Breaking Distance

Beauty for Freedom (BFF), as an anti-trafficking organization, has always strived to connect communities and champion freedom via our global educational programming for survivors of human trafficking and at-risk youth along with our advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns. Our team has strived for ways to connect our ambassadors and artists to the global community by creating a project which could break the barriers of the insular lives we faced through and beyond the pandemic while creating the possibility of uniting, connecting, sharing ideas, educating, and embracing our humanity through the arts and music.

BFF launched Breaking Distance as a way to continue connecting with our global community while sharing critical topics affecting our world and inspiring conversations. Topics covered include global health, human trafficking, art, music and mental health and wellness.

According to the International Labor Organization, the latest estimates show that forced labor and forced marriage have increased significantly in the last five years. Fifty million people were living in modern slavery in 2021, according to the latest Global Estimates of Modern Slavery. Of these people, 28 million were in forced labor and 22 million were trapped in forced marriage. The number of people in modern slavery has risen significantly in the last five years. 10 million more people were in modern slavery in 2021 compared to 2016 global estimates. Women and children remain disproportionately vulnerable. Modern slavery occurs in almost every country worldwide, cutting across ethnic, cultural, and religious lines. More than half (52 percent) of all forced labor and a quarter of all forced marriages can be found in upper-middle-income or high-income countries.

BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM (BFF) is a non-profit dedicated to empowering survivors of human trafficking and at-risk youth by providing a therapeutic approach supporting recovery through creativity and skills training.

Beauty for Freedom engages the industries of Beauty, Art, and Fashion as powerful allies in the fight to end human trafficking through national public campaigns, travel-abroad arts therapy workshops for survivors, mentoring programs, and exhibitions/events. BFF helps students develop their advocacy and activism skills as they empower and support local nonprofits, on-campus youth groups, and local advocacy platforms, as well as nurture their own hopes and dreams for a better world. Sustainable impact happens over time and that is where we feel our bigger mission lives.

Creativity has been proven to help survivors rebuild their lives, providing them with stability and putting them on the path to socioeconomic independence. Since 2014, BFF has empowered and supported over 3500 survivors of human trafficking and at-risk youth in the United States and globally.
https://beautyforfreedom.org/

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About Joanna Pauline

Joanna Pauline is a Filipina, New York City raised, model, actress, and activist living an international lifestyle. Throughout her career, Joanna has traveled to diverse cities and landscapes, exploring and creating as she goes. Riding horses, cooking, and adding new languages to her multilingual skills are her favorite things to do. She’s a speaker and project manager for Beauty For Freedom, an organization dedicated to helping survivors of human trafficking heal through art, while spreading awareness to the public. Dedicated to natural beauty and authenticity, she encourages other women and girls to stay true to themselves, something she believes is crucial in this age of perfectionism and unrealistic beauty imagery spread on social media.

Joanna Pauline Instagram

National Human Trafficking Hotline

https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en

Global Estimates of Slavery

https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_855019/lang--en/index.htm

Trafficking in Persos Report 2022

https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-trafficking-in-persons-report/

Breaking Distance

Beauty for Freedom (BFF), as an anti-trafficking organization, has always strived to connect communities and champion freedom via our global educational programming for survivors of human trafficking and at-risk youth along with our advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns. Throughout the COVID-19 Crisis, our team has been looking for ways to connect our ambassadors and artists to the global community by creating a project which could break the barriers of the insular lives we faced through the pandemic with quarantining and self-isolation while creating the possibility of uniting, connecting, sharing ideas, educating, and embracing our humanity through the arts and music.

BFF launched Breaking Distance as a way to continue connecting with our global community while sharing critical topics affecting our world and inspiring conversations. Topics covered include global health, human trafficking, art, music and mental health and wellness. We want YOU to JOIN the MOVEMENT! Stay tuned for details on our website (www.beautyforfreedom.org) and social media pages for podcast schedules, email us if you're a visual artist, activist, musician or influencer who would like to get involved at [email protected] or send us DMs with podcast idea submissions. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD AND CONNECT WITH OUR COMMUNITY!

https://beautyforfreedom.org/

Follow Beauty for Freedom:

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https://www.change.org/about

More about Christina

Christina Martin is a Senior Campaigner at Change.org. Every day, she identifies new campaigns to support and works with petition starters to get in touch with their decision-makers. She had the privilege to serve on the Racial Justice Committee that was charged with allocating millions of dollars to racial justice organizations throughout the US.

