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Diversity and Entrepreneurship Beauty in Trans-lation
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00:00right so present day it's so important for us to feel seen and heard through style and beauty even
00:08more so to feel like we all belong being acceptance comes in all forms and this intimate discussion
00:13will expound upon the experience of black trans humans and their experiences and explore how they
00:18are defining prescribing and owning beauty on their terms raquel willis is an award-winning
00:24author activist and media strategist dedicated to black transgender liberation she has held
00:30groundbreaking posts including director of communications for miss foundation for women
00:35executive editor of out magazine and national organizer for transgender law center she co-founded
00:42transgender week of visibility and action and currently serves as an executive producer for
00:47i heart media's outspoken the the social justice council member sorry outspoken the president of
00:54the solutions not punishments collaboratives executive board and is a wnba social justice council
01:01member her debut her debut memoir the risk it takes to bloom on life and liberation will be released on
01:08november 2023 via saint martin's press y'all show some love for the fabulous raquel willis
01:17hello hello hello everybody how y'all feeling y'all good we need some energy in here okay all right so
01:28as the lovely monet shared we are going to have a conversation all about beauty and particularly from
01:35the black trans experience and we know beauty is defined by a combination of so many qualities shape color
01:43and form that pleases the aesthetic value but of course we're going to talk about so much more in
01:50our experiences black trans folks as many of you know have shared beauty in so many different ways from
01:59ballroom culture to pageants to even social media as we'll get into and we have historically and continue to
02:07expand what beauty means and today's panelists are going to help me unpack this topic so first let me
02:14introduce the andre mitchell who is a 19 year old activist that uses social media to elevate her
02:23experience as a trans woman of color she has built a following of more than 6.6 million folks on tiktok
02:33and also has a podcast called don't ask v that which recently launched a longer form of all of the
02:41discussions that she has around her story in our community so welcome viandre hi thank you for having
02:47me i'm so glad to be here at the beauty con and essence it's my first ever yes first ever essence i'm
02:54learning all about the culture and everything it's so beautiful just to be surrounded around my community
02:59yes all right so next we have amaya scott the amaya scott come on new orleans own an actress model
03:10author and advocate best known for her role as cotton on lee daniels star on fox with this role amaya broke
03:18history as the first trans actress to play a trans character on a major network television series give it
03:26up to amaya thank you all right and lastly but certainly not least we have another one of new
03:35orleans own mariah moore who is an award-winning activist her work both here in nola and nationally
03:44includes fighting and ensuring for equity equality and safety for the trans community especially black
03:51trans women she is the co-director of policy and programs at transgender law center and a co-founder
03:58and executive director of house of tulip which provides housing resources to trans and gender
04:04non-conforming folks here in new orleans and in 2021 she made history as the first trans woman to run for
04:11new orleans city council and rose the most campaign funds and ranked fourth out of a 14 candidate race give it up
04:19to mariah all right so we're going to get into it because we don't have that much time
04:27as black trans women and culture and society we often are dealing with folks who tell us that we
04:33shouldn't exist but i'm curious from all of you when was the first time that you felt beautiful
04:42i'd say the first day that i came out for sure but i've always had confidence in myself and i think that
04:48really just carried to owning my identity when i did come out um so the things that i would do before
04:55that like get dressed up in towels and do stuff like that really just started to give me the confidence
05:01to further be confident in my identity um so just like expressing myself in those little ways without
05:07even knowing of my how to like verbally say i am trans but um just i've always felt confident in my
05:16identity and it's carried to so many different opportunities for me and yeah thank you amaya
05:25um so i would have to say the first time that i felt beautiful um well it's crazy because i felt
05:31beautiful before it but a really significant time was when my father told me that i was beautiful the
05:36first time after transitioning um i went and got my breast implants at 20 years old um he and i hadn't
05:42spoken for a few years um and he and my mom drove out to atlanta to see me um and when i opened up the
05:48door he said i was beautiful and i don't think i've ever felt more beautiful then so i think the first
05:55time that i actually looked in the mirror and told myself that i was beautiful and verbalized that feeling
06:02was um when i was released from foster care and i was sitting in an empty apartment with no furniture but
06:08i'm like i have my own space i get to make my own decisions and i get to show up as myself
06:14authentically without fear um and face whatever challenges may come because i get to decide yeah
06:21yeah absolutely i love it all right so let's let's stay right here then mariah because both you
06:28and amaya and viandri you all use your platforms to advocate for the community i want to hear when you
06:35found the power to speak up and and see that power within your own story yeah and i mean amaya can also
06:43speak to this i think that um uh the catalyst for my activism was the death of our friend and sister
06:51china gibson i think that you know it just really um struck a chord in me to really want to do more and
06:59like really figure out ways um to to come up with solutions and resources so that while we may not
07:07eliminate the violence that we face in our community we can definitely provide resources to help keep our
07:12communities safer i'm just wanting to to create more representation i mean being able to create more
07:22safe spaces i mean i think that after a while we get tired of not being invited to the table and we
07:27decided to build our own you know what about you viandre um i've been somebody that has had a mama bear
