Dr. Lourdes Ashley Hunter, Executive Director of the Trans Women of Color Collective
Dr. Lourdes Ashley Hunter
In 2013, thirteen Black transgender women launched the Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC)—a global organizing body designed to uplift the narratives and leadership of Black transgender women around the world.
Among those thirteen founders was current TWOCC Executive Director, Dr. Lourdes Ashley Hunter, a Black, disabled, non-binary transgender woman who has spent more than two decades as an activist and organizer fighting against what Hunter described as the “state-sanctioned violence” committed against her multiple marginalized identities.
“TWOCC is my dream,” Hunter said. “It’s my passion, something I’m able to do without restriction whatsoever…We all deserve to see ourselves affirmed and celebrated and loved.”
Hunter explained that the goal of TWOCC is not only to offer support to transgender women of color in need; it is also to ensure that transgender lives are celebrated every day. This is accomplished in part through visibility campaigns that give Black transgender women the opportunity to share their own stories.
“[It’s important] to have those narratives elevated,” Hunter said, “showing people different sides of what it means to be Black and trans, what it means to have vision, what it means to be an entrepreneur, what it means to be able to shine bright and not necessarily this trauma porn story we always see that is happening to Black trans folk.”
TWOCC also focuses on creating economic opportunities and affirming spaces for transgender women of color.
Based in Washington DC, which has the highest number of transgender people per capita in the United States, the organization offers several wellness initiatives and community funds—which are distributed to transgender women of color all over the world.
The organization also has a food pantry in Detroit, as well as Safe Houses in D.C., Missouri, and Jamaica that provide meals, computer labs, counseling, mentoring, and more. TWOCC has also worked directly with U.S. lawmakers to shape policies and initiatives.
Hunter explained that the organization always works to provide direct support to members of the community, whether that means providing hot meals, distributing cash to help people pay bills, connecting entrepreneurs with funders and mentors, or hosting arts retreats centered on healing from trauma.
“Our community members tell us exactly what their dreams are, what their ambitions and aspirations are, and our role as an organization is to remove the barriers that they say they are facing,” Hunter said.
This year, Hunter is especially excited about the TWOCC’s Sankofa Project, created in partnership with an organization called TransWave Jamaica as a direct response to COVID-19. The project will create opportunities for Jamaican transgender and queer youth through art, activism, healing, and restorative justice.
Hunter said one of the biggest challenges of running TWOCC is helping people understand the mission, that the organization is of course there to respond to the problems facing transgender people, but that it also seeks to actively create a world where the beauty and talents of transgender people are acknowledged and applauded.
“Our biggest challenge was getting folks to understand we were reimagining and creating a world we saw ourselves successful in, that we saw ourselves affirmed and celebrated in,” Hunter said.
To work for a place that focuses on uplifting transgender people in this way is a dream come true, Hunter said.
“It’s like every day is my birthday. Every day I wake up with the opportunity to inspire, to aspire to greatness, to create change.”
It is especially powerful for Hunter because life didn’t always feel this hopeful.
“There was a time in my life when I woke up every day wondering if this was going to be the day that I leave my house and not return. Would this be the day my mom received a phone call to identify my body because of the violence and the reality that Black trans women face in this country? Now, I wake up with so much joy and promise knowing that just by my existing I’m able to inspire others.”
