Somaly Mam’s courage and dignity in overcoming her traumatic childhood as a victim of human trafficking, prostitution and abuse has made her one of the world's most inspiring figures and leaders in combating slavery and human injustice. She has been honored as one of the “100 Most Influential People of 2009” by TIME Magazine, was featured as a CNN Hero, garnered the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, was awarded the World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child and has been recognized several times by the US Department of Homeland Security.

Awards and accolades aside however, Somaly Mam’s vision in putting up the Somaly Mam Foundation has always been to put a stop to human trafficking and provide refuge and help for victims, as well as using modern technology to make known to the public the realities of this issue. A Cambodian who managed to escape the horrors of slavery and prostitution at the age of twelve, Somaly Mam vowed never to turn her back on those who were suffering the same fate. In 2007, the Somaly Mam Foundation was born when Air Force Academy graduates Nicholas Lumpp and Jared Greenberg saw a television feature on her and decided to help with the cause.

Somaly Mam's life work is centered on Cambodia's sex slave industry, initially as a local organization called the Agir Pour les Femmes en Situation Precaire (AFESIP), but the Somaly Mam Foundation has since become a U.S.-based non-profit organization with partners in several countries, that provides hygienic support and education to sex workers and victims in Cambodia, rescue and recovery operations in Southeast Asia, counseling, education and job skills training for victims, empowerment and reintegration of these victims into society. The foundation also works on spreading awareness worldwide and has been fearlessly advocating for the eradication of this abusive industry.