07:36fortunately and a great support system um when adults were coming my way as a child when i was out
07:44and in that way i kind of had my mom to teach me how to stand up for myself be an activist and once i
07:53learned to have my own voice and i was old enough to i kind of carried that to online um and i was
07:59just getting bullied in school so often so it was a point for me to start talking about it online because
08:06i didn't really have other outlets to talk about it other than with my family and you know that can only
08:10go so far when you want to be social and you want to make friends and it in a way gave me a creative
08:17outlet to be seen and heard by so many around the world and also have the trans community be seen
08:23well thank y'all so much just for always being so vulnerable with your stories as well because
08:29that's a part of beauty as well i think we often forget is it's not actually just the aesthetic pieces
08:35it's how you embody it in your life and in your mission so thank y'all um amaya i want to come back to
08:41you so it's no secret that you're a trailblazer within not just the lgbtq plus community but the
08:48black community writ large and your breakout role of course as cotton was so seismic i'm curious if
08:55you could talk a little bit about what it's been like for you to navigate the entertainment industry
09:01being your full authentic self um so i think that going into it because it was my first acting
09:08experience i was you know what i mean really nervous but i think like it was pros and cons if
09:14that makes sense because of course it was a life-changing opportunity i mean of course like i
09:19loved it right but i think sometimes when we're finally giving opportunities sometimes we kind of
09:25micromanage ourselves because we don't want to step out of line or do the wrong thing so i think at
09:30moments i felt almost kind of restricted because because the position that i had been put in you
09:38know was so monumental does that make sense yeah yeah absolutely well thank you and and let's also just
09:46name that amaya someone who has been leading trends and beauty for a long time honey so a lot of y'all
09:53your other favorites gleaned a lot from amaya's experience online so um all right so mariah let's
10:02talk to you we're gonna get a little little serious but obviously you do a lot of work around law
10:09policies programs and inclusion and we appreciate all that you do what are some of the key issues you
10:15want folks who may be visiting new orleans to kind of take away especially that are going on in the trans
10:21community here yeah i think that on a national level i think that what we have to continue to
10:27talk about is that you know reproductive rights are also linked closely and go hand in hand with trans
10:34health care gender affirming care i think that we have in common the right to choose what we do with
10:40our bodies how we care for ourselves and what treatments we seek um also we have to we have to take
10:47an account that our gender affirming care is under attack right um parents are being criminalized for
10:55you know showing up for their children we know that just by using uh someone's preferred pronouns that
11:02significantly reduces the suicide rate amongst youth so these are some of the key issues i really just want
11:09folks listening to understand that you know it's not our job to to mandate someone and how they
11:17show up it's our jobs as people to see each other to see each other's humanity and that's what support
11:23looks like absolutely thank you um okay so viandre we're going to kick one more question to you and
11:31then we'll do one last question for everyone um so you just launched your podcast don't ask me that
11:39where you fearlessly dive into some very spicy topics can you talk about maybe the topics that you want
11:47all of the like old heads here to pay more attention to um i would say i just did an episode
11:54with my mom for how to support trans kids and i think that is a definite important one to tune into
12:01she talks about her experience raising me how adults in our family were questioning her or just
12:08people in the world were questioning her and how she was raising me as a trans kid
12:12um so that was a big one just because trans kids and them being confident in their identity is so taboo
12:19right now um which i understand i mean it's kind of hard to understand how we could know ourselves at
12:25such a young age but i think that it shows that i'm continuing to be proud of my identity today and it
12:34wasn't a mistake i am who i am um and then another one would have to be the one i just did with
12:41relationships and dating i swear whenever i get asked questions about my transness it's always about
12:47like what is with the partners and like what's going on it's always very like overtly sexual questions
12:54and i think that you know it gives a lot of answers to our questions but also sets boundaries
13:03of what to ask a trans person and what is going too far what's drawing the line um so yeah that would
13:10be some of the topics that i just did and i can't wait to do so many more because i have so much to
13:15talk about yes well thank you for using your platform and thank you all for using your platform
13:21so let's just go a quick round to close out how are you feeling about beauty in this moment just one
13:29quick word that just pops to your head
13:37with us our beauty just in the world everyone everyone i mean it's extravagant yes it's extravagant
13:44that's extravagant i love it intense intense intense it's intense okay um i would say vulnerable
13:57i think a lot of the times when we are being put up for representation in the world um people expect us
14:07to lay everything out um but sometimes it's okay to just look at us and soak it in
14:13soak it in i love it well give it up to our panelists for sharing their stories um i just
14:21want to urge you all to continue to pay attention to black trans women black trans leaders we have a
14:27lot to say a lot to share um we know we're living in a time where there are over 600 pieces of
14:34legislation moving across the country to impact our rights within the lgbtq plus community so we need
14:41all of our family within the black community to pay attention y'all because it's not just our rights
14:47at stake it's everyone else's yes um so again thank you all for being here and support black trans-led
14:55organizations too yes because if it impacts us it definitely impacts each and every one of you
15:02yes all right we love y'all thank you for coming thank you so much
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