I spent ten years in Washington State prisons. That experience fundamentally shaped who I am and what I'm committed to doing with my life.

I watched brilliant, capable people return to their communities with virtually no support, no identity-affirming resources, and almost no chance of success. I watched people cycle back through the system because the world outside was just as hostile as the world inside.

I previously worked with Beyond These Walls, a nonprofit providing reentry support and advocacy for LGBTQ+ incarcerated people across Oregon and Washington. In that role, I coordinated resources, trained volunteers, and learned the reentry landscape from walking beside people navigating the same barriers I'd faced.

I also learned that even with excellent programs and dedicated staff, the gaps were enormous. Most reentry services didn't understand trans and gender-diverse people's specific needs. Housing providers turned trans clients away. Healthcare systems interrupted gender-affirming care mid-transition. Employers saw criminal records and trans identity as two strikes against a person. The few people and organizations trying to address this were stretched impossibly thin. Need always outpaced resources. 

When Beyond These Walls lost funding due to federal budget cuts in 2024, I faced a choice: find another job, or launch something new. The need was too great to walk away.

OutTogether exists because I believe trans and gender-diverse people deserve support that actually sees them not as problems to manage, but as whole human beings with dignity, agency, and the capacity to rebuild. I believe in mutual aid, peer support, and the power of community.

My lived experience is the foundation of this work. I know what it means to be incarcerated as a queer person. I know what it feels like to come home and have the door slammed in your face because of who you are or what you've done. But I also know what it feels like to have someone show up for you and to believe in you when you can't believe in yourself. That's what OutTogether does.

I'm committed to building an organization led by people who've walked this path, accountable to the community we serve, and grounded in the belief that successful reentry is possible. One where trans and gender-diverse people don't just survive, but thrive.