Raquel Willis

Raquel Willis is a Black transgender activist, writer and media maven dedicated to inspiring and elevating marginalized individuals, particularly transgender women of color. She is a National Organizer for Transgender Law Center, the largest organization in the U.S. advocating on behalf of transgender and gender nonconforming people. She is a part of Echoing Ida, a national Black women’s writing collective, and Channel Black, a media organizing and training arm of the Movement for Black Lives. Raquel is also the former host of Black Girl Dangerous Media's BGD Podcast and is in the 2017 Sojourner Truth Leadership Circle Fellow through Auburn Seminary.

Her writing has been featured on Autostraddle, Buzzfeed, Medium’s Cuepoint, ForHarriet, HuffPost, PRIDE, Quartz, The Root and VICE. Her overarching goal is to use her voice and talents to inspire and uplift marginalized individuals, particularly trans women of color. She's currently working on a collection of essays about her experiences and intersectionality.

In January 2017, she was a speaker at the National Women’s March in Washington, D.C.

In May 2017, she was named to ESSENCE's Woke 100 Women, which honored "the women who are blazing trails for equal rights and inclusion for Black people in America."

In September 2017, she was named to The Root 100, an annual list of the most influential African Americans, ages 25 to 45.

Raquel commands a major social media presence for her analysis on identity, current events and politics. Raquel is experienced in many fields including online publications, organizing marginalized communities for social change, non-profit media strategy and public speaking while using digital activism as a major tool of resistance and liberation.

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