Hustle Grind Shine & Reignite with Jessica Hartley
Hustle Grind Shine & Reignite with Jessica Hartley
Hustle Grind Shine & Reignite: Episode 6 with Raquel Willis, Part II
“How much of your values are you going to lean into every step of the way?” As a transgender, Black, and queer woman, Raquel Willis harnesses storytelling through her work as an award-winning writer, activist, media strategist, and public figure. In this second episode of a two-part series, we pick up where we left off, journeying with her across the country as she shifted not only into the non-profit space but also leaning into grassroots activism which would become core to her purpose and mission in life, and continue with her as she shifted again into media and ultimately becoming the CEO of her own destiny.
In this second episode we cover:
- The crushing impact of the 2016 elections and the long-lasting impact on marginalized communities
- Learning about healing and restorative justice and how rehabilitation works for Black transwomen
- Making a major career pivot and leveraging your principles and integrity to stay grounded and centered
Raquel Willis is an award-winning writer, activist, and media strategist dedicated to Black transgender liberation. She has held groundbreaking roles throughout her career including director of communications for Ms. Foundation for Women, executive editor of Out magazine, and national organizer for Transgender Law Center.
As a thought leader on gender, race, and intersectionality, her writing has been published in numerous publications, books, and anthologies. Her writing has been published in Black Futures by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham, Bulgari Magnifica: The Power Women Hold edited by Tina Leung, The Echoing Ida Collection edited by Kemi Alabi, Cynthia R. Greenlee, and Janna A. Zinzi, and Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha Blain. She has also written for Essence, Bitch, VICE, Buzzfeed, The Cut, and Vogue. During her time at Out, she published the GLAAD Media Award-winning “Trans Obituaries Project.” In 2023, she will release her debut memoir, I Believe in Our Power, about her coming of identity and activism with St. Martin’s Press.
In 2020, Raquel was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 and The Root 100 for a second time. In 2021, Raquel was named to the University of Georgia’s 40 Under 40 and Fast Company’s Queer 50.
Welcome to the hustle grind shine and reignite podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Hartley. Join me on another journey with amazing and talented professionals of color, laugh and cry and take notes. But most of all be inspired all of this and more on our next episode of hustle, grind, shine, and reignite. Let's go. Hello and welcome to another episode of hustle, grind, shine and reignite. I am your host, Jessica Hartley. It is my pleasure to bring you another show. This is a special episode because it is a part two, a continuation of my conversation with Raquel Willis. She's a writer, activist, media strategist. And most importantly, she is my sister. I'm so excited to welcome you back to the show. Hello says how's it going? She
Raquel Willis:brought me back. Well, I'm glad to continue this conversation with you. It's so fun. Oh, yes.
Jessica Hartley:And we have so much more ground to cover we covered so much in the first conversation. And where we left off in episode one was talking about your transition, this big, life changing movement, you went from Atlanta to the bay, moving out to Oakland, and really sort of bringing your passion and your purpose, life and work together in this new role with TLC, also known as the Transgender Law Center, and the place where you thought it was going to be a home for you. You're going into what many of us actually don't get often, which is into an environment where the majority of the people are like you. And so let's start there. Talk to us about what it felt like to make that leap from the Deep South. ATL shouting, if you will, out into the bay, which is me, you and I know, California West Coast sentiments are very different than ours. Shoot, let's be clear. Everybody's different west coast, black people in the West Coast different than black people down south is just a different life and lived experience. So talk a little bit about that transition, and what it was like to move into an environment with people maybe not exactly having the same experiences as you, but an environment when there are lots of other trans individuals there with you in the struggle together. Yeah, wow.