In 2020, Christina was asked to help create a new department at Change.org. She moved to San Francisco and began her work with a small team to start the Scaled Support program, which aimed to provide each person who started a petition with personalized text advice on their campaign. It has now grown to a team of over 20 people, and Christina has returned to the campaigns team to continue her previous work.

While she was still in college, she interned for Change.org on a project called Change Politics. This program aimed to provide transparency and connection to those voting in the 2016 election.

After completing her degree, she taught English as an Auxiliar de Conversación with the Council on International Educational Exchange.

Christina graduated from Susquehanna University with a triple major in Political Science, Public Policy, and Spanish. At Susquehanna, she was the President of the Student Government.

More about Rashawn

Rashawn Davis is Racial Justice Fund Manager at Change.org, leading the organization’s commitment to invest millions into the movement for Racial Justice and Black-led organizations.

In 2018, he was appointed by Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka to serve a two-year term as a Commissioner on Newark’s Police Review Board. The board is charged with reviewing, auditing and recommending changes in police practices and policy for New Jersey’s largest city.

He was also named by Insider-NJ as one of New Jersey’s 100 Most Influential Millennials. In 2014, Rashawn became the youngest person in the history of

Newark to be certified and appear on a municipal election ballot at the age of 21. He led an insurgent campaign for a City Council seat representing the 80,000 people of the city’s west ward. He has also previously worked at the Council of State Governments – Justice Center where he helped build the National Clean Slate Clearinghouse; An online resource dedicated to expanding access to record clearance for the more than 70 million Americans with a criminal record.

Rashawn graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in Government. He earned a master’s degree from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School.

Change.Org Social Media

Instagram

Facebook

Breaking Distance

Beauty for Freedom (BFF), as an anti-trafficking organization, has always strived to connect communities and champion freedom via our global educational programming for survivors of human trafficking and at-risk youth along with our advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns. Throughout the COVID-19 Crisis, our team has been looking for ways to connect our ambassadors and artists to the global community by creating a project which could break the barriers of the insular lives we faced through the pandemic with quarantining and self-isolation while creating the possibility of uniting, connecting, sharing ideas, educating, and embracing our humanity through the arts and music.

BFF launched Breaking Distance as a way to continue connecting with our global community while sharing critical topics affecting our world and inspiring conversations. Topics covered include global health, human trafficking, art, music and mental health and wellness. We want YOU to JOIN the MOVEMENT! Stay tuned for details on our website (www.beautyforfreedom.org) and social media pages for podcast schedules, email us if you're a visual artist, activist, musician or influencer who would like to get involved at [email protected] or send us DMs with podcast idea submissions. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD AND CONNECT WITH OUR COMMUNITY!

https://beautyforfreedom.org/

Follow Beauty for Freedom:

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Twitter

Facebook

More About Mrs. Anna Ptak

Anna Ptak is currently an international keynote speaker as well as an Overcomer and Policy Consultant in the movement to end Human Trafficking. Anna has conducted speaking tours in both New York and California. Anna’s story has been published internationally in editorials such as Asian Geographic and The Examiner. Anna was recently featured on the national talk show The Doctors and Univision’s Primer Impacto. In 2015, Anna showcased her ethical fashion collection during NYFW with garments made by Overcomers of sex trafficking in Nepal. Anna guest lectured at the University of Malta on Child Trafficking Law and has trained numerous governmental agencies and law enforcement on human trafficking. Anna lobbied for anti-human trafficking bills at the Virginia General Assembly and assisted in arguing, drafting bills concerning Human Trafficking including the Safe Harbor Law in NC. Anna also served as the guest speaker for many organizations such as for The National Center on Sexual Exploitation and Shared Hope International. Anna has assisted in writing both national and international policy. Anna has a large focus on establishing the link between pornography and sex trafficking. In her spare time, Anna loves spending time with her husband, and their sweet daughter, Zara, and adorable pups, Liam and Ava.

