Paula Lucas

Paula Lucas was born and raised a Catholic, California farm girl in the agricultural heartland of California. After college, she met an international photographer and spent fourteen years on a journey through Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. In 1999 she fled back to the USA to escape abuse with her three small sons. Homeless, on welfare & food stamps, they lived like gypsies along the California and Oregon coasts to keep hidden. While living in a shelter she founded the Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center, AODVC, to help other Americans abused abroad. In 2012 she founded the Sexual Assault Help & Support for Americans Abroad program, SASHAA. Paula is a social entrepreneur and motivational speaker about overcoming life's obstacles.