Leadership Circle

Alex has worked in online marketing and community building as well as sexual violence survivor advocacy for the better part of the last decade. They put all their tools gained from these experiences to work as a social media administrator for The Body Is Not An Apology.

Aliya Khan is a multiracial feminist activist and pop culture enthusiast who believes digital and social media can be mobilized to build connections, communities, and movements. (It can also be used to tweet about reality television, which she also does). She believes radical self-love is an ongoing practice, and she is committed to unlearning the harmful messages she’s internalized and becoming more compassionate to herself and others. She is working towards a future where people have the rights and resources needed to care for and make decisions about their bodies, as well as to nurture and support their friends, families, and communities. In addition to her work at TBINAA, she occasionally writes about racial and gender justice and more often retweets her favorite celebrities. She shares a home with her adorable cat, MoonPie. And yes, she would love to show you photos of him. Twitter: @wrong_akhan | Website: aliyajkhan.com.

Chelcee Johns is a digital nomad, Detroit native, editor/content strategist and word & world-loving soul. She is based in Harlem and recently called Bali home for a year. Her passion for the power of the written word & highlighting often policed narratives has led her to work in publishing for the past 7 years with organizations such as Simon & Schuster, Moguldom Media Group, Serendipity Literary Agency, the New York Times and writing for the likes of Ebony.com.

Cicely Blain is a writer, facilitator and activist originally from London, UK, now living in Vancouver, Canada They run a consulting agency and are a founder of Black Lives Matter, Vancouver as well as a columnist for several publications. They are also a sub-editor at Beyond the Binary, UK-based magazine for trans and non-binary people. Cicely is the 2017 winner of the Canadian Power of Youth Leadership Awards in Social Movement Building for their contributions to LGBTQ rights and the Black liberation movement. They love Instagram, red wine, dinosaurs and painting.

Dawy Rkasnuam is a writer based in Los Angeles, CA with an interest in body liberation as it relates to race, culture, and family—as well as dismantling diet culture and the beauty construct overall. Coming from an immigrant and transnational family, she’s interested in discussing the hypersexualization of Asian women, dissecting the expat vs. immigrant double standard, and exploring reproductive justice as it applies to people of color and immigrants in the U.S. When not writing, she enjoys playing the guitar, walking her dog, and working through all the unread books on her shelf. You can find her at www.hataipreuk.com or @hataipreuk on Twitter.

Gabe Moses is an autistic crip writer, performer, and disability justice advocate currently based in Brooklyn. He has toured and competed as a slam poet, earned an international spoken-word title, and published work in several journals and anthologies including Flicker and Spark, Borderline, Pressure Gauge, and Once Upon a Time. Gabe was also previously a contributing writer to Original Plumbing online magazine. He spends his time on survival, fighting injustices where he sees them, cussing out strangers who push his wheelchair without asking, and working on a memoir about his experiences on both sides of the special-education system.

Gillian was born and raised in Sydney, Australia, before moving to the United Kingdom. Since then she has lived all over the country and currently resides in Gloucestershire. Her areas of interest include fat activism, feminism and mental health advocacy. Outside of writing for TBINAA, she spends her free time writing other things, running, looking after her four cats, and avoiding doing the laundry.

Gillian is a black queer from Chicago, Illinois current studying at Hampshire College in Western Massachusetts. At Hampshire College they study Political and Social theory as well as Blackness. Gillian's writing centers Black Liberation, QTPOC identity and the study of oppressive structures, while maintaining an analytical vantage point of these things. They have organized and contributed to Black Liberation groups such as #ChiStops, a working group of We Charge Genocide and Decolonize the Media Collective. During time off they can be found hyper-analyzing tv, binge watch cartoons and enjoying donuts. Gillian can be found on Twitter @giles_gillian

Meet Helena Likaj! Helena is an Albanian refugee dedicated to empowering, equipping, and educating communities to accessing healthcare. Helena has received her Masters in Public Health and has years of experience increasing access to quality health care while providing nonjudgmental compassionate care. Through TBINAA Helena has the privilege of promoting radical self love through social media. You can reach her at [email protected]