Instagram

Facebook Page

Breaking Distance

Beauty for Freedom (BFF), as an anti-trafficking organization, has always strived to connect communities and champion freedom via our global educational programming for survivors of human trafficking and at-risk youth along with our advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns. Throughout the COVID-19 Crisis, our team has been looking for ways to connect our ambassadors and artists to the global community by creating a project which could break the barriers of the insular lives we faced through the pandemic with quarantining and self-isolation while creating the possibility of uniting, connecting, sharing ideas, educating, and embracing our humanity through the arts and music.

BFF launched Breaking Distance as a way to continue connecting with our global community while sharing critical topics affecting our world and inspiring conversations. Topics covered include global health, human trafficking, art, music and mental health and wellness. We want YOU to JOIN the MOVEMENT! Stay tuned for details on our website (www.beautyforfreedom.org) and social media pages for podcast schedules, email us if you're a visual artist, activist, musician or influencer who would like to get involved at [email protected] or send us DMs with podcast idea submissions. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD AND CONNECT WITH OUR COMMUNITY!

https://beautyforfreedom.org/

Follow Beauty for Freedom:

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

About Savhera:

https://savhera.com/

Our aim is to provide customers with premium essential oil products that contribute to wellness, justice, and sustainability at home and around the world.

Every essential oil purchase you make is a celebration of new beginnings and restored joy, and contributes to dignified employment for the brave survivors of sexual exploitation in India and the United States that comprise our team.

OUR MISSION

To deliver premium essential oils to values-driven consumers while combatting sex trafficking by providing dignified employment to survivors of sexual exploitation.

OUR VISION

Global leadership in premium essential oils that cultivate dignity and renewal.

OUR

VALUES

Dignity, integrity, and excellence--these core values anchor what we do and how we do it. Our book of meditations helps us reflect on all our other values (like fun and joy!) daily.

Follow Savhera:

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In our 5th Episode in our Breaking Distance series "On Race, Art and Everything In-Between", a collection of conversations focusing on investigating the systemic racism plaguing our world today. We are creating a space to uplift diverse communities while spotlighting people of color changing and shaping our world through philanthropy, the arts and activism. This episode features London Based Artist, Journalist and Filmmaker Darnell Christie. We approach being Black in media and what that experience feels like, his upbringing in London, what inspires him to create, his Vlog series “Black in Colombia” and his podcast “Darnell Responds”.

More About Darnell

Darnell Christie is a freelance multimedia journalist focusing on international development issues and a filmmaker with a passion for understanding people’s perspectives and telling their stories.

Follow Darnell on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/darnell_christie/

https://twitter.com/darnellchristie

https://www.facebook.com/thedarnellchristie

Watch "Black in Colombia"

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC04Z55Zj3gCPWr5dFmQY4Iw

Listen to "Darnell Responds"

https://www.buzzsprout.com/883435

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR ANTI-TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM AT:

https://beautyforfreedom.org/











BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM MISSION STATEMENT



Art Therapy. Education. Empowerment. This is how we help survivors of human trafficking. We support recovery through creativity and skills training. We nurture our youth by removing potential stigmas surrounding self-expression, legitimizing their ideas, hopes, and dreams. In light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we realize it’s our time to step up. Using the platform we’ve built to usher in change in the lives of people across the globe, we hope to help the world heal in this time of crisis. Here’s to paying it forward.

In our 4th Episode in our Breaking Distance series "On Race, Art and Everything In-Between", a collection of conversations focusing on investigating the systemic racism plaguing our world today. We are creating a space to uplift diverse communities while spotlighting people of color changing and shaping our world through philanthropy, the arts and activism. This episode features Lisa Dent, the Executive Director of Artspace New Haven, a visionary and dynamic non-profit organization championing emerging artists and building new audiences for contemporary art. Lisa speaks about her experiences as a curator, Executive Director, gallery owner and woman of color in the art world and the challenges she's faced along with the triumph and hope.