Raquel Willis:It felt very heartening and inspiring. I mean, this also was just six months before the start of the Trump era. So it also was like a short kind of honeymoon type period where it was like, Oh, this is great. There's so much promise and potential here. And that still existed even as kind of the Trump era hit his stride. But of course, you know, I think some some of that kind of boundless excitement or was optimism. The optimism was done a bit, because we were facing the reality as people working in the heart of social justice, that there were going to be new threats to literally our existence. I mean, some of the first directives put down by former President Trump 45 was around restricting the rights of trans students to attest to their truth of being who they are using the right pronouns being respected in their identities and schools. Of course, there was the military man against trans folks who decide to serve in the military, which I have my own kind of personal reservations, but we're not going to go down that route. About American imperialism. But, you know, i There were just all of these signals that it was going to be difficult and in fact, I one of the vivid memories of that time was watching the election returns with all of these kind of senior trans folks who have been doing social justice work since the early 2000s. And they kind of understood or had a surety that Trump was gonna win, right. And so that was interesting to me. Because I I guess came in with kind of like a naivete about these things. And I was like, There's no way there's no way it could get that bad.
Jessica Hartley:Right. I mean, also, let's be clear. The election was the we want to talk about stolen elections. That was a stolen election. Right. So we know who won. We know who should have won. But yeah, I mean, I think we all were naive. And let's be clear, unless use the real word. We were delusional. We were delusional in thinking that this country will had progressed as far as it had. And we all knew everybody was like, oh, President Obama, everything has changed, right? There was this whole period of post racial all of this. And we all knew that was nonsense. But I don't think we, some of us, I shouldn't say everybody, there's a lot of people were like, this is gonna happen. I think a lot of us were just that, again, that hope that optimism that this country, wasn't that racist that your neighbor wasn't that racist, you know, putting their own self interest so far ahead at the literally the lives and benefit of people of color, queer folks of trans folks. So I think we all were hope so hopeful that it wasn't going to be that bad. And it was it really was. Yeah, I
Raquel Willis:mean, I I totally agree. And I think the other piece of it too, is that we have this kind of unquestioned faith in America systems, and this systems of our government, and all of these different things, these processes that are only as benevolent as the people who have the reins, you know, our government isn't sure by any means. In fact, most of the history of this country has been tried to and oppression and trying to one up or further marginalize certain groups. And, you know, so I think that and within itself, that kind of skepticism of and criticism of in our existing infrastructures also paralleled I think, what was becoming for me and some of the other younger staffers or folks who didn't necessarily have titles and roles that conferred a certain type of power, a kind of critique of, well, how are these systems of oppression also playing out in this workplace? That is supposedly the most progressive spot in the world? Right? And, yes, yeah, I was surrounded by largely trans folks, but not mostly black trans people. And so there was definitely anti blackness that kind of revealed itself in the the ways that certain people would be promoted over other folks, certain people would have kind of space for them to carve out their initiatives, or what they thought should be the agenda at the expense of people who are considered the most marginalized in our community, black trans people, but are hardly ever given the resources to actually carry out the work we need to do. And so we had all this programming that was focused on so many other groups, but none that was specifically focused on black trans people. None, I was focused on specifically how our community was experiencing violence. And I wasn't the only black trans person there, I have to give so much kudos. So one of my I consider him almost like an older brother in my head, but oh law of San Jose, he actually kind of led the start of censoring black trans folks when he started the Black LGBTQ migrant project. So doing work around Black trans people in particular, who were migrants who were experiencing oppression on those different intersections. And then I also took some, I guess, kind of a push of wanting to censor black trans women, and figuring out how we can kind of alleviate the violence that was already an epidemic. I mean, before the American Medical Association would years later, deem it a real epidemic, and then people would start to take it seriously. And you start to see more and more news coverage with the sensational headlines about another black trans woman murder. And as we're recording another fact, black trans woman, the 50 of this year, courted a murder today so so I wanted to do