A sought after activist, musician, educator and "creative mind asking the questions that will shape the future of culture" (YBCA100, 2016) Jay-Marie (they/them) lives the struggle of creating the world anew. Whether participating in frontline activism, performing their music, or birthing new possibilities via daily life to help our world ascend beyond gendered and racialized norms, Jay-Marie's presence, lectures and performances push audiences to think bigger, question better, and love harder. Jay-Marie currently runs a Black, Trans & Women focused consulting group - Music Freedom Dreams - and performs under the name Jay-MarieIsHoly - look out for new music being released soon. www.MusicFreedomDreams.com

Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda is a queer, mixed-race writer, teacher and political organizer living between Berkeley, California, and Tokyo, Japan. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in the Department of East Asian Languages at UC Berkeley. In her writing and activism, she thinks broadly about queer alternatives to institutionalized forms of belonging, especially the nation state and the nuclear family.

Louisa Leontiades is a freelance journalist originally from the UK and author of several books. Viral credits in the Guardian, The Local, Salon, Nerve, Jezebel, The Body is Not An Apology, Thought Catalog, Huffpo. Macro-to-micro angles on white privilege, political psychology, mental health, alternative relationships and layman's geekery.

Mai’a Williams is a writer, editor, visual and performance artist. It was her living and working with Egyptian, Palestinian, Congolese, and Central American indigenous mothers in resistance communities, that inspired her life-giving mothering work and visionary art-making practices. She is the co-editor of the anthology, Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines and the author of her memoir, This is How We Survive: Revolutionary Mothering, War, and Exile in the 21st Century.

Mary Robinson is a writer, performer, educator, activist, photographer and Muppet fanatic who lives in Denver, Colorado. She has degrees in sociology and education from the University of Colorado Denver. Mary loves Karaoke, Maraschino cherries and if she could turn into a mermaid and live the rest of her days under the sea, she would do so in an instant. Mary has blogged about her writing, life and self-acceptance journey since 2008. She founded Monkey Beth Media and published her middle grade novel The Christmas Child in 2009. You can find more of her writing at monkeybethmedia.com.

Natalio CasaNueva is a Queer, MOC, native Texan, currently living in Atlanta, GA. She is an administrative beast and loves supporting non-profit organizations focusing on empowering women and girls of color and Radical Self-Love. In her spare time, you will find her reading, playing Xbox, creating music, and probably studying astrology. You can find her in Wakanda, being her best authentic self.

Samaa has lived in Portland, Maine since 2010 and hasn’t figured out what she’s still doing there – other than adding some much needed melanin to this very white state. After shaking off the shackles of academia, Samaa transitioned into the non-profit world and now has a steady grind of non-profit work, group facilitation, and agitating//activating//organizing. Her academic writing can be found in journals and other publications. Recently, she’s also been doing a lot of writing about her experiences with cancer treatment. In her spare time, Samaa likes to engage in tender-nerdy activities like birding, hiking, board games, and side eye olympics. She wakes up every day being real black, real Muslim, and real queer – she thinks that’s good thing. When she’s not doing all the things, Samaa sings love songs to her cat, Stashiell Hammett, resident charmer and most adorable feline in the world.

Shannon Weber is a Content Writer at The Body Is Not An Apology as well as a contributing writer at Bitch Media and AlterNet. Her work as also appeared in Everyday Feminism and Teen Vogue, among other outlets. A former gender studies professor, she holds a Ph.D in Feminist Studies and is a recognized expert and published scholar in gender and sexuality studies. She loves autumn, tarot, and her dog daughter Francesca. Stay up to date with her latest projects at www.shannonweberphd.com and say hi on Twitter @ShannonWeberPhD!

Tess is a queer person of colour who does a lot of work within intersectional feminism. They are an aspiring poet and writer and working on a masters degree in Gender Studies. Tess identifies as indigenous, Costa Rican, as well as Danish and has lived in Canada, the Netherlands, and Denmark. They are passionate about social justice, decolonization, and fighting the cis-heteronormative-white-supremacist-capitalist-imperialist-ableist patriarchy! In their spare time they love to sing, write, do yoga, read, and play piano or guitar. You can find them on Instagram at @browngoddtess.

Tiffany Lee is a Black queer femme from York City. She has Master’s degrees in Gender and Women’s Studies and Afro-American Studies and is a social justice educator at University of Wisconsin - Madison. Her scholarship and activism are centered on queer folk of color. She enjoys (good) spoken word, clever memes, and challenging oppressive structures small and large.