Raquel Willis

Raquel Willis is a Black transgender activist, writer, and media strategist dedicated to elevating the dignity of marginalized people, particularly Black transgender people. She was recently announced as the new Director of Communications for The Ms. Foundation. She is the former executive editor of Out magazine and a former national organizer for Transgender Law Center (TLC).

In 2018, she founded Black Trans Circles, a project of TLC, focused on developing the leadership of Black trans women in the South and Midwest by creating healing justice spaces to work through oppression-based trauma and incubating community organizing efforts to address anti-trans murder and violence. During her time at Out, she published the Trans Obituaries Project to highlight the epidemic of violence against trans women of color.

Raquel will be releasing The Risk It Took to Bloom, her debut essay collection about her coming of identity and activism with St. Martin’s Press in 2021.