Lauri Burns, CEO, Author, Screenplay Writer, Technologist and Philanthropist.
Burns was born into a Jewish family in Long Island, New York where she was physically abused.[1] Her father covered the abuse by reporting her as homicidal with severe psychiatric issues, placing her in Central Islip Psychiatric Ward.[2] Following her release, Burns lived in 18 different group homes during her adolescent years.
Burns eventually fled to Orange County, California where she began using heroin and cocaine.[3] She became homeless at the age of 18 and worked as a paid call girl and prostitute, and gave birth to her daughter at the age of 19. Her daughter was later placed in foster care with Burns continued working the streets. Burns was arrested for prostitution four times, and lived in 31 different places from the ages of 18 to 23. At the age of 23, Burns was beaten and left for dead on a canyon road.[3] The event led Burns to go to rehab, get sober, enroll in school, and get her daughter back.[3]
Burns regained custody of her daughter, who was four years old at the time.[2] She also enrolled in computer classes and began working for a software company. She eventually opened her own computer consulting firm and started to foster teen girls.[2]
Burns began serving on the local Foster Care Advisory Board in 2006 and has taken in 36 teen foster children.[3] In 2007 she started the charity The Teen Project.[4] The charity works with girls out of foster care and victims of sex trafficking by providing drug treatment and life-skills education.[5] In 2010 she released her auto-biography, Punished for Purpose.[6]
Lauri Burns grew up in the foster care system and was homeless at age 18, upon emancipation, like many foster children. She was left on the streets to fend for herself. Within a short period of time, she was addicted to heroin, had a child, and started working the streets as a prostitute to survive. Lauri spent five long years on that dark path, eventually losing her child to social services. In 1987, after a brutal encounter with gunmen, a man she calls "her angel" saved her life. It was at that point that everything changed. Fortunate to receive a scholarship to a treatment center where she could address her trauma, upon graduation, she regained custody of her daughter and was awarded a vocational grant to go to technical school.
After a short while, Lauri launched her own computer consulting firm. Although Lauri's overnight success came with a bright new future, she never forgot those she left behind. Two years after being rescued, Lauri took in the first of the forty-three foster children she would raise. No matter how many kids she took in, she was devastated to see that foster children in America were still ending up homeless and trafficked. Determined to change history, in 2007, she launched The Teen Project nonprofit. Over the next 14 years, Lauri raised 70 million in contract, grants, and donations and setup sites throughout Southern California.
Today, The Teen Project has 85 full time employees (therapists, nurses, and counselors) and 150 beds throughout Southern California for girls in need. The charity provides everything Lauri was given. Free drug treatment, vocational schooling, cars, long term support and transition to a brand-new life.
In 2018, Lauri was gifted a million dollar down-payment from a friend who was an orphan to bid on a multi-million-dollar beautiful, picturesque site with five homes in the Trabuco Canyon. It was a very competitive bid with 26 charities. She was chosen due to her history and transformation. It is now the first drug treatment site for victims of human trafficking, licensed and possessing the highest level of accreditation, Joint Commission. Just this month, another competitive bid launched for the historical building once owned by Children of the Night for children who are victims of trafficking in Los Angeles, again awarded to Lauri for her heroic work. This past year, Lauri made the most compelling move thus far, combining all her knowledge of foster care, trafficking and technology to develop the first real-time bed booking system in the United States for girls that are trafficked.
Inspired and amazed at her vision and ingenuity, Microsoft has joined her team as a partner on the development and launch of the application. The app will during Human Trafficking Awareness month and have strong press presence at Superbowl. Lauri's life story, Punished for Purpose, was published on Amazon in 2010. Lauri’s transformational story has been featured on People Magazine, Oprah.com, Family Circle, CNN, news stations and she has appeared on numerous television shows. Tireless in her efforts, Lauri continues to travel the world telling her story of survival, redemption and hope to empower others to join in rescuing America's throw away kids.
I truly believe my life was saved, to save the others... I will not rest until they are all home. -- Lauri Burns
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