Mary Nikkel
@marynikkel.bsky.social
Writer and photographer for music and nonprofits. Senior Content Manager for The Exodus Road. Harbinger of emo. Actual rock and roll Galadriel.
I have learned to believe with my whole heart: if you’ve lost something, it can be found. On rock and emo’s resurgence: marynikkel.substack.com/p/the-lost-a...
The lost and found: rock and emo's resurgence
Have you lost something dear to you? It can be found.
marynikkel.substack.com
August 28, 2025 at 2:13 PM
I have learned to believe with my whole heart: if you’ve lost something, it can be found. On rock and emo’s resurgence: marynikkel.substack.com/p/the-lost-a...
These photos are what I looked like when I was first sent to work, without pay, at 8 years old. Today is World Day Against Child Labor. This is my story. marynikkel.substack.com/p/what-child...
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What child labor taught me to believe about myself
I went to work for the first time around 8 years old. It changed my relationship to myself forever.
marynikkel.substack.com
June 12, 2025 at 12:43 PM
These photos are what I looked like when I was first sent to work, without pay, at 8 years old. Today is World Day Against Child Labor. This is my story. marynikkel.substack.com/p/what-child...
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If you still have X, would you mind retweeting this? Meta’s active sabotaging of our anti-trafficking work has been a source of tremendous harm. x.com/theexodusroa...
May 21, 2025 at 6:13 PM
If you still have X, would you mind retweeting this? Meta’s active sabotaging of our anti-trafficking work has been a source of tremendous harm. x.com/theexodusroa...
Mental healthcare is the #1 reported need of U.S. trafficking survivors. I wrote a deep dive into what some of those needs are. theexodusroad.com/human-traffi...
How does human trafficking affect mental health? - The Exodus Road
Meta description: Human trafficking affects mental health in severe and long-lasting ways. These are some outcomes for survivors.
theexodusroad.com
May 13, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Mental healthcare is the #1 reported need of U.S. trafficking survivors. I wrote a deep dive into what some of those needs are. theexodusroad.com/human-traffi...
I will never and always be a mother: marynikkel.substack.com/p/never-and-...
Never and Always
Why I've chosen not to have children of my own, and why that doesn't mean I am absolved from mothering.
marynikkel.substack.com
May 11, 2025 at 5:50 PM
I will never and always be a mother: marynikkel.substack.com/p/never-and-...
I’ve outlived myself by two years now. marynikkel.substack.com/p/two-years-...
Two years as a ghost
My phone rang all day on April 13, 2023.
marynikkel.substack.com
April 15, 2025 at 8:08 PM
I’ve outlived myself by two years now. marynikkel.substack.com/p/two-years-...
Recovery is like living on black ice: you learn to lean into the slide. marynikkel.substack.com/p/living-on-...
Living on black ice
Recovery means accepting you will sometimes slide.
marynikkel.substack.com
April 1, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Recovery is like living on black ice: you learn to lean into the slide. marynikkel.substack.com/p/living-on-...
I have a particular personal and professional interest in the nuances of trauma, how it manifests in our lives. So researching this piece on Stockholm syndrome and trafficking felt like a passion project.✨ theexodusroad.com/stockholm-sy...
Stockholm syndrome and human trafficking - The Exodus Road
Is Stockholm syndrome real? How are Stockholm syndrome and human trafficking related? Learn more about this type of trauma bond.
theexodusroad.com
March 20, 2025 at 3:27 PM
I have a particular personal and professional interest in the nuances of trauma, how it manifests in our lives. So researching this piece on Stockholm syndrome and trafficking felt like a passion project.✨ theexodusroad.com/stockholm-sy...
Mental health is discussed at a rate I would’ve found impossible years ago. I am so grateful for this. I also wonder sometimes if the urgency has become diluted in the deluge of content. I wonder if we’ve lost sense of what we really stand to gain — or to lose: marynikkel.substack.com/p/stay-alive
We try to just stay alive
I find myself realizing I can lose sight of the stakes in mental health conversations.
marynikkel.substack.com
March 13, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Mental health is discussed at a rate I would’ve found impossible years ago. I am so grateful for this. I also wonder sometimes if the urgency has become diluted in the deluge of content. I wonder if we’ve lost sense of what we really stand to gain — or to lose: marynikkel.substack.com/p/stay-alive
My primary work is serving as Senior Content Manager for a global anti-trafficking organization. I tell stories about some of the most horrific violations humans can inflict — and much of that violence is gender-based. marynikkel.substack.com/p/a-warrior-... marynikkel.substack.com/p/a-warrior-...
A warrior and a mother
It's International Women's Day, and I'm thinking about how survivors of sex trafficking have made me a better woman.
marynikkel.substack.com
March 8, 2025 at 9:05 PM
My primary work is serving as Senior Content Manager for a global anti-trafficking organization. I tell stories about some of the most horrific violations humans can inflict — and much of that violence is gender-based. marynikkel.substack.com/p/a-warrior-... marynikkel.substack.com/p/a-warrior-...
For the first time in a while I dreamed about writing marketing copy, woke up, recorded it, and actually ended up using it, so I guess you could say my productivity game has never been stronger/more disconcertingly obsessive. 💁🏼♀️
March 4, 2025 at 10:33 PM
For the first time in a while I dreamed about writing marketing copy, woke up, recorded it, and actually ended up using it, so I guess you could say my productivity game has never been stronger/more disconcertingly obsessive. 💁🏼♀️
Whew, this one felt cathartic and immensely vulnerable. On purity culture, self-punishment, and how I am learning to accept it isn’t a sin to love my lifelong soul mate. marynikkel.substack.com/p/glass-and-...