work there. But I wanted to do a different kind of work, you know, I think we have to carve out space, of course to honor the victims who are no longer here. And of course, we have to acknowledge that there are victims that are left behind the survivor of that violence, the black trans women who have to go on and try and continue to carve out a life and a society that still is so antagonistic towards them. And so I started to study a bit about Healing Justice, I learned about these models of Healing Justice, restorative justice, oftentimes, they build out the circles where you kind of confront someone who has committed harm, and figure out I guess, a way of kind of what rehabilitation looks like for them to kind of, hopefully, eventually come back fully into their communities. I wanted to take that concept and focus specifically on centering victims, right, like, so what does that look like? Because we also have to figure out what it means to come back into a society that we have broken trust with. Right,
Jessica Hartley:right. Think about when you talk about broken trust, right? We already know in society that we have issues with how we view women, and how we view violence and how we think about victims, right? I mean, just even white women, we look at White women that are vilified in the media in the workplace. So again, if you look at sort of above, and like all of those things, that if white women and white victims are continually marginalized in victim victimized even in the media, like we've talked about sort of repeat trauma, I mean, how does that drill down to women of color? And then Black, Brown and indigenous individuals as well? So, yes, we're even still not there as a broader society when it comes to women at large, let alone women of color, let alone trans women and black trans women. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. And so
Raquel Willis:you know, I guess back into maybe the workplace well, because I, I have all these different cylinders firing at once all the time. It was about building and internal proposal to our organizing team, which I had never done. And it was also about trying to appeal to like, how we get the resources to carry out the project was full of a vision as possible. And so there was, once I put myself out there was like, Okay, this is what I'm thinking y'all might think I'm wild off base, they were like, no, actually, this is great. Like, let's do it. There wasn't quite full investment. Right. It was like, you know, we're invested in this kind of trial of it. And so we we did the trial in New Orleans, we had about 12 Black trans women from the local community come in, many of them knew each other but had never had space to just be together, talk about their experiences, heal together. And you know, whether we crafted any kind of, quote, tangible, unquote solutions out of that the solution was already there was that we just had space to break bread together, and it turned into a really powerful experience. And from that space, actually, many of the women bolstered their efforts locally to do different things. One friend who came out of that and also became the kind of I guess, I don't know air I don't know she's the the next person to kind of weed that for after I and
Jessica Hartley:protege. We'll call him a protege.
Raquel Willis:Oh, that's weird. But, but she is my friend and and she took the helm. Once I ended up obviously, eventually leaving TLC of the program and continued to make it even even more magnificent than I could have imagined. He ran for office and New Orleans for about a student council for City Council, which was so phenomenal. So she has kind of started this political career, other women involved. I mean, she also worked with another woman to kind of create a housing initiative, they are kind of sparked from some of the energy from that space. And she says that herself. And then and then there's an another woman who continued to do deeper work on a campaign to kind of break down some of the, the laws that kind of allowed profiling of trans women in particular, they're called crimes against humanity, law or crimes. Nature laws in Louisiana, right. And so basically, you know, there's a lot of like profiling that happens from law enforcement of trans people, that's kind of okay. Because it's kind of baked into the fabric of the legal system. And they they're doing work to push against that. So that was I mean, one of the most powerful things I've ever been a part of and and groups I've ever been a part of. And now it's actually central programming and the organization even though I'm no longer there, it is one of their kind of central pieces of programming, but it took work to get there. I mean, it took having experiences of feeling silenced of moving between roles that required more work and more travel, that I did not get a raise for learning that my trans masculine peers in the same department who were doing the same work. Were getting paid more way more than I was, as a trans woman, you know, so it's also like the gender pay gap is still exists, even amongst, you know, trans folks, right, because that's how enduring the patriarchy is. So yeah, but I, but overall, I mean, it was a push and, and I'm so grateful for the folks who continue to be in that institution and continue to try and shift dynamics, particularly towards a black trans liberation.
