Kiskadee

We are on the verge of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion throughout the United States. With this decision, other landmark rulings including those that legalized access to contraception, gender-affirming care, and same-sex marriage may also be threatened. How did we get here? Of course, this is a rhetorical question, as we have experienced the federal government and state-based legislatures, coupled with legal campaigns, chip ...

Hailie Sahar is an award-winning Actor, Producer, Director, Singer, and Writer.Sahar made history as one of the five transgender lead actors to star in Ryan Murphy's culturally groundbreaking FX series, Pose. Staring as Lulu, the Mother of the House of Ferocity, the ensemble went on to be globally recognized and awarded, including several Emmy Awards over the course of its successful three seasons.In the fall of 2020, Deadline announced Sahar's collaboration with Emmy Award-winning Director, ...

In this episode we speak to Akemi Kochiyama, granddaughter of American civil rights activist, Yuri Kochiyama, the lifelong champion of civil rights causes in the black, Latino, Native American and Asian-American communities Influenced by her Japanese-American family's experience in an American internment camp, her association with Malcolm X, and her Maoist beliefs, she advocated for many causes, including black separatism, the anti-war movement, reparations for Japanese-American in...

A Conversation with Director Julie Cohen about the new documentary, My Name is Pauli Murray (Directed by Julie Cohen, Betsy West, 2021.A pioneering attorney, activist, priest and dedicated memoirist, Murray shaped landmark litigation — and consciousness — around race and gender equity. As an African American youth raised in the segregated South — who was also wrestling with broader notions of gender identity — Pauli understood, intrinsically, what it was to exist beyond previously accepted ca...

Mónica is dedicated to ending gender based violence in the workplace and achieving gender equity. She created the first legal project in the US focused on addressing sexual harassment and other forms of gender discrimination against farmworker women in 2003, which was incubated at the Migrant Justice Project of Florida Legal Services. She later scaled this project and founded Esperanza: The Immigrant Women’s Legal Initiative of the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2006, which she directed...

Bamby Salcedo is a national and international transgender Latina Woman who received her Master’s Degree in Latina Studies from California State University in Los Angeles. Bamby is the President and CEO of the TransLatina Coalition, a national organization that focuses on addressing the issues of transgender Latinas in the US. Bamby developed the Center for Violence Prevention & Transgender Wellness, a multipurpose, multi-service space for trans people in Los Angeles. Bamby most recent emp...

FAVIANNA RODRIGUEZ is the co-founder and president of The Center for Cultural Power, a national organization investing in artists as agents of positive social change. She is an award winning artist, cultural strategist, and social movement leader who partners with progressive advocacy groups to design effective cultural campaigns. A strategy advisor to artists of all genres, Favianna is regarded as one of the leading thinkers uniting art, culture, and social impact. Her projects include...

Dolores Clara Fernández Huerta (born April 10, 1930) is an American labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Cesar Chavez, is a co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association, which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to become the United Farm Workers (UFW). Huerta helped organize the Delano grape strike in 1965 in California and was the lead negotiator in the workers' contract that was created after the strike.Huerta has received numerous awards for he...

Tracy Sturdivant is a long-time social justice organizer and innovator who works at the intersection of strategy and creativity. For more than two decades, Tracy has pushed the envelope with ideas that ensure our work for social change keeps pace with the changing world around us. She founded The League in 2017 and currently serves as President & CEO.She is a sought after speaker and has appeared at a variety of events, including SXSW, Netroots Nation, and Glassdoor’s Equal Pay Roundtable...

Aria Sa’id is an award winning transgender advocate and political strategist based in San Francisco. She is a founder and executive director of The Transgender District, the world’s first legally recognized district of its kind; Founder of Black transgender women empowerment project Kween Culture Initiative, and both a Board member of the Women’s Foundation of California, and an alum of it’s acclaimed Women’s Policy Institute fellowship program. Her work has been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, ...

Crystal Echo Hawk (Pawnee) is the founder and Executive Director of IllumiNative, the firstand only national Native-led organization focused on changing the narrative about Nativepeoples on a mass scale. Crystal built IllumiNative to activate a cohesive set of research-informed strategies that illuminate the voices, stories, contributions and assets of contemporary Native peoples to disrupt the invisibility and toxic stereotypes Native peoples face.

Marya Bangee is the Executive Director of Harness, an organization started by America Ferrera, Ryan Piers Williams, and Wilmer Valderrama, to center the stories of underrepresented communities in popular culture. Marya works with culture-makers to promote more authentic narratives. She started as a community organizer in the Muslim community, where she represented her community in national media like the New York Times and NPR. Her career took her from organizing with low-income black an...

Anasa Troutman is a cultural strategist, producer, writer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. As CEO & Founder of The BIG We and BIG We Foundation, Anasa works to build & execute stories & strategies that are aligned with her vision world where all communities can experience safety, abundance, creativity, and joy. Anasa's latest project is the restoration of Historic Clayton Temple, the Memphis church that was the organizing headquarters of the Sanitation Workers' Strike of 19...