The Masculine Wilderness Podcast · Epik Project

The Cyber Fight Against Human Trafficking & The Power of Brotherhood – Ryan McCullough

·57 min·4 clips

Tom Perez opens by welcoming listeners back to the Masculine Wilderness Podcast. He describes the show as an ongoing conversation among good men and the people who love them. The framing stays simple: how people can show up in the world as their best selves, and what pulls them in that direction. Ryan McCullough is introduced as part of the Epic network and someone who has been doing the work with the team for a while. Tom makes the point that voices like his matter because they have already been in it. Ryan greets Tom warmly and says this is their first face-to-face meeting. He offers a quick picture of his life in Rochester Hills, a suburb of Detroit, where he lives with his wife and four children. Two are at home in high school and two are in college. The conversation begins there, in an ordinary family-centered register. From that point, Tom and Ryan talk about Ryan's role in the broader Epic network and why it matters to bring in people who have actually done the work. The episode keeps circling back to the idea that this is a conversation among men trying to live responsibly. The tone stays reflective rather than polished or flashy. The middle of the discussion shifts into a real-world encounter involving suspected exploitation. Ryan describes meeting someone who presented himself as a buyer. He says they already knew something was off, which changed how they handled the exchange. Their immediate goal was not to win an argument. It was to keep the man talking long enough that he would not make a move that night. Ryan is clear that they did not expect to change his mind right then. They did share evidence and send links to videos and other material. Tom presses on what happens after a lead like that is found. Ryan says the information is passed to the local sheriff's office. He also says the team usually never hears the final outcome. That one-way flow is treated as a normal part of the work, not a sign that the effort failed. The conversation leaves room for the frustration in that reality. It also leaves room for the seriousness of simply getting the information to the right people. Tom says the trust built with law enforcement across the country is one of the parts of the work he values most. Ryan closes by urging listeners to look for ways to create belonging for the people around them. He connects that to coming out of the inward turn of COVID and turning outward again toward inclusion, love, and community. Tom ends by thanking Ryan for his friendship and for being in the trenches with him. The episode lands as a plainspoken conversation about responsibility, brotherhood, and the patient work of trying to protect people.

As heard by us

A grounded conversation about Epic Project, family life, and the practical work of responding to trafficking concerns.

Tom Perez and Ryan McCullough spend the episode on Epic Project, family life, and the uneasy work of answering trafficking concerns without pretending there is a clean fix.

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Why you'd press play

You want a calm, practical look at men doing hard moral work, including what it looks like when they sit with a suspected trafficking lead and try to buy time.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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