Jessica Hartley:Yeah, no, what an amazing legacy, also, to your point of getting it off the ground, but also the continued impact, that the experiences that those trans women are having, as connected to their circles, now going out in having more power and safe spaces, in the tools by which they can activate. And and I mean, wow, running for office. I mean, how tremendous is that? And now is I understand there are more circles around the country. Correct. So it's not just in New Orleans,
Raquel Willis:they are still doing work. So I mean, they are crafting out different spaces, I believe they are another one in Dallas. So the plan was always to continue that expansion. So I know, there's always work going on there.
Jessica Hartley:So you were there, you started this amazing project, along with lots of other work that you were doing. I mean, this was a sort of flagship project for you, but you still had other responsibilities and duties. And you talked about having to travel and you were, you know, being an activist and supporting others around the country. So here you are out supporting others. But then you've also talked about this parallel that you're experiencing here in an environment that again, walking into this environment, here are people who are like me have had some similar experiences, but you are experiencing some of the same things that you would have experienced in some of your previous roles and potentially in future roles. So there's almost this sort of disconnect of empowering and supporting others, but where is your empowerment and support to talk about how that was then the catalyst for you to then make your next move? Yeah,
Raquel Willis:I mean, internally, and there were just so many conflicts. I mean, I wasn't the only one filling the sense of like, disparity between certain people's experiences. I mean, there, there was, obviously, the anti blackness, there are people filling the ableism. Right, you know, dealing with different crises and not having support from leadership there had never, you know, for instance, been a black trans director up until that point, despite the core programming moving towards centering black trans people finally, and then there was such a disparity between leadership staff and the rest of the staff, right, like in terms of communication, so many different things. So, around the time that all of that was happening, I had been asked by Philip McCarty of Teen Vogue fame, you was in the Conde Nast house for a long time and really made a name for himself as an editor, putting social justice themes and really in a lot of ways modernizing the editorial output of Teen Vogue. He made the move to OUT magazine which I knew because I mean, I followed media particularly queer media. And he asked me if I would come to out to be essentially his second in command as Executive Editor, leading the print operations. And so that was a wild. I mean, it wasn't anything I anticipated at that time. kind of segue into magazines, because I always love magazines, as I said in the first episode, but it just never seemed like there was a path for me. And, and Phil and I are great friends, you know, and also, we've had these very different experiences, you know, he grew up in the Northeast, and so this, this is his, like, playground, essentially. And, you know, he's had had, at that point, years of, like, contacts and networking, and this kind of pedigree and publications, interning, you know, at different publications being a part of these experiences that I just didn't have, you know, and I think for me, it was also a sense of working through my own imposter syndrome of like, but what I did have, and what he made clear all along the way was like, but you do have a particular voice lens, worldview, and you represent something that we desperately need in media, you know, and, and I appreciate that so much, you know, and I have to give him kudos, because he has big up to me, ever since we met, and so that that was really powerful. And so I had to decide, you know, it's like, well, at this point, you know, I'm known as this activist, can I still be that and continue on in a traditional kind of media job, you know, my whole entire existence, and a lot of it is persona, I won't necessarily say brand. But there is a bit of a persona attached to becoming known as a public activists, and all of these checklists, some invisible and and, you know, and visible, that you have to check off because credibility matters. And, you know, people see you essentially have like a sellout or, you know, that you were never really here for community in the first place, then who are you anymore? And do they still see what you've done as genuine and what you will do as genuine? And so I think, for me, and I still carry that, you know, that's not something that I just thought about in that moment, but it's something I continue to care about, carry about with me, around integrity, am I doing things that are aligned with the values I profess all along the way?
