This book is for you if…
- You’ve ever wondered if healing is really possible.
- You’ve struggled with shame or believed your past defines you.
- You’ve found yourself trapped in unhealthy or abusive relationships.
- You’re learning to reclaim your voice after trauma.
- You love someone who’s walking through their own healing journey.
- You’re drawn to true stories of people who have survived the unimaginable and found a way forward.
A Story That Has Reached More Than 95 Million People
What began as a story I was once afraid to tell has now reached more than 95 million people through media and speaking engagements around the world.
My Story
I believe we are more than the trauma we have had to overcome. My trauma is not my testimony. How I have overcome that trauma is my testimony.
But I also know that what happens to us shapes us.
I grew up surrounded by addiction, abuse, instability, and the generational impact of trauma. My father was absent. My mother had survived profound trauma of her own, and while I believe she did the best she could with what she had, she wasn’t able to give me the safety and protection I needed.
By thirteen, I had already learned lessons no child should have to learn: that my body wasn’t entirely my own. That love could hurt.
That boundaries weren’t necessarily mine to set. And that maybe my value was somehow tied to the way I looked and what others wanted from me.
One summer, after trying to escape abuse in our home, I found myself alone with my eight-year-old brother for three months with $20 and a book of food stamps.
I was thirteen years old, trying to figure out how to keep us fed.
And then someone came along who made me feel safe.
He bought us food. He made me feel protected at a time when I desperately needed protection. I became deeply attached to him.
I didn’t know then that the relationship I thought helped me stay safe would eventually become another place where I lost myself.
By nineteen, I was working in a strip club and giving him all of my money. My boyfriend had become my pimp.
Under the makeup, stilettos, and glare of the stage lights, I was slowly losing sight of who Harmony was.
I couldn’t see a way out.
But that wasn’t the end of my story…
Why I Finally Wrote This Book
There was a time when I thought I would never be able to tell this story.
Stifled by fear, I felt certain that if I ever broke the silence about the abuse and trauma I endured, I would unravel to the point of no return.
I was living in a group home when I read the memoir of a girl who had grown up in foster care.
Her story was different from mine, but somehow, reading it made me feel less alone.
Desperate for hope, I began searching for more stories written by survivors of abuse and trauma.
Their experiences weren’t necessarily like mine. But they gave me something I desperately needed.
They gave me words.
They wrote in the language of pain—but not just pain.
Pain transformed.
I found myself drawn to stories that were willing to take me into the depths of despair, but didn’t leave me there. Stories that showed me resilience, grit, and tenacity. Stories that reminded me that even after unbearable things happen to us, something beautiful can still be written with the life that remains.
Eventually, I realized I wanted to offer someone else what those writers had given me.
I wrote Scars & Stilettos for anyone who has ever felt trapped by their past, defined by their mistakes, or convinced there was no way forward.
I wanted survivors to know they weren’t alone.
I wanted to give them language for their pain.
And most of all, I wanted to give them hope.
What Readers Are Saying
Praise for Scars & Stilettos
I loved this book! It will move you, open your eyes to what women caught in this trap need, show how you can help, and most of all, cause you to feel compassion instead of judgement. And… there IS a way out!
Dr. Henry Cloud, Author and Psychologist
Harmony shares [her story] in the hopes that it will both encourage those trapped in the sex industry and educate people who might have never understood this world and the girls and women we serve before. This compassionate book accomplishes both.
Rachel Lloyd, Founder of GEMS, Author of Girls Like Us
I was so moved by this book that I read it twice and would recommend it as a “must read” for both men and women.
Cheryl Baker, Co-Founder of Celebrate Recovery
Once you start reading this book, you will not be able to put it down. You will laugh, you will cry, you will be encouraged, you will fall in love with God all over again. And you will want to get a copy for every person you know!
Holly Wagner, Author and Founder of She Rises
If you want to read a story that leaves you thinking, “only God could do this,” Scars and Stilettos is the right book for you.
Stephen Arterburn M.Ed., Founder of New Life and Women of Faith conferences
Harmony’s story is compelling evidence of how far the love of God reaches to heal broken lives… a must read for anyone who believes there is no way out.
Nancy Alcorn, Mercy Multiplied
A Story About What Becomes Possible
Scars & Stilettos is an honest story about surviving things you never should have had to endure, finding your way forward, and discovering that what happened to you doesn’t get to determine what happens next.
Through these pages, I hope you’ll discover:
- Hope that your past does not determine your future
- Encouragement that you are not alone
- Courage to reclaim your voice
- A deeper understanding of trauma and the ways it shapes us
- Compassion for survivors—and for the parts of ourselves still healing
- The difference safe, healthy relationships can make
- The possibility that something beautiful can still be written with the life that remains
Meet Harmony
Harmony Dust, MSW, is a survivor, author, advocate, and founder of Treasures, a nonprofit serving women impacted by sexual exploitation and trafficking.
After leaving her pimp, Harmony went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UCLA and founded Treasures in 2003. Since then, she has become a nationally recognized leader in trauma-informed, survivor-centered care. Her work has taken her around the world, training and equipping survivors, service providers, and professionals—including the Department of Justice and FBI.
She has received Congressional recognition, was named UCLA Alumna of the Year, and has been featured by NPR, BuzzFeed, Glamour, and other national and international media.
But before the credentials, the recognition, and the work of Treasures, there was a young woman who couldn’t see a way out.
Scars & Stilettos is her story.
Get Scars & Stilettos on Audible!
Experience Scars and Stilettos on Audible, narrated by Harmony Dust herself. Hear her story, in her own voice, with all the heart, honesty, and hope behind every word.
