Rachel Elizabeth Lloyd, born in 1975 in Stalbridge, Dorset, England, immigrated to the US in 1997. She began working with incarcerated adult women and those coming out of prostitution, later focusing on domestic policy to abolish sex trafficking, particularly the commercial sexual exploitation of children and young women. In 1998, she established Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS) in Harlem, New York, an organization dedicated to addressing these issues.