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.”

Admiral Rachel Levine, MD, is the highest-ranking openly transgender government official in U.S. history, serving as the 17th Assistant Secretary for Health from March 2021 to 2025, under President Joe Biden. In 2021, Dr. Levine was commissioned as a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, becoming the first openly transgender four-star officer in any of the U.S. uniformed services. Her clinical and public health work has helped people dealing with a range of medical issues, including eating disorders, the opioid crisis, and COVID-19. She is vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ youth, emphasizing that gender-affirming care is essential, life-saving healthcare.

Dr. Levine previously served as the Pennsylvania physician general from 2015 to 2017 and as secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health from 2017 to 2021.

Born in Buffalo, Peggie Ames (1921 – 2000) transitioned in the early 1970s and was the first publicly out transgender person in Western New York State. She joined Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier (MSNF), a local offshoot of the pre-Stonewall gay rights group of the same name, and was the organization’s secretary in 1973-1974. Ames participated in MSNF’s peer counselor training program and organized panels on transgenderism for Buffalo’s annual Gay Pride Week.

Ames also ran an informal counseling service out of her Buffalo-area house, including transition-related guidance, and provided shelter for trans women in need of temporary living accommodations.  Though she faced great harassment, she was one of the few transgender individuals in Western New York willing to be out in public, and her physical presence helped to dispel common prejudices towards trans women.

Ames is one of the unacknowledged mothers of today’s Transgender Rights Movement.

Since coming to the US at 15 to escape transphobia in Mexico, Bianey García has dedicated herself to uplifting and mobilizing the TGNCNB community. By 19, she was active in transgender support groups and working with community leaders on STD prevention. After witnessing police discrimination against TGNC+ community members, she joined Make the Road NY to confront injustice, build trans leadership, and educate community members about their rights.

She helped launch the TransLatina March in Jackson Heights—the largest of its kind!—and continues to organize against anti-trans violence in Queens. Her advocacy, leadership, and community care strengthen and sustain our movement.

A nationally recognized advocate for trans rights, health equity, and HIV advocacy, Marissa Miller, Founder of Trans Solutions, is a Lead Organizer for the National Trans Visibility March, and has contributed to organizations like AIDS United, the CDC, and Positively Trans (T+). Marissa has worked for the last 20 years on the local, state, and national levels to improve access to treatment and care for transgender people and people living with HIV, and to erase stigma and discrimination through education, policy, advocacy, and visibility.

Marissa has worked with some of the nation’s most influential national agencies working to End the HIV epidemic including: AIDS United, NMAC, CDC, HRSA, NIH and a former Board Member for Positively Trans (T+) Transgender Law Center. Through her work with the CDC Marissa served on the team that created the first intervention specifically designed for Transwomen, TWIST.

Lorena Borjas lived her truth every day of her life, whether it was running the Lorena Borjas Community Fund providing bail assistance to LGBTQ+ immigrants facing arrest, creating and running a mutual aid fund when the COVID-19 pandemic began, or founding Colectivo Intercultural Transgrediendo. Lorena tirelessly worked to ensure that transgender sex workers had access to HIV testing, syringe-exchange programs, and mental health services. Her legacy reminds us of the power of trans leadership and its commitment to community care and liberation.

Lorena’s legacy is one of love, compassion, and unwavering dedication. She saved countless lives, offering not just services, but also hope and support when it was needed most. Though she passed in March 2020 from complications of COVID-19, her work continues to inspire and guide future generations of activists.

A pioneering civil rights leader, Cecilia has dedicated her career to advancing equity for LGBTQ+ communities, people living with HIV, and marginalized populations. She played a key role in shaping groundbreaking policies on healthcare access, transgender rights, and social justice, earning international recognition as a human rights advocate.

With decades of leadership experience, she continues to amplify underrepresented voices, build inclusive coalitions, and champion systemic change that uplifts communities locally, nationally, and globally.