After escaping child trafficking at four, one woman turned her trauma into a multi-platform mission—memoir, micro-courses, and a boutique press that puts authors first
There are origin stories that inspire, and then there are origin stories that indict. Dana Priyanka Hammond‘s falls squarely in the latter category. At four years old, she was abandoned at an Indian train station, kidnapped in a rice sack, and thrust into the machinery of child trafficking—a fate millions never escape. That she survived is extraordinary. That she’s building an empire from those ashes is something else entirely.
Today, Hammond is an author, entrepreneur, and advocate whose work spans memoir, faith-based personal development, and what she calls “trauma-informed, faith-aware” community building. Her memoir, Abandoned But Not Forgotten, lays bare the violence of broken systems—foster care, adoption, trafficking—with a rawness that has made it essential reading for survivors and advocates alike. But Hammond isn’t content to simply tell her story. She’s building infrastructure to amplify others’.
The Business of Healing, Without the Therapy License
Hammond is quick to clarify: she’s not a therapist. What she offers through her judgment-free healing community is something different—affordable micro-courses and micro-workbooks designed for people who aren’t ready, willing, or able to access traditional therapy. “It’s guided self-help,” the company notes, “where members work at their own pace, on their own terms.”
The model is intentionally gentle: short lessons, reflection prompts, downloadable journals, and simple weekly practices that help members reframe painful narratives and build daily resilience habits. For survivors navigating financial barriers or geographic isolation, it’s a lifeline that meets them exactly where they are. And the business model is sustainable—low overhead, high accessibility, scalable without losing intimacy.
This isn’t feel-good fluff. Hammond’s academic credentials—a Bachelor’s in Business Administration with concentrations in Management and Project Management, and a completed Master’s in Organizational Leadership from the University of Maine at Presque Isle—inform every workflow. Her graduate coursework in strategic leadership, ethical decision-making, and systems thinking translates directly into how she structures community engagement, author services, and transparency.
DPH Publishing: Craft Over Hype
In 2025, Hammond launched Dana Priyanka Hammond Publishing, a boutique micro-press with a singular focus: manuscript-ready production with author-first care. No predatory contracts. No hidden costs. No empty promises about bestseller lists. Just professional editorial, interior layout, cover design, ISBN procurement, and broad distribution to major retailers and libraries.
What sets DPH apart is its “amplify without agency” philosophy. Instead of selling expensive marketing packages, Hammond is building collaboration-based outreach options—partnerships with magazines like She Exists, nonprofits, libraries, and faith communities. Authors can opt into media pitch packs, event-in-a-box toolkits, ARC campaigns, or curriculum companions that pair books with self-paced reflection tools. It’s marketing as values-aligned collaboration, not vendor extraction.
“We make the book excellent and retailer-ready,” Hammond explains, “then open doors to partners who share your mission—so you can choose the paths that fit your message, capacity, and budget without surrendering control of your story.”
For memoir writers, counselors, and purpose-driven storytellers—especially survivors—DPH offers what traditional publishing often doesn’t: respect, transparency, and the understanding that some books aren’t products; they’re testimony.
The Whole-Life Project
Hammond’s work doesn’t stop at emotional healing; she provides financial guidance for families, students, and solopreneurs—recognizing that practical stability is foundational to recovery. “You can have all the therapy in the world,” she notes, “but if you can’t pay rent, that stress undermines everything else.”
She also speaks nationally on platforms like A-Speakers and SpeakerHub, delivering talks that blend scholarship with lived experience, including resilience and faith, ethical leadership, and trauma-informed community design. Her message is consistent: healing is a whole-life project that requires both inner work and outer stability.
Now, Hammond is preparing for perhaps her most ambitious undertaking yet—a documentary journey back to India to search for her birth parents and chronicle the realities of child trafficking. It’s personal, but it’s also strategic: convert awareness into action, show the world what trafficking actually looks like, and prove that some stories refuse to end in silence.
For anyone interested in purpose-driven entrepreneurship, Hammond’s trajectory offers a compelling case study. She’s built multiple revenue streams—books, community membership, publishing—all anchored by a mission forged in survival. She didn’t wait for permission, funding, or perfect conditions. She simply refused to let the worst thing that happened to her be the last thing.
That four-year-old girl at the train station didn’t just survive. She’s building an empire on the other side.