Jessica Hartley:Right, right. And always that balance of serving others, but also still serving yourself, right, we still have to serve ourselves in this process. And I, I find even being on the, you know, quote, unquote, more corporate side of things, that that is something really critical to me and I have found as I have moved up the ladder and, and advanced in my career, my personal ethics, and how I am viewed is so critical to me, it is not just about my brand, but it is literally core to who I am, you know, if that does not align, or starts to, you know, start to diverge with what I'm seeing within an organization, those start to be the signs and red flags, that it's time to leave. So you made the decision. You said yes, you had left media journalism, and sort of went into the nonprofit space. And then you got this call from Phil. Amazing, Phil. And he was like, Girl, I need you come on over. And you said yes. You said yes. And oh, mg. This is your ticket to New York. It's finally here,
Raquel Willis:or Yeah, yeah. I mean, and it was. That was very exciting. Obviously, it's something I always had one to. Yeah, I mean, and I will say, you know, I think there was a sense of it being noble to be working in the nonprofit sector. Right. I think that there's again, because there's this idea that like that is true, altruistic work. And if you're in corporate media, that's not right. Of how cutthroat and exploitative it is, but The truth is that all of this is existing in the same capitalist terrain. And it's all exploitative. To an extent, the thing is, is is, how much of your values are you going to lean into every step of the way? And I think for me, that was a part of the challenge. It was like, well, let's see if it's possible. And also, I know the power of media. And so if we can radically shift the image of and the stories that are being put out and this queer publication, what can that mean? And so I guess now, you know, I have to give a little context for our magazine. So OUT magazine, is a leading LGBTQ plus publication, it was founded in 1992. And it overwhelmingly has centered a white cisgender gay male lens. Initially, there were two editors, their lead editors, there was a gay man says gay man, assess lesbian, eventually, she was kind of acid. And I don't know all of the details, but I believe there was a lawsuit around harassment or something that just didn't gel over. But, you know, I think that kind of shift really, is part of why the editorial direction became more censored on this kind of privilege, white sis, gay male experience. And that is not reflective of the community. You know, I know when I say I'm in the LGBTQ plus community, plenty of people, the first thing they think about is why it says gay men, maybe at a Pride Parade, you know, let's be real, like, that is still what the image, at least in American society is of our larger community. There's no understanding that particularly black trans women and trans people and queer people have been at the forefront of so much of the momentum towards queer and trans liberation. I mean, starting from the Stonewall riots, and on and on, I'll let y'all Google that if y'all don't know about it, because I could go on and on about that. But there have been so many voices and experiences silenced in every era of the LGBTQ plus community here in the US that deserve the chance to shine. And that was kind of our task was to, to do that to uncover those stories and voices. So the first issue that I was deeply involved with was the mothers and daughters of the movement issue. It was the first ever issue in our history.
Jessica Hartley:And when you say the movement, this is the Trans Women movement, particularly black trans women and women of color. Yeah, I mean, black, queer and trans women. So
Raquel Willis:on the cover, we had Miss major who was a stonewall era veteran and someone who's consistently done work, particularly around supporting Black trans folks who have been incarcerated for decades. You know, before you know, now everyone's talking about, you know, abolition and everything, right. She's definitely been someone who's been doing that work for decades. And so she's on the cover with black trans woman named tourmaline, one of the daughters and the set, who was a filmmaker but also has this kind of deep radical politic has uncovered so much archival footage and work of people like Sylvia Rivera and and other trans forebears of color, essentially. So. So that was the cover. But then we also had people like Charlene Carruthers, Alicia Garza, one of the CO creators of Black Lives Matter. And Barbara Smith and Og black feminist hero who was a part of the Combahee River collective who released the landmark statement in black feminist history in the late 70s, which kind of laid some of the foundation for what Kimberly Crenshaw would eventually coined as intersectionality. So I mean, there was there was some deep kind of statements being made there about the fact that we have essentially given so much and been so maligned and ignored for generations. And a moment so I was gonna