Glass and gravel
Falling in love felt like my greatest sin.
marynikkel.substack.com
February 16, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Whew, this one felt cathartic and immensely vulnerable. On purity culture, self-punishment, and how I am learning to accept it isn’t a sin to love my lifelong soul mate. marynikkel.substack.com/p/glass-and-...
Friendly PSA from your neighborhood anti-trafficking professional: human trafficking does not uniquely spike during the Super Bowl. What DOES spike is awareness and policing, creating a psychological effect where it seems more prevalent because we’re paying attention.
February 7, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Friendly PSA from your neighborhood anti-trafficking professional: human trafficking does not uniquely spike during the Super Bowl. What DOES spike is awareness and policing, creating a psychological effect where it seems more prevalent because we’re paying attention.
A tiny, indignant face was on the screen, red with all the ignominy of entering the world. I immediately burst into tears. I knew I had just discovered a new way to love. marynikkel.substack.com/p/the-cool-a...
The cool aunt learns to trust
The pre-dawn hours are my least favorite, but it didn’t matter one morning in Memphis: I was in love.
marynikkel.substack.com
February 6, 2025 at 9:12 PM
A tiny, indignant face was on the screen, red with all the ignominy of entering the world. I immediately burst into tears. I knew I had just discovered a new way to love. marynikkel.substack.com/p/the-cool-a...
It truly blows my mind that I get to be a part of work with this kind of impact. I am truly in awe of the skill our cyber investigations team exercises every single day on behalf of survivors. www.thecoloradogazette.com/article/7829...
www.thecoloradogazette.com
February 5, 2025 at 5:54 PM
It truly blows my mind that I get to be a part of work with this kind of impact. I am truly in awe of the skill our cyber investigations team exercises every single day on behalf of survivors. www.thecoloradogazette.com/article/7829...
Reposted by Mary Nikkel
Banned Book Quote of the Day:
“From what I’ve read,” I said to him, “the world goes crazy every three or four decades. The trick is to survive until it goes sane again.”
—Parable of the Sower, Octavia E. Butler
“From what I’ve read,” I said to him, “the world goes crazy every three or four decades. The trick is to survive until it goes sane again.”
—Parable of the Sower, Octavia E. Butler
January 26, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Banned Book Quote of the Day:
“From what I’ve read,” I said to him, “the world goes crazy every three or four decades. The trick is to survive until it goes sane again.”
—Parable of the Sower, Octavia E. Butler
“From what I’ve read,” I said to him, “the world goes crazy every three or four decades. The trick is to survive until it goes sane again.”
—Parable of the Sower, Octavia E. Butler
In my latest article, I attempt to illuminate another often sensationalized topic: grooming. Some of the statistics are staggering and sobering. I hope that this serves as an invitation for us to protect each other well. influenced.org/what-is-onli...
What is online grooming?
Online grooming is a predatory behavior that has become one of the most pervasive online dangers today. Here’s how to spot grooming and what to do about it.
influenced.org
January 26, 2025 at 6:00 PM
In my latest article, I attempt to illuminate another often sensationalized topic: grooming. Some of the statistics are staggering and sobering. I hope that this serves as an invitation for us to protect each other well. influenced.org/what-is-onli...
Stillborn futures, PTSD, and creating for your life: marynikkel.substack.com/p/stillborn-...
Stillborn futures, PTSD, and creating for your life
The sticky air of early Tennessee summer clung to my skin as 13 patients and a facilitating therapist sat under the slow-lapping sound waves of a Taylor Swift ballad.
marynikkel.substack.com
January 19, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Stillborn futures, PTSD, and creating for your life: marynikkel.substack.com/p/stillborn-...
I spent most of November in the hospital. Here is a little about what that experience is like for me. marynikkel.substack.com/p/medical-tr...
Medical trauma and what it's like to be hospitalized for anorexia
The carpet ground against the skin of my face, my hip bone stabbing into the floor.
marynikkel.substack.com
January 18, 2025 at 4:54 AM
I spent most of November in the hospital. Here is a little about what that experience is like for me. marynikkel.substack.com/p/medical-tr...
In case you wondered what it’s like to exist in the brain of a nonprofit writer, I woke myself up in middle of the night to find myself loudly announcing “new marginalization impacts the ALREADY marginalized the most”
January 18, 2025 at 4:52 AM
In case you wondered what it’s like to exist in the brain of a nonprofit writer, I woke myself up in middle of the night to find myself loudly announcing “new marginalization impacts the ALREADY marginalized the most”
Maybe every hometown is a ghost town, a haunted monument to the selves we left behind. marynikkel.substack.com/p/ghost-town
Maybe every hometown is a ghost town
Maybe every hometown is a ghost town, a haunted monument to the selves we left behind.
marynikkel.substack.com
December 16, 2024 at 4:57 PM
Maybe every hometown is a ghost town, a haunted monument to the selves we left behind. marynikkel.substack.com/p/ghost-town
Starting to catch up on watching the last few years of The Handmaid’s Tale after reading it earlier this year. The role of dystopia as social bellwether has rarely felt more relevant.
November 17, 2024 at 12:32 AM
Starting to catch up on watching the last few years of The Handmaid’s Tale after reading it earlier this year. The role of dystopia as social bellwether has rarely felt more relevant.
I’m a music and nonprofit writer who writes memoir on the side, plus photographs rock shows and world travel. I don’t “niche down” well. I love Lord of the Rings to an unsettling degree. I’m that annoying millennial who misses the potential social media used to have. Nice to meet you! ✨
November 16, 2024 at 9:39 PM
I’m a music and nonprofit writer who writes memoir on the side, plus photographs rock shows and world travel. I don’t “niche down” well. I love Lord of the Rings to an unsettling degree. I’m that annoying millennial who misses the potential social media used to have. Nice to meet you! ✨