Our Story

EsperanzArt was founded by Miguel, an Ecuadorian who survived a childhood of poverty and neglect and his wife Desi, who had a huge passion for seeing redemption and restoration in the lives of women who had been hurt due to the sex industry.

As a young boy, Miguel was all to familiar with need and lacked many basic necessities. By the time he was a teenager, he was living on the streets by himself. He had no expectation of his life improving, and he began to lose hope.

That was, until a local ministry intervened and gave him a second chance.

Due to this ministry, his life changed dramatically. He received support and love, and he was able to redirect the course of his life. Eventually, he graduated from the program and married Desi, but he never forgot the events of his past. His heart for people with similar pasts as him grew into a passion for seeing the same change and growth that he was able to experience fostered in others.

Miguel, alongside his wife Desi, started EsperanzArt for this reason. They say an opportunity to serve people who are often overlooked and in desperate need of help and hope.

EsperanzArt serves as a transformational, vocational workshop for women coming out of the sex trade. It provides them with a stable income working in a safe environment while also going through the brave process of healing from the trauma of prostitution. By alleviating the stress of needing to earn an income for them and their families, it allows our women to focus and embrace healing and change in their lives. EsperanzArt gets to help by offering hope to these women. This is where we get our name!

'Esperanza' is the Spanish word for 'hope'. Our vision is to offer hope through art. We strive to offer:

• Emotional Hope: Helping the young women gain confidence by healing through art and building positive relationships.  
• Economic Hope: Gaining work experience while completing their high school education which improves their capacity to find a permanent career and support their children (most are single young moms).
• Spiritual Hope: Reclaiming their true worth through weekly devotionals and learning Christian principles in the workplace.

The EsperanzArt’s jewelry workshop is part of a larger anti-slavery organization called ESE: End Slavery Ecuador. All of ESE's ministries aim to help women and their kids who are coming out of vulnerable situations such as sex trafficking, prostitution, and other abuse.

Learn more here! For more about ESE, please visit www.endslaveryecuador.com & follow on instagram @endslaveryecuador.

* Note: We love sharing the women's stories of healing and redemption. However, some of them come from dangerous situations. For this reason, we must protect the privacy and security of our women by not revealing names, showing faces, or sharing identifying information*