of Addictions and Family Therapy at the University of Nicosia.
Emily Millett
Communications Director
Emily started her career in PR, coordinating global communications for a number of international corporations, before transitioning to journalism, writing and later editing a leading travel trade magazine.
Today she has carved out a path as a self-employed writer, editor and content creator, producing unique and compelling content for international magazines and organisations, while also overseeing the marketing and communications for a number of clients across a broad spectrum of industries.
As Step Up Stop Slavery’s communications specialist, Emily will be working with the team to shape the voice of the organisation and create multi-platform content that educates, raises awareness and inspires action. A firm believer in the old adage, ‘The pen is stronger than the knife’, Emily advocates for a nonviolent communication approach, hoping that through our words, we can help change the world for the better.
Maria Diomidous
Legal Expert
Maria Diomidous has been working in the legal sector since 2008, holding a variety of positions within the fields of commercial law, compliance, AML and corporate governance, as well as legal research and teaching at university level.
During her studies at University College London (UCL), Maria spent time volunteering for a London based NGO, conducting legal research in the field of corruption and resource exploitation during armed conflicts. She was awarded an LL.M with merit in Public International Law from UCL in 2007,
On returning to Cyprus in 2008, Maria was admitted to the Cyprus Bar with merit, and pursued a career within the corporate and financial services sphere. Throughout her career, Maria has also continued to feed her passion for legal research and learning, with roles teaching Public International Law at a UK university based in Cyprus, as well as in the online educational sector, tutoring university students and developing material for online law modules.
Using this experience and expertise, Maria is responsible for conducting legal research at Step Up Stop Slavery, pertaining to human trafficking and modern slavery in Cyprus.