Ouleye Ndoye Warnock, C’2007, is a pioneer. As the inaugural senior human trafficking fellow for the City of Atlanta, she was recently featured in the “Atlanta Voice” for her work in helping Atlanta combat human trafficking.
Appointed by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Warnock reports to the mayor’s chief staff and is considered a member of the mayor’s executive team. Her role, made possible by the Partnership for Freedom, is to develop a citywide response to preventing human trafficking and provide support for survivors.
Prepared to Lead. Destined to Change the World.
Using insight acquired as an undergraduate student at Spelman College and as a graduate student at Columbia University and Oxford University, Warnock is well-suited for the opportunities and challenges the position will present. She holds a M.Sc. in Migration Studies from Oxford’s Department of International Development and School of Anthropology, and a Masters in History from Columbia University where she is currently pursuing her Ph.D. She graduated from Spelman with honors, Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, in the top 1% of her class with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, with a concentration on francophone Africa.
Warnock, who led the first group of Spelman and Morehouse students to Senegal in 2007 through her service as president of the Student Government Association, began advocating for individuals impacted by sex trafficking as a result of scholarships and fellowships that afforded her opportunities to work in the field of human rights in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. She found her niche in human rights by working with African asylum seekers, and advocating for improved education and health of young girls in rural Senegal through the Women’s Health Education and Prevention Strategies Alliance’s 10,000 Girls Program.
Working to Put an End to Human Trafficking
With over a decade of experience working to support the rights of women and children throughout the world, Warnock continues to advocate for human rights — access to health care, education, prevention of sexual violence, and a safe place to call home — for all people. She has already made a significant impact in the city of Atlanta as a result of her work which first included making sure officials and the general public truly understood what human trafficking is.
“Human trafficking is modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. Traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to lure their victims and force them into labor or commercial sexual exploitation,” according to the United States Department of Homeland Security.
Warnock, during her first eight months in her role as human trafficking fellow, developed a “comprehensive blueprint” to provide insight on the current state of sex trafficking, including analysis on survivor services, current anti-trafficking programs, policy recommendations and much more, as reported in an Atlanta Voice article by Martel Sharpe.
Educating and Empowering Government and Private Sectors
Committed to educating and empowering, Warnock created a human trafficking training guide that can be used by agencies and organizations. Specifically, the training has been requested by the Atlanta Police Department and the Super Bowl Host Committee and it’s over 10,000 volunteers.
In October 2018, Warnock organized the city of Atlanta’s first Human Trafficking Policy Roundtable which brought together more than 50 community leaders and 15 organizations from the public and private sectors to talk with experts on issues such as new policy trends and the evolution of the healthcare delivery system. Participants learned about current labor and sex trafficking practices. They also discussed factors such as signage in schools, hotels and convenience stores; parents’ roles in prevention and reporting; and ways to bridge the generational gap to better educate communities on human trafficking.
