Jessica
Brief Bio
Jessica Munoz has a diverse advanced nursing background. She currently serves as a clinical emergency room nurse practitioner in the State of Hawaii. Jessica has a long history of active involvement with high-risk youth and is a leading advocate for holistic services to this vulnerable population. Rooted on the "justice gene" in her DNA, Jessica is steadfast in shining the light and bringing a response into unjust places.
During the past 11 years Jessica has published articles, provided training and developed intervention strategies, for hundreds of health care professionals, service providers, law enforcement members, and community leaders. She has worked closely with judiciary to help shape a multi-disciplinary response to trafficked youth in Hawaii and beyond. She has served as a trainer and advisor in Cameroon, Africa, in Cambodia and in Thailand. She has also provided services and medical care in Guatemala and Mexico.
Jessica is the Founder of Ho`ōla Nā Pua, "New life for our children", a nonprofit organization whose mission is the prevention of sex trafficking and providing care for youth who have been exploited. She has emphasized a continuum of care and a Response Framework needed for trafficking victims through collaborative, health centric, trauma responsive and integrated systems and victim-centered approaches. One of her initiatives is to open Pearl Haven, Hawaii’s first residential treatment campus for sexually exploited teenage girls. Jessica and her team worked with CBS and the executive producers of the TV show Hawaii Five-0 to bring awareness through the show's March 10th, 2017 episode Puka 'Ana or "exodus" which highlighted child sex trafficking in Hawaii. The episode had over 8.9 million viewers and multiple PSA’s created by the cast to help spread awareness.
Jessica's passion for justice, global health and trauma, and shifting culture has lead her to be a noted conference speaker, lecturer and workshop facilitator, innovator, and social entrepreneur. She was one of the noted TedX Honolulu speakers in 2013. She is the 2007 recepient of the Kapiolani Medical Center Nurse of the Year for Women and Children. In 2010, she was awarded the Faces of Nursing for the State of Hawaii and in 2012 was the national awardee of the Emergency Medicine Physician Inc. Nurse Practitioner of the Year. Jessica is a Pacific Business News “40 under 40" leadership award winner for 2017. She is 2018 class alumni of the Pacific Century Fellows and is also currently in Cohort VII of the distinct Omidyar Fellows Program. Jessica was recognized by Hawaii News Now as the 2019 Hometown Hero and KITV’s most remarkable woman of 2019.