Survivor Podcast
Featured Guest:
Minor Victim #1 in Epstein Case
We need the first, the #1, the silence-breaker – to start the road toward accountability. To start the storm. Marina is the 9th grader who went into Epstein’s NYC mansion thinking she was getting $300 to give a guy a massage. Listen to her story and hear her courage.
Resources
Survivor Podcast
The Dear Katie Podcast features survivors of sexual assault, rape, and abuse; supporters; authors; celebrities; and agents of change about their survivorship and support. Learn how their journeys can help all survivors and their supporters. Delve into backlash, legal systems, campus reactions, family and friends, mental health, PTSD, substance use, body image, and the journey from hurt to healing and thriving.
After Katie Koestner appeared on the cover of TIME Magazine at age 18 as the first person to speak out nationally and publicly as the victim of “date” rape, she received 100+ letters from others who had never told anyone about their own story. Katie wrote back to all of them, and some of them have now been guests on her Podcast 30+ years later to share their story with the world. The name “Dear Katie” honors all survivors in the power of sharing their story. Silence changes nothing.
Notable Guests & Most Popular Episodes
Rowena Chiu
Weinstein Whistleblower
“I feel that the glass is both half full and half empty.” Rowena Chiu is a former assistant to Harvey Weinstein. In 1998, she was sexually assaulted by him at the Venice Film Festival and was coerced into signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), which silenced her for over twenty years. In 2017, a New York Times journalist came to her home and doorstepped her husband of over a decade, revealing information about the assault and NDA. Rowena was featured in the subsequent NYT investigation, but she insisted on remaining anonymous. In 2019, she finally broke her story on the NBC Today Show, live in front of three million viewers. Rowena’s story was featured in both the book and the movie, SHE SAID.
Jon Vaughn
NFL Player & UMich Survivor
Jon Vaughn made waves around the world as one of the few to publicly speak out against the abuse of University of Michigan doctor Robert Anderson in 2020, leading over 1000 survivors in a lawsuit against the university that settled in 2022. Today, he is a testament to the power of speaking out and advocating for what is right against all odds. Jon Vaughn is a former professional football player who was a running back and kick returner in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons (1991-1994) for the Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, and Kansas City Chiefs. In 2022, the Foundation for Global Sports Development (GSD) honored Jon with its prestigious Humanitarian Award.
Marina Lacerda
Jeffrey Epstein’s Minor Victim #1
Anthony Edwards
Golden Globe – Top Gun
Actor Anthony Edwards discusses the sexual abuse he experienced starting at the age of 12 by a trusted adult mentor, and how that experience informs his acting, his career, and his personal life. Edwards is a four-time Emmy-nominated actor and winner of the Golden Globe Award in 1998 for his work on the network television series ER. He most recently performed as Mr. Franklin in the Broadway revival of Children of a Lesser God and as Mars Harper in Netflix’s Designated Survivor. He has executive-produced a number of award-winning television films and documentaries. Edwards is also a chairman and national spokesperson for the organization 1in6, which was founded by and for male survivors of sexual abuse.
Antuan Raimone
Hamilton on Broadway
The first time Antuan Raimone spoke out as a survivor, he had 90 seconds. But those 90 seconds were all he needed to secure funding for the sexual assault organization he was working with for the following year. In this interview, he details how he dealt with his trauma, how the theater helps him find his strength, and how he learned to acknowledge and live with fear. PAVE Ambassador Antuan Magic Raimone is an Author, TEDxSpeaker, Activist, and Actor with over 20 years of experience in Musical Theatre who is currently a Universal Swing for “Hamilton” on Broadway and across the U.S. He was also the Vacation Swing for the Off-Broadway, Broadway and 1st National Tour of “In The Heights” and has performed at Radio City Music Hall and the Grand Ole Opry in Tennessee.
Rachael Denhollander
Larry Nassar Survivor
Jennifer Hirsch, Columbia Professor
Shamus Khan, Princeton Professor
Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan to discuss their book Sexual Citizens: Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus. Published in January 2020, Sexual Citizens analyzes why sexual assault is so prevalent on college campuses, and how space and power dynamics influence who has control. Jennifer Hirsch is a professor of Socio-medical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Shamus Khan is a professor of Sociology and American Studies at Princeton University.
Winnie Li
Author & Activist
Dr. Winnie M Li is an author, activist, and educator. A former filmmaker, Winnie’s life and career trajectory were severely disrupted at the age of 29, when she became the victim of a violent stranger rape in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her debut novel Dark Chapter (2017) is a fictional re-imagining of that assault and its aftermath, from the perspectives of both victim and perpetrator. Her subsequent novels Complicit (2022) and What We Left Unsaid (2025) also address the legacy of trauma, in workplaces and in families. Winnie’s doctoral research at the London School of Economics explored the emotional labour of ‘public’ rape survivors, and she is now an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham in the UK.
Zahabiyah Yamasaki
Yogi & Survivor
