At just 11 years old, Latoya Shea was living a child’s worst nightmare. Stranded after a school event in Kingston, she was lured away by a gang of boys and brutally assaulted. Terrified, ashamed, and convinced she had done something wrong, the young girl stayed silent, wandering the streets for two days before returning home to a family that had no idea what she had just survived.

“I didn’t go home until two days later because I grew up very strict and sheltered, and sometimes I would get slapped for every little thing. I thought I did something wrong. I told a lie that I was at a friend,” she said.

Fast-forward three decades, and the now 45-year-old is a decorated United States Army veteran, a master’s-prepared nurse anesthetist, and a powerhouse beacon of resilience.