Dawn's Mom and Dad in 1977.
Dawn with her father, brother and sister at the New Jersey boardwalk before her dad left for Viet Nam.
Graduation with honors in 2012
Dawn Schiller, M.A. is an expert survivor-leader in the anti-trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual assault movements. Abused and trafficked on the streets of Hollywood in her teens by the infamous porn actor, John Holmes, she survived the gruesome Wonderland Avenue murders in 1981 and ultimately turned him in to the police. Her subsequent years of struggle to survivorship, education, and service to others offer valuable first-hand insight to community advocates. Today, she is a national speaker, educator, consultant, coach, and author.
Dawn earned her undergraduate degree summa cum laude in 2012 from Eastern Oregon University with honors in communication and gender studies. She received the “Women of Vision and Courage” award from the EOU President’s Commission on the Status of Women. She is a Phi Kappa Phi Kathleen Greey Fellow and received a teaching fellowship from Oregon State University earning her Master of Arts in Women’s Studies in 2020. She has served as a board member for Shelter from the Storm, founded the non-profit, E.S.T.E.A.M., (Empowering Successful Teens through Education, Awareness & Mentoring), and developed the “Mirrors of Me” girl’s art, writing, and mentoring program for at-risk and marginalized youth. Dawn regularly visits the girls in Los Angeles juvenile halls who struggle with substance abuse, sharing her experience, strength, hope, and recovery.
Sixteen-year old Dawn with John Holmes, summer 1977.
With John, surrounded by temptation.
Dawn with her daughter in 2012.
In film, Dawn has worked as an associate producer and consultant on the film “Wonderland” where Kate Bosworth portrayed her, and Val Kilmer played John Holmes. In television, her story has been told on the Travel Channel (2011) Hidden City Crime Files: L.A., the Investigative Discovery Channel (2013), Porn Star Pedophile, CBS KOIN Channel Six (2013), The Road Through Wonderland, featured on Human Trafficking in the United States, produced by the Crittenden Foundation & the Office for Victims of Crime (2016), and on the Oxygen Channel (2018) Mysteries & Scandals.
Dawn is an art and social justice writer-at-large and regularly conducts memoir-writing workshops. She taught women’s studies and activism at Oregon State University and shares her story of abuse, trafficking, and survival in her presentations to inspire, educate and motivate communities across the United States. Her academic presentations dynamically infuse lived experience on topics of anti-violence, anti-trafficking (Commercial Sexual Exploitation & Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children), trauma and trauma-informed care, teen/child abuse, the media, ally-ship, resilience, addiction, recovery, and healing.
Nationally, Dawn is a violence and human trafficking expert consultant with the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime (TTAC), the Department of Health & Human Services Office on Trafficking in Persons (NHTTAC), and the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. She is a founding member of “Survivor 2 Survivor” (S2S) and a member of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking’s (CAST) “Resilient Voices”.
Dawn has been nominated for multiple awards, including the R.O.S.E. (Regaining One's Self Esteem) award and the Sunshine Peace award. She received the federal “Granting Courage” scholarship in 2016 and has been honored by the City of West Hollywood for her work in developing anti-violence and human trafficking trainings (2020). Above all else, Dawn’s greatest joy is the privilege to be a parent to her talented daughter. She is eternally grateful for her recovery.