Fast Company recently released their 2013 “Smartest Women on Twitter” list in which you will find no, I repeat, no black women. At all. So, in honor of black-queer greatness, here’s a new series to present to you amazing, intelligent black, queer women that are smart enough to be on anyone’s “Smartest” list. These women have greatly impacted the fight towards black LGBT visibility,social justice, and all around wonderfulness- and as a nice touch, all will have Twitter accounts.
Janet Mock- Writer, Activist- Twitter/janetmock
Janet Mock is beautiful, quick, well spoken and elegant, and she is also a trans woman. She’s made a name for herself with her recent memoir. She founded the wonderful project #GirlsLikeUs that promoted diverse visibility of all trans women. She is board member of Arcus Foundation ( global foundation for social justice and conservation) as well as an advisor at Hetrick-Martin Institute for trans youth. Mock wrote a memoir called Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More, set to be published February 2014. In 2012, She was named one of The Grio’s top 100 Most Influential People in the African American Community. Janet was featured in Marie Claire and opened up about her many struggles and successes as a powerful trans woman.
Check out this inspirational interview in which Janet discusses her journey from a being born a boy named Charles, into how she became the strong woman she is today.