More About Lisa

Lisa Dent’s curatorial roles in national museums and galleries, along with a multi-disciplinary nonprofit arts background, make her uniquely qualified to lead Artspace. Previously, Dent was the Artistic Director for Converge45, a nonprofit organization that provides a curatorial platform for the visual arts in Portland, Oregon. Prior to joining Converge45, Dent was Director of Resources & Award Programs at Creative Capital (2012-2017), leading the national nonprofit’s financial and advisory services programs and supporting artists towards the full realization of their projects. As Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio, Dent attracted resources for and organized exhibitions including Stephanie Syjuco: Pattern Migration, Currents: Latifa Echakhch and Supply & Demand. Earlier, she was a Helena Rubenstein Fellow at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and held curatorial staff positions at the New Museum of Contemporary Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. She was director of the Friedrich Petzel Gallery in New York, and for several years owned and managed Lisa Dent Gallery in San Francisco (2004-2009), where she presented the work of emerging and mid-career international artists. Dent received her B.F.A. in History of Art from Howard University, and received her M.F.A. from New York University.

Support Artspace New Haven

https://artspacenewhaven.org/

https://www.instagram.com/artspacenh/

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR ANTI-TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM AT:

https://beautyforfreedom.org/











BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM MISSION STATEMENT



Art Therapy. Education. Empowerment. This is how we help survivors of human trafficking. We support recovery through creativity and skills training. We nurture our youth by removing potential stigmas surrounding self-expression, legitimizing their ideas, hopes, and dreams. In light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we realize it’s our time to step up. Using the platform we’ve built to usher in change in the lives of people across the globe, we hope to help the world heal in this time of crisis. Here’s to paying it forward.

Our Breaking Distance team had the honor of interviewing Bil Donovan, one of today's most accomplished and revered fashion illustrators. He is a respected educator and author and has traveled the world as a global artist and spokesperson for companies like Christian Dior. Bil speaks about his passion for creating and how it all started, his love of educating, fostering and nurturing the next generation of artists and his activism and newest protest artwork series #LiberatorToo, honoring Black Lives.

More About Bil

Bil Donovan is one of today's most accomplished and revered fashion illustrators. He was appointed the first artist-in-resident for Christian Dior in 2009, a position he continues to serve in today. Donovan utilizes an innate sense of selectivity to communicate the essence of glamour, luxury and style with an abstract sensibility reflecting his fine art background.

As an artist, author, educator and spokesperson Bil is a true champion of the art form. From the editorial, advertising and animation markets, his clients include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vogue, Bergdorf Goodman, St. Regis Hotel, The New York Times, Harper Collins, New York magazine, Mandarin Oriental, the CFDA, L’Occitaine, Vanity Fair, Neiman Marcus and Saks.

Donovan shares the process of fashion illustration as an Associate Adjunct Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology and Instructor at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He continues to conduct master classes and shared his technique through demonstrations in Australia, China, London, Detroit, Philadelphia and New York. Bil is the author of Advanced Fashion Drawing/Lifestyle Illustration, Lawrence King Publishing.

His painting of the House of Dior’s Couture timeline adorns the Christian Dior Suite and his paintings are also visible in the Presidential Suite and the lobby.

Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art commissioned Donovan as the sole artist to illustrate fashion illustrations of iconic designs for a limited edition book for inclusion in the permanent collection of the Costume Institutes Library and visible in the recent exhibit, “Masterworks”: Unpacking fashion, 2017.

Bil Donovan has recently been recognized as one of the most accomplished fashion Illustrators of the late twentieth century, History of Illustration, Bloombury Publication 2019.

http://www.bildonovanlimited.com/

Social Media

https://www.instagram.com/bildonovan/

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR ANTI-TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM AT:

https://beautyforfreedom.org/











BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM MISSION STATEMENT



Art Therapy. Education. Empowerment. This is how we help survivors of human trafficking. We support recovery through creativity and skills training. We nurture our youth by removing potential stigmas surrounding self-expression, legitimizing their ideas, hopes, and dreams. In light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we realize it’s our time to step up. Using the platform we’ve built to usher in change in the lives of people across the globe, we hope to help the world heal in this time of crisis. Here’s to paying it forward.

