The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau
A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers,
writers, and doers for speaking engagements.
A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers,
writers, and doers for speaking engagements.
Outdated ideas of gender are holding us all back. When we abandon them and fight for Black transgender liberation, we all flourish.
Our limited notions of gender are holding everyone back, not just trans and nonbinary people, says Raquel Willis. So when we overturn oppressive systems and work towards freedom, we’ll all thrive together. Raquel is a Black transgender activist and author whose fight for intersectionality and Black trans liberation has gained national attention. She co-founded the Transgender Week of Visibility and Action, was named to the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 and Fast Company’s inaugural Queer 50, and won two GLAAD Media Awards for her powerful work spotlighting trans women of color and trans youth. At a moment where trans people are experiencing more visibility and discrimination than ever before, Raquel’s insights have never been more crucial. In her dynamic and inspiring talks, Raquel draws on her debut memoir, The Risk It Takes to Bloom, to show us how we can all play a role in creating a world where everyone is free to thrive: “I want people to walk away with a curiosity about how the world could be better,” she says.
In these breathtaking pages, Raquel Willis gracefully demonstrates why she is a vital and formidable voice of our time. Frederick Joseph, New York Times bestselling author of Patriarchy Blues
Raquel Willis says we have to see our experiences as interconnected: discrimination against Black and trans people hurts us all, which is why we must stand in solidarity to fight for a fairer future. An award-winning activist and author, Raquel is a thought leader on gender, race, and intersectionality whose work has been recognized everywhere from the Webbys to Forbes. She co-founded the Transgender Week of Visibility and Action, and has held groundbreaking posts, including director of communications for Ms. Foundation for Women, executive editor of Out magazine, and national organizer for Transgender Law Center. In talks, Raquel draws on her experience as a Black trans woman who grew up in a Southern Catholic family, showing us how our diverse backgrounds and interests make us stronger together in the work that needs to be done. She explains the “three C’s” of true DEI at work and on campus—commitment, culture, and content (plus a caveat)—and gives us practical ways to stand up for one another and ensure everyone can thrive.
Raquel’s debut memoir, The Risk It Takes to Bloom, is a powerful and passionate exploration of Raquel’s life, her commitment to speaking up for communities on the margins, and how complex moments can push us all to take necessary risks and bloom towards collective liberation. It traces her experience exploring her gender, examining her relationship with herself and her loved ones, coming out, and finally becoming one of the leading Black trans activists in history. Oscar-nominated actor Elliot Page calls it “essential reading,” saying that “Raquel Willis uses her life story as a means to inspire and encourage us to step into our full selves.”
Raquel currently serves as executive producer for iHeartMedia’s LGBTQ+ podcast network Outspoken, president of the Solutions Not Punishments Collaborative’s executive board, and a WNBA Social Justice Council member. Her writing has been published in VICE, Buzzfeed, and Vogue, among others, as well as several anthologies including Four Hundred Souls, edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha Blain. She spoke at the National Women’s March in Washington, D.C., shortly after the presidential election of Donald Trump. She has been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30, The Root 100, the ESSENCE’s Woke 100 Women, Fast Company’s Queer 50, and more.
Founder of Vision & Justice Harvard Associate Professor Bestselling Author of The Rise and The Unseen Truth
Author of The 272: The Families who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church Associate Professor at New York University Former New York Times Johannesburg Bureau Chief
Author of The State Must Provide: The Definitive History of Racial Inequality in American Higher Education Staff Writer at The Atlantic
Instant New York Times Bestselling Author of The Story of Art Without Men 2021 Forbes 30 under 30 Europe Guardian Columnist Art Historian and Curator
Author of Indivisible: How to Forge Our Differences into a Stronger Future Founder and CEO of WatchHerWork
Anti-Ageism Activist Author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism Co-Founder of the Old School Hub
Author of Grit, the #1 New York Times Bestseller | Pioneering Researcher on Grit, Perseverance, and the Science of Success
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Creator of The 1619 Project | Executive Producer of the Emmy Award-Winning 1619 Project Hulu Docuseries | MacArthur Genius
Nike's Former Chief Marketing Officer | Author of Emotion by Design
CEO of The Atlantic | Former Editor-in-Chief of WIRED
Bestselling author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism | Harvard Business School Professor Emerita | Activist and scholar
How can moments of struggle help us free ourselves to bloom? In this captivating talk, Black trans activist Raquel Willis brings audiences through the themes of her debut memoir, The Risk It Takes to Bloom. She shares her personal story, starting with her upbringing in Georgia in a Black Catholic family and how she discovered the LGBTQ+ community and found her identity. She speaks with deep compassion and vulnerability about how the unexpected death of her father pushed her to examine her relationship with herself and those she loved, and how the epidemic of violence against trans women of color inspired her to come out publicly.
A passionate and dynamic speaker, Raquel shares the path that brought her to pursuing social justice, and shows us how complex moments of activation can push us all to take necessary risks and fight for collective liberation. She explains why solidarity is like a “painter’s palette”: we can all use our diverse backgrounds, interests, and talents to participate in the work that needs to be done. Audiences will walk away inspired to seize their own moments of activation and create real change in their communities.
“The trans community is more visible than ever before,” says Raquel Willis, “but we are also under immense political attack across the United States.” In this talk, Raquel unravels the complexity of visibility and what it has meant for the transgender community. She combines personal perspective and critical analysis, using her own story to illustrate the complicated relationship that trans communities have with the concept of visibility and representation.
Raquel argues that those of us who believe in liberation and freedom of expression can’t stop at mere visibility—we must be as much or more invested in the vitality of people on the margins. She calls for us to center the experiences and well-being of our most vulnerable communities, and challenges audiences to commit to social justice, dismantle systems of oppression, and free us all to thrive.
Black transgender activists and organizers have historically played crucial roles in our fight for diversity and inclusion, but their pivotal contributions are often overlooked. In this talk, Raquel Willis navigates this rich yet forgotten history.
She draws from the stories of historical figures like Mary Jones, one of the first openly transgender people in New York history, Marsha P. Johnson, one of the prominent figures of the Stonewall Uprising, and iconic drag queen and activist Crystal LaBeija. Raquel also shares her own experiences in contemporary community organizing, drawing on the many groundbreaking posts she’s held. She weaves history and the present together to illuminate the enduring resilience of Black transgender activists in the face of systemic racism and transphobia, and challenges us all to invest in Black trans liberation and freedom for all.