Born Out of Tragedy

Stephenie Rodriguez, the inventor of WanderSafe, stands proudly at the podium during this year’s annual Crime Stoppers International conference at the prestigious Hague. She knows all too well the type of situation that Ruth found herself in. She hears it all the time. But that’s not the only type of situation that the WanderSafe helps protect against.

In fact, Stephenie knows all too well the experience of being a victim of a violent attack…

“I was working in the travel industry and was travelling extensively for business to 55 countries, and most of the time I would travel alone. I was fearless. But nothing prepared me for that morning in Geneva when I would get out of bed, throw on my running gear and got in the elevator to go for a quick run before work. I entered a dimly lit elevator, and there was a man, 6’5 ft reeking of alcohol. He pinned me against the elevator and propositioned me.”

“How much baby, or do I take from you?” He snarled in my face.

The next seconds felt like centuries. Finally, the elevator doors opened, and I twisted myself from his grip and dove out of the elevator and ran into the hotel lobby and kept running til I was outside. I caught my breath leaning against the cold cement bricks of the hotel in the cold Geneva morning air. I thanked God that I escaped, but that changed everything for me.

“I know I am not the only person who has ever been a victim,” Stephenie Rodriguez said to the packed conference room. “I want any of you who have ever felt fearful, and held your keys in your hand like brass knuckles to stand up.” In the room full of conference attendees at the Hague, every woman and a few senior men stood up. Gasps could be heard from those seated, almost unaware that this problem was as rife and profound.

“My story and yours are the reason why I created the WanderSafe safety solution – the free smartphone app and the Beacon.”

After Stephenie’s incident, she started researching the circumstances surrounding assault and violent crimes against vulnerable people. She spoke to law enforcement officers through the CrimeStoppers Network, people at Stop the Traffick.org, and her colleagues in the OSAC.gov Women In Security Council. As the conversation continued she met retired CIA Counterterrorism expert and veteran officer Thomas Pecora, author of Guardian, the CIA’s War on Terror.

“The CIA teach that personal safety basics are first the ability to ‘fight with light’ and one of the most necessary tools is a flashlight. Smartphones have a torch feature, but most of them are too cumbersome with a locked screen to quickly access them when under stress and in a sticky situation where seconds count,” said Pecora.

The ability to distract a potential threat is also mission critical, so a strobe functionality is a fail-safe way to buy seconds where they matter most and why a strobe function is a MUST.”

The CIA also believe that the inability to scream under stress is a huge contributing factor towards the success of kidnappings and assaults as under great duress victims cannot make a noise,” Pecora says. “Losing the ability to scream is a bi-product of extreme terror.”

Hearing this statistic gave Stephenie the idea for the WanderSafe Beacon feature set.

“I set out to build the most practical, functional and powerful personal alarm that was completed non-violent and anyone can use,” Stephenie says. “To make it easy to hold and easy to use and as loud as possible.”

But, Ms Rodriguez is hoping for more than just an assault deterrent. She wants to help stop all kinds of crimes.

“It can be used fin so many different situations,” she says. “Parents can give it to their kids as an extra layer of protection. Teenagers can use it so they can feel safe walking home. Women can know it’s there when they have to use the parking garage at night. My mother, who is 76 years old, carries it around in case she falls and needs to alert people for help. I only wish I’d have thought of it earlier…”

Her voice trails off. It’s clear that all the women she met through her travels and their stories haunt her.

After Stephenie is done speaking, she is met by Neil from Stop the Traffick.org and Mike Jander from Digital Ally who want to collaborate and thank her for her innovation. But they have to get in line. It seems the WanderSafe Beacon and platform have inspired many.

Finally, after dozens of other people have had their turn to thank talk with Stephenie, Tracey Regimbal who was in the audience has a quiet word to her. Tracey explains how she was nearly raped by a taxi driver in Rome on her way to a new posting with the NATO Defence college. She narrowly escaped but related to the importance that every vulnerable person own a beacon and download the WanderSafe free app.

It’s a story Rodriguez hears almost every day—how her invention is so necessary and is able to help someone in need.

“But I never get tired of hearing it,” she says with a smile – it’s deeply satisfying to make something that can make a real difference.