Our Breaking Distance team had the honor of featuring an amazing organization and program on the show last week, Margaret's Place (A program of the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation), discussing how school programming and youth have been pivoting throughout the global pandemic and we had an opportunity to learn more about the programs provided for youth in New York, Los Angeles and Cincinnati. Safe At Home provides healing services to youth who have been traumatized by exposure to violence including domestic violence, child abuse, teen dating abuse, and sexual assault in order to empower them to live healthy lives free of violence.

Their mission is to educate to end the cycle of domestic violence and save lives. And as a program of Safe at Home, Margaret’s Place is a multifaceted school-based program created with the understanding that protective factors can decrease or mitigate the harm associated with exposure to violence and complex trauma. The program has several master’s level counselors to help children to strengthen their resilience, let them know that they are not alone, and underscore that the violence they have suffered is not their fault– all while providing a safe place in the school. We were joined by Jennifer Herbert, the Associate Vice President of Programs at Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation. Jennifer has over 15 years of clinical experience as an art therapist and trainer in New York City, working with children, families, and communities affected by trauma, violence, and homelessness. In her current role at the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation, she addresses the cumulative effects of isolation and complex trauma, with an emphasis on prevention and intervention, and works to build and cultivate relationships with participants of the program as well as various community partners. and David Sewsankar, an Alumni Intern of IS 143. David joined the Safe At Home team in 2016 as an Alumni Intern. In that role, he has shaped and led the organization’s Perspectives With Equal Respect (P*WER) curriculum, a workshop facilitated by young men for young men that explores the role of gender and stereotypes in gender-based violence. He also facilitates groups, creates new workshops, and mentors current middle- and high-school students in Margaret’s Place programs.

https://joetorre.org/

Social Media

https://www.instagram.com/safeathomefoundation/

https://www.instagram.com/margarets_place/

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR ANTI-TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM AT:









https://beautyforfreedom.org/















BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM MISSION STATEMENT













Art Therapy. Education. Empowerment. This is how we help survivors of human trafficking. We support recovery through creativity and skills training. We nurture our youth by removing potential stigmas surrounding self-expression, legitimizing their ideas, hopes, and dreams. In light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we realize it’s our time to step up. Using the platform we’ve built to usher in change in the lives of people across the globe, we hope to help the world heal in this time of crisis. Here’s to paying it forward.

Our Beauty for Freedom, Breaking Distance Podcast Team sat down with Beauty for Freedom Ambassador, Global Artist , Humanitarian and Multi-faceted Musician Scarlett de la Torre for a candid discussion about how her music has led her down a path of sound healing, her work during the COVID Crisis, activism around the fight to end sex trafficking globally and support for the civil uprising around Black Lives Matter.

More About Scarlett

Scarlett de la Torre is an international musician, DJ, sound meditation practitioner, and founder of AHA Sound Sanctuary. Scarlett’s alchemical journey with sound began as a global force in electronic music, sharing her sound as a DJ for two decades with the world’s finest dance floors and festivals with the likes of Crosstown Rebels, Sasha, Digweed, and Danny Tenaglia. As a musician and producer, she has performed around the world with legends such as Nile Rodgers at Montreux Jazz Festival; and produced runway soundtracks for fashion greats such as Matthew Williamson at the Royal Opera House for London Fashion Week, and has also performed live for the best international party institutions like Abracadabra at Scorpios Mykonos where she was resident performer. She discovered Sound Medicine through humanitarian service with Beauty for Freedom in Kolkata, where she provided sound meditation as a form of therapy to transmute trauma for trafficked survivors, with profound results. She continued to study sound science and shamanic practices to deepen her knowledge of sound, and obtained Sound Practitioner training with Alexandre Tannous at Woom Center in New York City. She conducted the opening sound ceremony for IAMAI exhibit in THE MAN at Burning Man 2018, and has been selected as Sound Practitioner for Richard Branson’s events at Necker Island . She loves using her talents to bring awareness to environmental causes such as Ultramarine and Planet Home, and also was invited as a guest speaker and performer for the Regenerative Futures Summit led by Daniel Pinchbeck. She is currently based in California where she is headmistress of Music and Sound Alchemy at the AHA Sound Sanctuary - an online learning platform for music, to activate your mystical musical gifts as you learn the art & science of sound to heal and manifest.

https://www.ahasoundsanctuary.com/

https://www.instagram.com/scarlett.delatorre/

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR ANTI-TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM AT:









https://beautyforfreedom.org/















BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM MISSION STATEMENT













Art Therapy. Education. Empowerment. This is how we help survivors of human trafficking. We support recovery through creativity and skills training. We nurture our youth by removing potential stigmas surrounding self-expression, legitimizing their ideas, hopes, and dreams. In light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we realize it’s our time to step up. Using the platform we’ve built to usher in change in the lives of people across the globe, we hope to help the world heal in this time of crisis. Here’s to paying it forward.