Jessica Hartley:say, Yes, I mean, it's not a powerful, historic, and again, you know, going back to this idea of the ethics and the values and the purpose and the impact. I mean, we all know we've got to attack it from multiple angles. So yes, this PLCs of the world and the work there is important. Yes, the underground sort of activists and movements are really important. But we've also got to attack it from the broader sort of mass media perspective as well. So how just historic in that moment to have a major publication in the community that always in sort of primarily centered, you know, white sis, LGBT LGB, really sort of folks in the community on covers and articles and to start to see that shift. And we seen it. So you continue that. But you know, OUT magazine, hence, the name magazine, right, in an industry, that is a lot of people use the word dying, and I am just like, it is evolving, like anything else, right. And so while they're great things are also some challenges. And so talk a little bit about some of the challenges that you face, and really more of what somebody would perceive from the outside being an executive level role, a leadership role, and sort of how that those experiences, they're both good and bad. And also continuing, you're at that path that you were on your own sort of personal mission and personal projects, and how that sort of was then another leap or jumping off point for you from there. Yeah, I
Raquel Willis:mean, it was it was a time and an opportunity to really be able to showcase so many of the folks and the stories that I had experienced firsthand in the years prior to being out. And, of course, you know, it, I think one of the things we ended up learning was, you know, yes, you know, the reins will be be handed over to people on the margins, who have a different kind of sensibility, at the critical time when those resources are dwindling the most. So we inherited a, an apparatus that was not as resources it could have been, that was actually extracting more out of contributors, and folks who were kind of in the wheelhouse of our that did either like freelance work, or all of these different things. And that meant that a lot of our relationships and community were in jeopardy, both personal and professional. The previous staff had essentially been ousted, like a week before the first folks from our era started, kind of without much notice. So the so there are all these kind of, you know, unsavory things happening, even before we got there. And then our budgets have dwindled and dwindled, the emphasis on print started to wane. So as we're doing these high quality, highly conceptual products, it started to be about what we want to keep up in the digital space. But then there wasn't full support for the folks who were contributing on the digital side. And it was just, we want you to do more, for less, we want you to do more, for less. And that was untenable for virtually all of us. And then eventually, our most of our era was laid off at different points, including myself, right? So my tenure at and out ended about a year and some change later. Because I was one of the probably the last woman standing for the most part of our era. And that was sad, right? It was like you finally get like the dream experience and borrow time. And and we worked it out. But you know, I That's the nature I think of also there being this kind of disparity between the staff and the C suite, because the owner is a sis white, straight man who isn't invested in our values, you know, who have, there's also been an uncovered history of supporting anti LGBTQ efforts. So you know that it's not aligned, right, which I think is why we need to empower independent creators. And we actually do need to be asking more questions about where the resources are coming from, because that does matter in the grand scheme of things.
Jessica Hartley:So how did you bounce back from that? I mean, that and I'm sure some some of our listeners, maybe plenty of our listeners have been, you know, we're in the middle still of a pandemic. And, you know, we talked earlier about 2008 and sort of the bottom falling out of the economy, obviously A lot of people lost their jobs then, and had challenges and troubles. And then, you know, in the last couple of years during this pandemic, and just all of the economic economic crises, people have lost their jobs, how did you bounce back? You bounce back? I would say it's, again, another historic moment. But talk to me about how you bounce back from that, and how that then ultimately helped you make the decision that you probably need to be your own boss. Yeah.
