Janet Mock is a writer, television producer, and transgender rights activist. Her 2014 memoir “Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More,” which follows her journey as a transgender girl and young woman in Hawaii, became a New York Times bestseller. She co-produced “The Trans List” for HBO in 2016, before becoming a writer, director and producer for FX’s “Pose.” The first trans woman of color hired as a writer for a TV series, Mock was also the first trans woman of color to write and direct any television episode.

Mock has also worked as a correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, a contributing editor for Marie Claire, and a host for MSNBC. She started the social media campaign #GirlsLikeUs in 2012 to empower transgender women and joined the board of directors at the Arcus Foundation a year later to advocate for LGBTQ rights.

Mock has been honored by the Ms. Foundation, Planned Parenthood, Feminist Press, and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, among other organizations. Her name has been featured on multiple lists including TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People.”

Monica Roberts (1962 – 2020) was an icon and a trailblazing voice for transgender rights, both in her home state of Texas and around the country. In 2006, she founded TransGriot, a pioneering blog about issues pertaining to trans women, particularly women of color. Her coverage helped bring national attention to the alarming rates of transgender homicide, and she worked tirelessly to identify victims who were misgendered and deadnamed by the police and local media. Roberts also wrote for Ebony, the Huffington Post, The Advocate, and the Unapologetically Trans column in Out Smart Magazine.

Her many honors include the Glaad Media Award for outstanding blog, the Barbara Jordan Breaking Barriers Award, and the 2020 Susan J. Hyde Award for Longevity in the Movement.