Our Beauty for Freedom, Breaking Distance Podcast Team sat down for a candid discussion about the history of San Francisco Pride, Queer Culture, Activism and the Influence of The Arts and Music with Artist, “Credit in the Straight World” Film Director, and “Nervous Breakdowns” Band Founder Keala Ramos, a Nonprofit Industrial Complex Rabble-Rouser and Miss Major Griffin-Gracy a Transgender Activist, Advocate and the Executive Director of the Griffin-Gracy Educational Retreat & Historical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Griffin-Gracy Educational Retreat & Historical Center’s (a.k.a. “House of GG”) mission is to create programs, services, and resources that positively impact the lives, history, and visibility of Transgender, gender-questioning, and gender-nonconforming people. They do this through programs that promote healing justice, resilience, and organizing among our communities, particularly by and for transgender women of color, to remove barriers that inhibit our survival.

More About Keala Ramos

Keala Ramos is a Hawaiian artist/filmmaker/musician born and raised on the island of O’ahu. He moved to San Francisco to further his education in art and music, but he also ended up studying filmmaking and finding his creative and queer identity. He then moved to New York City to continue his creative exploration, and he has called Queens home for the last 13 years.

https://nervousbreakdowns.com/

More About Ana "Smitty" Smith

Ana "Smitty" Smith is a 50-year old Peruvian-American butch lesbian whose political activism began at the age of 23 when they voted to unionize at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF). Like other union activists at SFAF, Smitty was fired, but they have continued to make change from within at other San Francisco Bay Area nonprofit organizations, such as removing an ineffective AIDS organization Executive Director, increasing Latino student enrollment at a Mission District music school, and advocating for the hiring of a Black consultant to lead a barely-Black nonprofit in discussing diversity. Smitty was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and lived in Peru from 2014-2016, where they also marched alongside the Peruvian LGBT community in their struggle for equal rights. https://houseofgg.org/

More About Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

Miss Major is a black trans elder who is the subject of the 2015 documentary film “Major!” by filmmakers Annalise Ophelian and Storm Miguel Florez. This film details her lifelong activism and participation in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City, a key moment in the modern LGBT civil rights movement. The film premiered in San Francisco and has been screened at various film festivals around the world. The Griffin-Gracy Educational Retreat & Historical Center’s (a.k.a. “House of GG”) mission is to create programs, services, and resources that positively impact the lives, history, and visibility of Transgender, gender-questioning, and gender-nonconforming people. We do this through programs that promote healing justice, resilience, and organizing among our communities, particularly by and for transgender women of color, to remove barriers that inhibit our survival.

The brain-child of world-renowned Trans revolutionary Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, we are the first educational and historical center solely dedicated to Transgender and gender nonconforming people in the USA.

As a survivor of the historic Stonewall Riots in New York City in 1969, Miss Major helped to pioneer the TLGBQ liberation movement. She continues that work five decades later.

Miss Major’s legacy project is House of GG – a permanent home in Arkansas where Transgender people can come, feel safe, and be part of a growing network of Southern Trans people who are working for social justice. https://houseofgg.org/

Please use the following link to donate toward Miss Major’s healing: http://fundly.com/missmajor.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR ANTI-TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM AT:

https://beautyforfreedom.org/

BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM MISSION STATEMENT

Art Therapy. Education. Empowerment. This is how we help survivors of human trafficking. We support recovery through creativity and skills training. We nurture our youth by removing potential stigmas surrounding self-expression, legitimizing their ideas, hopes, and dreams. In light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we realize it’s our time to step up. Using the platform we’ve built to usher in change in the lives of people across the globe, we hope to help the world heal in this time of crisis. Here’s to paying it forward.