Raquel Willis:Well, I will say before the out saga was completely over, I was essentially offer the editor in chief position, so to move up, but I also was offered a 50% pay cut, essentially, that's how they do us, you know, folks on the margin, so obviously, that wasn't going to work. But leaving out happened. And then it was about, I don't know, two weeks later, the pandemic was in full for so I was unemployed, just before the pandemic was kind of announced as like, something that we were going to actually acknowledge collectively. And I didn't really know what was going to happen. I was lucky, though, in a sense, because I kind of had a thought, at least for about half a year that this was going to be untenable. So I had things for the first time in my life, really. And I was going to be able to at least, you know, survive for a couple of months. But I, I really continue to have interviews with different places, trying to see what what, what would work, I continue to freelance a bit, I just had to get crafty. And I think a lot of a lot of us that that were kind of laid off during that era. And it wasn't just the out. I mean, there were so many folks laid off at different media publications as well, during that time, and I started working on my book, because I knew I wanted to get a proposal done. And then a mod armory happened. So there was a different kind of orienting towards social justice happening collectively. So then I think that there was a space for folks to want to glean from what I had been talking about, along with so many other peers for years. And then, of course, George Floyd was murdered. And that seismically shifted the conversation around social justice it was so I mean, it's wild to think of how much of a turn that was collectively. And and I will be honest, you know, I think for me, and maybe other activists and organizers and people in social justice work. Prior to that, I did have a sense of bitterness, because it was like, Well, this is what we've been saying all along. Now you want to come along and post your black square and think that you're in the know, and it's like, oh, now you want to talk about white supremacy. No, now, it's not like a word, we kind of hush up. And so you know, so that was a thing. But in the aftermath of George Floyd, just two days later, there was a black trans man murdered by Tallahassee police named Tony McDade, that got not I can't even say really a fraction of the coverage of that guy. And it was, again, another moment of kind of realizing, Oh, we're acting collectively as if we're incapable to have multiple conversations at once. We can talk about anti blackness, we can talk about anti trans sentiment at the same time. And then I worked with a group of an ad hoc group of organizers and activists, many of them first time organizers here in New York, some of them friends and folks who had done other types of work. And there we craft in Brooklyn liberation, which was going to be a rally in an honor black trans lives on June 20 2020. And,
Jessica Hartley:again, another historic moment. I mean, I thought we did a weird even get into so you had been obviously invited a couple years before to the women's march in were part of that. And that was sort of that, you know, part of your journey. And I found that, I don't know, it was just such a poignant moment to then see, obviously, that was a women's march and there were a lot of challenges with that. That's a whole nother episode by itself. But to see then, the rally and I mean, you use the word rally, and we use the word rally. I mean, you guys had 1000s of people. Yeah,
Raquel Willis:I mean, upwards of 20,000, by some estimates, but at the very least 15,000. And you know, which is probably the largest rally for trans lives, in the history of the world, maybe right. And so, I mean, that was a powerful moment. And I And it felt like a culminating moment of so many things that I had been a part of that my peers had been a part of over the last several years. And a convergence, right. So in the last episode, we were talking about how, you know, oranges, the new black premiered and the transmissibility era kind of started, and then the George Zimmerman trial happened, and the verdict came down that same week, and that is seen as a seminal moment in the history of Black Lives Matter. And for so long. I mean, I never saw these things as completely disconnected from each other. Because obviously, my life, my many of my peers, and friends didn't either, but this was definitely a very distinct convergent point of, oh, black trans people exist. And we're going to name that and acknowledge that and acknowledge all the lives loss. And so it was a powerful moment. I mean, the most powerful moment of my life, hands down. And so what happened was, we had like a lineup of black trans leaders speak, I was one of the speakers. And that drastically changed it count how many people saw me, because it really was a moment of final like, I don't want to say finally being seen, because it's not that you can kind of really anticipate those type of moments. But I think it was a moment where I felt very acknowledged in a way that I had not been right. And, and for me, it you know, it isn't just that I was acknowledged, but it was just that the black transparence experience in general black trans power, black trans brilliance was acknowledged. And it was about the acknowledging the acknowledgement of our ancestors, the acknowledgement of so many peers I've learned so much from and who continued to do the work like Tony, Michelle Williams, one of my dear friends down in Atlanta, Georgia, who leads up solutions, not punishments, collaborative. And my friend RSI, he did who is the Executive Director of the transgender district out in San Francisco, California. And Mariah Moore, who I was speaking about earlier, though, I didn't say her name, who started a house to live ran for office in New Orleans, and so many more black trans women in particular, who were doing this work day in and day out, you know, it that moment, you know, I think, has been attached to me, but it really, I am nothing without my community, you know, and particularly my other sisters who are doing the work. And so that was, that was a revelatory moment. Yeah.
