A Manatee County woman who endured a childhood filled with abuse is helping others to overcome tragedy.

As a child we trust adults, as fending for ourselves is not an option. However, too often adults violate that trust. Lakewood Ranch resident Brook Bello knows this all too well.

"My virginity was stolen at 11 by a fiend of the family," she said. "And that is an incredibly dark side.”

A dark side she tried to escape by running away with a friend.

“My best friend and I were not street savvy and we got picked up by a really nice couple - so we thought," she said. "But it was a pimp and a bottom girl.”

They kidnapped the teens and forced them into a life of prostitution.

“And said if we didn’t do this we would die," Bello said.

Bello says she couldn’t just run away from life as a sex slave. At the time, she felt that her abusers cared for her - even loved her - and that she wouldn’t be able to survive without them.

“There is all the rape and the beatings, and then there is all the love and the showering with gifts," she said.

Through years of rapes and a drug-induced haze, she eventually realized life had to change.

“The brothel was full of men raping me," she said. "From every demographic - doctor, lawyer ... I remember staring off, really intoxicated on drugs, staring at the ceiling and thinking if I ever get out of this I would help girls like me.”

She did eventually escape after police busted the prostitution ring.

In her adult years, Bello opened a center for sex trafficking victims called "More Too Life" located in Sarasota. Her organization has served more than 100 Manatee and Sarasota victims, including mother and daughter Sheretha Johnson and 16-year-old Chantia Burns. Both women say they were also raped as children by family members.

“I didn’t know how to deal with the problems. I thought it was my fault," Johnson said.

“It had an affect on my behavior sexually and just the way I behaved.” Burns added.

Since seeking help through More Too Life,  the two are off the streets and looking forward to better days.

“We have goals. We are more stable," Johnson said. 

 Bello has spoken in front of President Obama twice about sex trafficking and the work her organization does in the Bay Area. More information about More Too Life can be found here