Ilyssa became a co-founder of CompelAmerica after her 13 year old son was cyberbullied in Junior High School. Another child opened a social media account using her son’s name and information (school, neighborhood, etc) and began posting anti-Semitic and homophobic posts, using vulgar and obscene language. Her son came up to her one night at about 11:30pm begging for help because he was trying to control it on his own and unsuccessful. He seemed to know who the other child was in his class.

She contacted the social media company who advised her that they were only the “publishers” of the account and they are protected as such. She informed them that these were 13 year old children. They told her they allow “spoof” accounts.

Frustrated, Ilyssa contacted the school and they were relatively unresponsive, stating that it didn’t happen on “school property” and they can’t identify who did it.

She proceeded to the police department where she was told that since she could not prove who did it, there was nothing they could do for her, despite the last post stating “Don’t worry, we’ll be back with weapons” directed at the NYC public school he attended. Ilyssa demanded that they take her complaint and give her a complaint number.

Not taking “no” for an answer, Ilyssa contacted the District Attorney’s office where she met an ADA who took all of the information and had a Judge issue a search warrant to obtain the computer and cell phone of the other child. After reviewing the contents of both, it was established that this was the perpetrator of the cyberbullying. However, back then, there were no laws to protect kids from others in the cyberbullying realm. The other child wrote a letter of apology and took down the account. That was the end.

No parent should have to push so hard to protect their children. The other child’s mother told Ilyssa that she has no control over him. She had numerous medical conditions and he ran rampant.

In her current position, Ilyssa is a Chief People Officer and EEO Officer at Metrolink and educates on workplace violence and bullying. Always seeking to determine the cause and not just the effect, Compel America was a natural result of her experience.

Ilyssa is proud to be a Co-Founder and Vice President of Compel America and looks forward to speaking with others on how to get through difficult times in their lives. Feel free to contact us for more information.