Jessica Hartley:So, no, that's great. That's great. There's always so much and we got to save some stuff for the book. So let's talk quickly as we wrap about the book. So you have had in your video, we're laughing about quarter of a century in last episode, yo, in your 30 years, and we would say that is still a short lifetime. On this earth. You've made such a big impact, you know, just on me personally, and family and friends, but literally on the world. And there's so much to your story and experiences and to the point that you're making, the collective experiences of others, the experiences of our ancestors, and our family and our forefathers and foremothers and four parent who have sort of paved the way for us. And you're taking a lot of your experiences and wrapping that into a memoir. So talk quickly about the memoir and sort of that process. And any advice you have for those of us out here who might have ideas, or no dreams of writing a book or writing a memoir, and how we can get started. Yeah,
Raquel Willis:wow. You know, the book is so funny in writing this book, I felt like I've been completely humbled. I've had to extend so much more grace to myself and to my story, you know it because it's a memoir, I've had to excavate trauma. And I've had to think about the ways that I that I have seen the world that may not have been as accurate because now with hindsight, more tools to understand things, it is, the story is a bit wider than maybe I thought it was at certain points. And that's just the nature of life. But I'm really telling the story of my journey into activism and to social. I felt like it would be very resonant, especially in a post, George Floyd moments or, or era, I guess, really, because I think we're still kind of in some type of reckoning around what it means to continue life, knowing the fallacies that exist about our systems and the ways that they impact us. And so I just kind of tell this, the the story of how I went from not really knowing what my purpose was the having more of an idea of what it is right, I don't have it all figured out. And I'm not trying to give a step by step anything. But that I'm telling a lot of what I've told in this episode, but with a little bit more context, and also with the vantage point that my experience as a black trans woman, and my voice as a black trans woman matters. And so what I have seen of the political landscape, from my vantage point as something the world needs to know, what I have seen the various social justice movements from my vantage point, is something the world needs to know and contend with and consider. And I hope that that will inspire other folks to tell their stories. And I guess the tips within that is just, everyone's creative process is different. You know, so figure out what works for you, I am a messy girl, I do not follow rubrics perfectly, I might follow a rubric, like, a third of the way and then Amanda in it, rip it up and, and do something else. And then
Jessica Hartley:shout out to Gemini, Gemini,
Raquel Willis:back in back together be
Jessica Hartley:like, wait, wait, wait,
Raquel Willis:you know, but you know, and so it's also been me kind of, kind of dealing with that too. But it's that, you know, it just get it out however it is, and maybe it's not a book, you know, in nartz as an article, and then you're like, Okay, I want to expand here or there and do do a series of articles or blog posts, or maybe it's not writing at all, and maybe you are a musician or a visual artists, you know, I mean, we can tell our stories in so many ways. And that's also that's also what I'm excited about too, is you know, eventually being able to look at other mediums and, and tell other stories in different ways, too. So. So it is art from an expression for me, too. It's not just, you know, I do think that there's a culture of like, write a book, so you can capitalize off of it and make money. But, you know, I want to create a tome that will stand the test of time and be something that like future generations of trans folks, even though they probably won't even call themselves trans anymore, can look back and be like, oh, somebody thought about me in advance that they left this.
Jessica Hartley:I love that. And we'll wrap it there. Thank you, Raquel. Thank you, sister, friend. I love you so much. Thank you for sharing your journey, the ins and outs, all the things so many juicy bits, as I like to say, as part of this conversation and I can't wait can't wait for your book to debut. And for us to have you back again to talk a little bit more about that. And whatever projects you I have marinating in brewing on the horizon. I appreciate you so much. Thank you for your time and your energy today. Thank you. Thank you for listening to another episode of hustle, grind, shine and reignite. If you liked this episode, like subscribe and share on all your favorite podcast. I hope you'll tune in to the next episode featuring another amazing and talented, professional color. In the meantime, shine bright
