In conversation with Ernest Owens

A writer, activist, and media strategist dedicated to Black transgender liberation, Raquel Willis has served as director of communications for Ms. Foundation for Women, a national organizer for the Transgender Law Center, and executive editor of Out magazine. In 2017, she spoke at the National Women’s March that took place just after the presidential election of Donald Trump. She has contributed articles to Essence, VICE, The Cut, and Vogue, and her writing has been anthologized in Black Futures and Four Hundred Souls. Referred to by Elliot Page as “deeply engaging with searing honesty and compassion,” The Risk It Takes to Bloom recounts Willis’ childhood in Georgia in a Black Catholic family, how her career in journalism and community organizing showed her the courage to come out, and how this particular moment can propel us all to collective liberation.

Ernest Owens is editor-at-large for Philadelphia Magazine and editor for Eater Philly, host of the podcast Ernestly Speaking!, and president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists. His book The Case for Cancel Culture was published in February, and his other work has been featured in a number of media outlets, including The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, and NPR. He teaches media and journalism at Cheyney University.

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